The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-03-18

''GoOu-Dyi L nope you Will be Detter
soon" He said; "Good-by, good-by."
That night his soul went to the God
who gave 1t. Arrangements were made
for the obsequies. Some said Don't
bring him in the church; he was too dis
solute." co." said, "bring him. He
was good friend Of mine while he was
alive, and shall stand by him now that
he is dead Bring him to the church."
+ AS ] sat in the pulpit and saw his
body coming up through the aisle, / felt
as If could weep tears of blood. told
the people that day: "This man had his
virtues, and good many of them. He
had his faults, oGd good many Of
them. But If there is any man in this
audience who is without sin, let him
cast the first stone at this coffin lid"
On one side the pulpit sat that little
child, rosy, sweet-faced, as beautiful as
any little child that sat at your table
this morning, ] warrant you, She looked
up wistfully, not knowing the full
sorrows of an orphan child, o,
her countenance haunts me to-day, like
some sweet face looking upon us
through horrid dream. On the other
side Of the pulpit were the men who
had destroyed him There they sat,
hard-visaged, some Of them pale from
exhausting disease, some of them
flushed until 1t seemed as II the fires
Of iniquity famed through the cheek
and crackled the lips They were the
men who had done the work. They
were the men who had bound him hand
and foot. They had kindled the fires
They had poured the wormwood and
gall into that orphans cup. Did they
weep? No. Did they sigh repentingly?
No. Did they say: what pity that
such brave man should be
slainP" No, no; not one bloated hand
was lifted to wipe tear from a bloated
cheek. They sat and looked at the
coffin like vultures looking at the car
cass Of lamb whose heart they had
ripped out! l cried in their ears as
plainly as could: "There is God and
q judgment day!" Did they tremble2l
o, no, no. They went back from the,
house OF God, and that night, though
their victim lay in lakewood, 1 was told
that they blasphemed, and they drank,
and they gambled, and there was not one.
Jess customer In all the houses Of in
iquity. This destroyed man was Sam
son in physical strength, but Delilah
sheared him, and the Philistines Of evil
companionship dug his eyes out and
threw him into the prison of evil habits.
But in the hour Of his death he rose up
and took hold Of the two pillared curses
Of God against drunkenness and un-
cleanliness, and threw himself forward,
until down upon him and his COM
panions there came the thunders Of an
eternal catastrophe.
Again: Any amusement that gives
you distaste for domestic life Is bad.
How many bright domestic circles have
been broken up by sinful amusemcnts!
The father went off, the mother went
of, the child went of. There are to-
day the fragments before me Of blasted
households o, II you have wandered
away, would like TO charm you back
by the sound of that one word "home.p
Do you not know that you have but
little Eore time TO give to domestic well
fare? Do you see, father, that your chill
dren are soon TO 60 out into the world,
and all the influence for good you are
TO have over them you must have now?
Death will break in on your conjugal
relations, and alas, II you have to stand
over the grave of onewho perishcd from
your neglect?
Isaw wayward husband standing at
the death bed of his Christian wife, and
| saw her point to n ring on her fnger,
and heard her say TO her husband: do
you see that ring?" He replied: "Yes,
I see It. "Well," said she, "do you
remember who put II there?" Yes"
said he, 81 put IL there" and all the
past seemed 10 rush upon him. by the
memory Of that day when, in the pres
ence Of men and angels, you promised
to be faithful in Joy and sorrow,
and in sickness and in health; by
the memory OF those pleasant hours
when you sat together In your new
home talking of bright future;
by the cradle and the joyful hour
when one life was spared and another
given; by that sick bed, when the little
one lifted up the hands and called for
help, and you knew he must die, and he
! put one arm around each of your necks
and brought you very near. together in
that dying kiss; by the little grave In
Greenwood that you never think OF
without a rush Of tcars by the family
Bible, where, amidst stories Of heavenly
J love. is the brief but expensive record
Of births and deaths; by the neglects Of
the past, and by the agonies of the
future; by a Judgment day, when
husbands and wives, parents and chill
dren, in immortal groups, will be caught
I up in shining array, or TO shrink down
into darkness; by all that, beg you TO
/ give TO home your best affections.
All, my friends, there Is an hour com.
ing when our past life will probably
pass before us In review. II will be our
last hour. II from our death-pillow we
have 10 look back and see q life spent In
sinful amusement, there will be dart
that win strike through our soul
sharper than the dagger with which
Virginius slew his child. The memory
Of the past viii make US quake like
Macbeth. The iniquities and riotinF
through which we have passed win
come upon us, weird and skeleton a.
Meg Merrilies. Death, the old shylock,
will demand and take the remaining
pound Of flesh and the remaining drop.
Of blood; and upon our last opportunity