The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-05-22
draw line between religion ana the frailties

has ever seen? Do You know any book that
has as much in it? Do You not think, upon
the whole, that its influence has been benei-
cent? l come to you with both hands ex-
tended toward you. In one hand have the
Bible, and in the other have nothing. This
Bible in one hand will surrender forever
Just as soon as in my other hand you can put
a book that is batter. To day I invite you
back into the good old fashioned religion Of
your fathers--So taa Gol whom they wor-
SHIPPED, to the Bible they real, to the prom
iseS on which they leaned, to the cross on
which they hung their eternal expectations.
You have not been happy day since You
swung off; you will rot be happy minute
until you swing back.
Again: There may b. some Of you who,
in the attempt after Christian life, will
have to run against powerful passions AMI
apoetites. Perhaps it is disposition to
anger that you have to coItel1 against:
and perhaps, while in very serious mood,
you hear os something that makes you feel
that you must swear Or die. L know a
Christian man who was once - cxasperatei
that he said to 4 mean cuStom,r: 81 cannot
swear at you myself, for I an menoer
of the church; but if you will go down
stairs my partaeT in business will swear at
you" All your gooi resolutions hereto-
fore have been torn to tatterS by explosion
of temper. Now there is no harm in geS-
ting mad if you only get mad at sin. You
need to bride and saddle those hot breatiti
passions, and with them ride down injus.
tics and wrong. There ara THOUSAND
things in the world that We ought to bs
mad at There is no harm in getting rel
hot if you only bring to the forge that
which needs hanm eriug. A mau who has
no power Of righteous indignation IS an
imbecile. But be sure it is righteous in
diguation, AMI not p,tulancy TINT blurS
and uuravels aud depletes thu sol!:. .,,.
There is q large class OF parsons IN m'd-nte
who havs still in them aopetites that
were aroused in early manhood, at a tlm'
when they pridel themselves on being a
''little fast, "niga liverS," free AMI easy
mail fellows we'll meS." They arenow paying,
in compound interest, for troubles they
collected twenty years ago. Soma OF you
are trying TO escape, AMI you wlll-yet
very narrowly, "as with the skin OF your
teeth God and your own soul only know
what the struggle is. On1tpotel5 grace
has pulled out many a soIl taaS was deeper
in the mire than you are. Tney line the
beach OF heavea--tire multtu le whom Goa
has rescued from the thrall OF suicidal
habits. If you this day turn your back on the
wrong and starr anev, Col will help yoI:
o., the weakness of human help! Men will
symoathize for while, AMI tnen tara you
OF. Ifyou ask for their tleir plriol, tney
will give it, AMI say they wilt try yoI again;
bat, falling away again u11er tn, power OF
tenn otation, they cast You OF forever. But
God forgiveS seventy tim IS seven; yea, sev9a
huu1rei times; yea, though tlls oe tne ten
thousandth tim, He is mora earnest, more
symDathetic, more hslpSu(, this last time than
when You took your first miSStep.
wit oil t.,a inf fayora b1a for
right life, man make 50 many mistakes, how
muca harder it is whe", 70: instance, some
appetite thruSts its iron graD2le into the roots
OF the tongue, and pulls a man down vita
hands Of destruction. If. ua1er suca circum-
stances, he brelk away there will be no sport
in the undertaking, no holiday enjoyment,
but struggle in which the wrestlerS move
from side to side, AMI bend and twist, aud
watch for an opportunity to get in heavier
stroke, uutil with one final eforS, IN which
the muscles are distende1, and the veins
stand out, and tha blood starts, the swarthy
habit falls under the knee Of the victores-
cape1 at last as with the skin Of his teeth."
The ship Emma, bouu1 from Gottenburg
to Harwich, was sailing on, when the man %
the LOO lout saw SON ,Shiug that hs pro.
nouuce1 a vessel bottom uo. There WAS
something on it that looked ike sea-gull,
but was afterward founl 10 be waving
handkerchief In the small boat thu crew
pushel out to Ia. wracS, aa1 fou11 that it
was caosizei vessel, and that three men
had been digging their way out through the
bottom of the snip. When tho vessel cap.
sized they had no means Of escape. The
captain took his penknife and dug away
through the p!anks until his knife broke.
Then an old nail was found, with which they
attempted to scraps their way out of the
darkness, each one working until his hand
was well nigh paralyzed and he sank back
faint and sick After long and tedious work
the light broke through the bottom of the
ship. A handkerchief was hoistei. Help
came. They were taken on board the vessel
and saved. Did ever men come so near
watery grave without dropping into it?
How narrowly they eScaped!-eScapsd only
with the skin Of their teeth"
There are men who have been capsized of
evil passions, and capsiZed mid-ocsan, and
they are thousand miles away from any
shore of help. They have for years been try
ing to dig their way out. They have been
digging away and digging away, but they
can never be delivered unless they will hoist
some signal Of distress. However weak and fee
BILE it may be, Christ will see it,and bear down
upon the helpless craft, and take them on
board, and t will be known III earth aud in
heaven how narrowly they eScaped-''es-
capped as with the skin of taeir teeth"
There are others who in attempting to
come to God must run between great
many business perplexties. II man go
over to business at 10 o'clock in the morn
ing, and comes away at O'CLOCK in the af-
ternoon, he has some time for religion; but
how shall you find time for religious con-
temptation when you are driven from sun
rise to sunset, and have been for five years
going behind in business, and are frequent
" dunned by creditors whom you cannot
pay, and when, from Monday morning un-
til Saturday night, you are doiging bills
that you cannot meet? You walk day by
day in uncertainties that have kept your
brain on fire for the past three years Some
with less business troubles than you have
gone crazy. The clerk has heard noise in
the back couDting-room, and gone in, and
found the chief man of the firm ravlnS
maniac; or the wife has heard the bang OF
a pistol in the back parlor, and gone in,
stumbling over the dead body of her hus-
banda suicide. There are in this house
today three hundred men pursued, har-
raSSe1, trodden down and scalped of buSi-
ness perplexties, and which way to turn
next they do not know. Now God will not
be hard on you. EIe knows what obstacles
are in the way of your being Christian,
and your first effort in the right direction
He will crown with success. Do not let
oaCars Wltn couIon DdleS auu he5S, auu noSs-
heads and counters and stocks of unstable
goods, block up your way to heaven. Gather
up all your energies. Tighten the girdle
about your loins. Take an agonizing LOOK
into the face of God, and then say: Here
goes one grand effort for life eternal" and
then bound away for heaven, escaping as
with the skin of your teeth"
In the last day it will be found that Hugh
Latimer and John Knox and Huss and Rid
ley were not the greatest martyrs, but Chris
tian men who went up incorrupt from tine
2ontaminations and perplexities OF Wall
street Water street Pearl street. Broad