The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-04-02

| you. Every man stands alone before God and
will not be judged by what others have done.
man came to me a short time ago for advice.
He had recently been in prison. He talked
about the hard times he had been having;
the cold treatment he had received; and he
| excused his own misconduct by comparing his
life with the lives of some people that were no
better than he yet were counted respectable. He
said he knew church members who no
better than they ought to be. What poorer excuse
| could a man give than that? You believe in a
future life; that will have to answer on the
judgment day for our life here on earth. We will
| not make any such argument for ourselves on
that day. And here comes the teaching of
Easter Day. The lesson of this day presents one
fact to you and to me that life is endless. We
must live whether wish to or not. God has
our life in His hand and has decreed that it shall
be eternal but He allows us to shape our own con-
duct and will hold us responsible for whatever
we make of ourselves. We cannot destroy our
life. but We may destroy our future happiness.
Some persons seek to destroy themselves by sui
eide; but that is not an end Of life-it is only
change of the garment in which our life is clothed.
Your body is not your life-it is only the form in
which your life shows itself here on earth. When
your body dies your life will show itself in some
other way. That is the lesson we are taught by
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
Our way lays along the same road that Christ
travelled. 1t is often said that we clergymen are
always telling people what they ought to do to
please God, but do not tell how to do it. There
is but one way to please God and that is by doing
our full duty at all times and under all circum-
stances. Man must be Christian to reach heaven
We must travel the road that Christ went
Man does not trust God to pilot him the
of life. but grasps the rudder in mis- own hand
and tries to control the ship himself. Some of
you have been railroad engineers or fremen and
have sat in the cab of an engine it flew along
the rails You know that it is plain sailing in
the day time. But when there comes one of those
dark. stormy nights when the dashing rain makes
it impossible to see beyond the window of the cab.
the engineer sits with his hand upon the throttle
and trusts that the track is all clear ahead. He
simply trusts. for he can do no more. That is the
way it is with us-we cannot see very far ahead
on the road we are travelling The light grows
very dim to our eyes at times, but it stands in
hand to make the best use possible of the light
have, stand to our post with firm hold upon the
throttle and trust God that we will reach our des
tination in safety. But you may say that in your
case you were run off the track by an obstruction
a misplaced switch some fault in the track.
But, my friend, you sure that it was not your
self who carelessly threw that switch placed
that obstruction upon the track that run you off
IN the darkness? Christ took that same train
which we are to travel and ran it through the
long dark tunnel of death out into the light of
the resurrection morn and on to heaven. We
must keep up our courage and stick to our duty of
running our train. We must keep our engine in
order and under control or we are in danger of
| being wrecked at any moment If we allow the
engine to at will sooner later there will be
a disaster and those in our train will suffer the
| consequences of our carelessness. When you
letting the engine run itself it perhaps killed
your loved mother, or sister, wife whose life
| you should have protected at the risk of your
own. You cannot let train run wild without en-
dangering the lives of others well your own,
neither can you let your life run wild without en-.
dangering its happiness here and hereafter. This
| is true of all men of whatever condition. They
| cannot allow themselves to run wild without be-
ing wrecked soon or late. You may think that
| your present circumstances not favorable but
tell you that it is often much easier to run the
train successfully here in prison than it is outside
where temptations are ever Turing you on to the
| wrong track.
know that you wish for your liberty above all
other earthly good. 1t is our nature to love free
dom here; but it is the freedom in the world be-
yond that we want and should strive to gain. If
we would reach that land we must keep hand
on the throttle and trust in God. You will not
have to travel the way alone. There will be
sympathizing hand to take hold of yours and help
you on the way-the Masters hand; and He will
be there to welcome you at the end of your jour-
ney. Oh men! be men; be true to God and to
yourselves, and run your train to that glorious
country beyond the grave. You will be happier
here and happier in heaven because you have
tried to live as true men.
Your son writes for the newspapers. 1
understands" ''Yes: my boy is mighty
smart. if do say it myself that shouldn't"
docs he use pseudonym in his writing?"