The Forrest City times., 1890-03-15

| not ono ielbt fcf elgnteon HuDdrs3 years
 that city of Pompeh had bccn buried be. i fore modern exploration scooped out Of 1t
 tue lava of Vesuvius. Well, he who should
 be permitted to return On the pathway of
 his earthly life and live it over again would | find as lonely and sal n pilgrimage, 1t would be an exploration of the dead past | Tho old school house, the old church, the old home, the old play ground either gone or occupiei by others, and for you moro 1 depressing than was our Pompeian visit In ! Novembe
 Besides that would voa want 10 isk tho ' temptations of life over againi From the | fact that you arc hero l conclude that though ia many respects your life may have been unfortunate ani unconsecratcd ! you have got on s) far tolerably we'll, If | nothing moro than t1lerIble. As for my
 self, my lifo has beea far from bsing as | eonsecrated as l would lik, tc have had it,
 l would not want to try it over again, lest | next time l would do worse Wny, just | look at the temptations we have all passed l through and just look at tho multi l tudes who have gone completely under. | Just call over tho roll Of your | school mates and college mates, the | clerks who were with yon in tha same store
 or bank, or the operatives in tho same fac | tory with just us good prospects as yoa, who
 have come to complete mishap. Some young
 man that told you that he wa goiug to be n
 millionaire and own the fastest trottors on | Nestchester turnpike and retire by the time he was thtrty hfa years cf arc, you do not hear from him for many years, and | know nothing about hm until some day he | comes into your store anl asks tor iva | cents to get a mu9 ol beor You, the | good mother Of household and all your | children rising up to call you blessed, | can remember whol you were quits | jealous Of the belle of the village who was so trans ,endently fair and popI- l lar. But while you have those two honese
 able and queeniy names ot wiia and meta CT, she became Q poor waif cf the street,
 and went into the blackaass Of dark ness | forever Live life ove' agAta, Why, if
 many of those who are now respectable were | permitted to experiment the next journey | would be demolition. You got through, as Job says, by the skin of the teeth Next | time yoa might not gs, tarou ,h at all 1 satan would say "l know him batter now
 than did before. an have for fifty years | beea studying his walGa asses aui l will | weave stron ger we5 of circamstapesa to | catch him next tim sn An1 satan | would center his forces on ths ons i man, and the last state af that man would l be worse than the first My friends, oar faces are in tho right direction Better go 1 forward than backward, even If we had tho l choice. Tho greatest disaster can think | ot would be for you to return to hoyhoad in | le9l Oh, if life were a smooth Iuzerne or | CaNuga lake, | wouli like to get into a | yacht and sail over it, not oncc, but twice.
 yea, thousand times, Bat fife is an un- | certain sea, and some of the ships crash on
 the icebergs Of cold indifference, and some
 take fire of evil passion and soms lose their l forbearings aud run iuto the skerrics, aud some arc never heard Of. Surely on such q 1 treacherous seA as taat oaa voyage is enough.
 Beside aR this, do you know if you could 1 have your wish ana live life over again 1t | would put you so much further from re.
 union with your Friends ia h2aveni IT you | arc in the noon Of lifc or the evening of life
 you are nQt very far from the golden gate
 Ut which you are to meet yoar transported
 and omparadsei oyel ones. You are uow
 let us say, twenty years or ten years or
 one year off from celestial conj anction | Now suppose you went back in 1 your earthly life thirty years or forty years or fifty years what an awful 1 postponement of the time of reuuioal 1 It would be as though you were going | to san Francisco to great banquet 1 and you got to Oa&lsni four to Hva miles thJs s,da Of ib 0n1 then cans haex l to Hoboken or Harlem to got bettsr start: | as though you were going to Enxlan1 to be 1 crowned and having come iu sigh, O. tho l mountains Of Wales yog put back Co Sandy l Hook in order 10 ma6e a better vovagA i The further on yoa got in lige. if q Chris l tian, the nearer VOL are ta the renewal Of 1 broken ID coMpanionsAlp No; the waae | of time turns in the right direction aud it ia .sif sat.r,a 4 aud sixty five revolutions iu yelr and 1 forward. But hear vel Hear ya! while l tell you how you may 1 pra atically lva yonr life over l araiu aud bo all the better for it You may 1 pat into the rom ttniHy years of your life alt i you have learned of wisdom in your past | life You may make the coming ten years 1 worth the preceding forty or fifty years. | & hen man says ho woald ike h live his | life over again because he would do so much better, and vet goes right on Twin as | he had always lived. do yol no, seq ha sfnl. | tstes hims IT. He proves thnt II he coajd | go back he would dc almost tha same as he | has done. it a man eat green app oA some | etnesdaY in cholera time ant Is thrown | Into fearful cramps an says on Thursday; ] "i wish had been more prudent in my diet; oh, r l could live Wednesday over
 
 ! last as green, he proves that 1t would i have been no advantage for him to live | "Wednesday over gain. Ani If we deplor 1 ing our past life and with the idea of i'm. | prpgement, long for an opportunity b try it ! over again, Yet 70 on making the same mis. | takes and committing tho same sins we | only demonstrate that the repetition Of oAr existence would aforl no Improvement it | was green apples boIara and it wolld b. l green apples over again As soon as a ship
 captain strikes d rock in tue lnlse or sea h. ! reports it and q buoy Is swung over that reef and marines hencoforth stand of i from that rock. And all our mistakes | ia tho past ought 60 be buoys wAratn us
 to keep in the right channel. There Is no excuse for Us if wa spit on the same rock where we split before Going along tho
 sidewalk at night whare excavations are
 oelng made wo frequently soc a lantern on
 frame work, and we tarn aside, for that l lantern says, keep out of this hoie And 1 all along the pathway of life lan,eras arc ] set as warnings, and by tha time WIG come | io u1id life wo ought tO know where it is ! sale to walk and where II is unsafe
 ! Reside that w. have all these years been [ learning how to ho useful, ani in the next
 decade wc ought to accomplish more for 1 God and tho church and the world than in any previous four decades The best way | c atone for past indo.eaee or past trans. | grasslon is by future ass.duitv. Yet you ! often ind Christian man wno were not | converted unta they were forty or htty. as ! old age comes on, sayingt "Wel my | work is aboat done anl IL Is time for me to
 rest They gave forty years of their iife { to satan and the world, little fragment
 cf thoir life to God and. now they want 10 i rest Whether that belongs 10 comedy or [ tragedy say not Tha man who gave | oaehaf oi his earthly existence to tho ! world anl of the remaining tw0-auarters | one Go Christian w0rS aul taa oher ta | rest, would not l supp2sa, get a very brill
 liaat reception In hoaven. 1T there arc any 1 dried leaves in heaven they woald be ap- ] nropr ate for his garland Orit there is any throRe with broken steps it would be ap. 1 prapriate for his coronation; or any harp ' with relaxed string it would be appropriate 1 Ter his lingering. My brother, you elve | nine'teRths ot your tie to sin and Satan