Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-03-13

Woulo 90 almost the same As be has
done. II man eat green apples some
| Wednesday in cholera time and ID
thrown into fearful cramps and says on
Thursday: i wish had been more
prudent in my diet; oh, If could live
Wednesday over again., and then on
Friday eats apples just as green, he
| proves that 1t would have been no ad-
| vantage for him to live Wednesday over
again. And if we, deploring our past
life and with the idea Of improvement,
long for an opportunity to try it over
again, yet go on making the same mis-
takes and committing the same sins,
we only demonstrate that the repetition
| of our existence would afford no i'm
provement. II was green apples before
aud it would be green apples over again.
| As soon as ship captain strikes rock
In the lake or sea he reports it and a
buoy is swung over that reef and ma
,rines henceforth stand of from that
rock. And all our mistakes in the past
iought to be buoys warning Us to keep in
the right channel. There is no excuse
for us If we split on the same rock
where We split before. Going along
the sidewalk at night where excavations
are being made, we frequently see a
lantern on q framework, and we turn
aside, for that lantern says, keep out of
this hole. And all along the pathway
of life lanterns are set as warnings, and
by the time we come to mid-life we
ought to know where it is safe to walk
and where it is unsafe.
Besides that, We have all these years
been learning how to be useful, and in
the next decade we ought to accomplish
m ore for God and the church and the
world than in any previous four decades.
The best way to atone for past Incidence
or past transgression is by future ASST
duty. Yet you often find Christian
men who were not converted until they
were forty or fifty as old age comes on,
saying: We'll, my work is about done,
and it is time for me to rest" They gave
forty years of their life to Satan and the
world, little fragment of their life to
God, and now they want to rest.
Whether that belongs to comedy or
tragedy say not. The man who gave
one-half of his earthly exercise to the
world and ofthe remaining two quarters
one TO Christian work and the other to
rest, would not, I suppose, get a very
brilliant reception in Heaven. If there
are any dried leaves in Heaven they
would be appropriated for his garland;
VI IL bA0IO 10 uuy tuIOu0 Wltu OIOk6u
steps it would be appropriated for his
coronation; or any harp with relaxed
string it would be appropriated for his
lingering. My brother, you give nine
| tenths of your life to sin and Satan and
then get converted and then rest awhile
| in sanctified laziness and then go up to
| get your heavenly reward, and warrant
| 1t will not take the cashier Of the royal
banking house great while to count
out to you all your dues. He will not
ask you whether you will have it in bills
| of large denomination or small. I would
| like to put one sentence Of my sermon
| in italics, and have it underscored, and
three exclamation points at the end of
the sentence, and that sentence is this:
| As we cannot live our lives over again,
| The nearest we can come to atone for the
| past is by redoubled holiness and in
| dustry in the future:
'Tis worth wise mans past Of life,
Tis worth a thousand years of strife,
| If thou canst lessen but by one
| The countless ills beneath the sun.
If this rail train of life has been de-
/ .ained and switched off and is far behind
| she time table, the engineer for the rest
| of the way must put on more pressure
| of steam and go mile minute in
order to arrive at the right time and
place under the approval Of conductor
| and directors.
As supposed it would be, there are
multitudes of young people listening to
| shis sermon on whom this subject has
scted with the force of q galvanic bat
sery. Without my saying word to
them, they have soliloquized, saying:
As one cannot live his life over again,
and can make only one trip, must
look out and make no mistakes; have
but one chance and must make the
most Of it." My young friends, am
glad you made this application Of the
sermon yourself. When a minister to-
ward the close of his sermon says: Now
few words by way of application =
people begin to look around for their
bats and get their arm through one
sleeve of their overcoats, and the SER
nonic application is failure. ! am
glad you have made your own applica-
sion and that you are resolved, like q
Quaker of whom read years ago, who,
In substance, said: Il shall be along
this path of life but once and so 1 must
do al the kindness I can and all the
good can" My hearers, the mistakes
of youth can never be corrected. Time
gone is gone forever. An opportunity
passed the thousandth part of o second
has by one leap reached the other side Of
great eternity. In the autumn when the
birds migrate you look up and see the
sky black with wings and the focks
stretching out into many leagues Of air,
and so to-day I look up and see two
large wings in full sweep. They are
the wings of the flying year. That is
followed by flock Of three hundred and
sixty-fve, and they are the flying days.
Each OF the flying days is followed by
twenty four, and they are the flying
hours, and each Of these il followed by
sixty, and these are the flying min
utes. Where did this great flock start
from? Eternity past. Where are they
bound? Eternity to come. You might as
well 60 a-gunning for the quails that
whistled last year in the meadows or the
robins that last year caroled in the sky
as totry to fetch down and bag one Of the
past opportunities of your life. Do not
say, Il will lounge now and make it up
afterwards" Young men and boys, you
can't make it up. My observation is that
those who in youth sowed wild oats, to
the end of their short life sowed wild
oats, and those who start sowing Gem
esee wheat always SOW Genesee wheat.
And then the reaping Of the harvest is
SO different. There is grandfather now.
He has lived to an old age because his
habits have been good. His eyesight
for this world has got somewhat dim,
but his eyesight for Heaven is radiant
His hearing is not SO acute as it once
! was, and he must bend clear over to hear
what his little Crandchild saws when ehe