The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-01-28

awhile. The theory acted on though
perhaps not announced: "The children
will have to do as l did and take their
chances. Life Is a lottery anyhow, and
some draw prizes and sc me draw blanks,
and we will trust to luck"
Skip twenty years and come back to
tho neighborhood where that family used
to live. You meet on the street or on
the road an old inhabitant of that Deigh-
borheod, and you say, eau you .ell me
anything about the Petcrsons who used
to live here!" Ycs," says the old inha-
bltant; II remember them very well.
The father and mother have been dead
for years." A&Ncll how about the chill
dren? WhayIias become ofthcm?U The
Old inhaG!taut replies: "Thev turned
out badly. You kown the old man was
about half all inlidel and the BOYS were
all lntldels. The oldest son married,
hnt got into drinking habits, aud In
lew years his vile was net able TO live
with him any longer and his children
were taken by relatives, and he died Of
dclirium trcmens on Blackwell's 'sland.
His other son forged the name Of his
employer and fled 10 Canada.
One of the daughters OF the old folks
married an inebriato with The idea Of re-
forming him, and you know how that
always ends--in the ruin of both the cX-
rermenter and and one experimental
with. The other daughter disappeared
mysterlously and has not been heard Of.
There was d young woman picked out
of the East river and put IN tho morguc,
and some thought it was her, but I can
notsay.' rs it pose iD.c:" you cry ou,
Yes, it is possible. The FAM. IS a
complete wreck" My hearers, tnat is
Just what might have been expected.
Ali this is only the Echo, the dismal
Echo, the awful Echo, the dreadful Echo
OF parental obliquity aud unfaithfulness.
The old folks heapvd up a mountain of
wrong influences, and this is only what
my text calls The sounding of the
mountains"
Indeed our entire behavior in this
world will have n resOurd. While OBJ
portunitles fly i'll Il straight line and Just
touch LIS once and arc gone never to re-
turn, the wrongs we practice upon 9TH
els fly in circle, and they come back
to the place from which they started.
Doctor Guilioline thought il smart to
introduce the instrument Of death uam Ell
after him, but did not like it so we'll
when lis own head was chopped oil with
the gulllOtine.
So also the Judgment Day will be an
Echo OF all our other days. The uni.
verse needs such Il day, for there arc so
| many things IN The world that need tC
be nNed up and explained. II God had
not appointed such day all the nations
would cry out, "Oh. God, give us q
Judgment Day." But we are apt tc
think Of it and speak about it as day
| away OIL in the future. having no spec
ial connection with this day or any Other
day. The fact is that we are now max.
ing up It's voices; its trumpets will only
sound back again TO us what we now
say and do. That is The meaning Of all
that Scripture which says that Christ
will on that day address the soul, say
lnt, 81 was naked and We clothed me;
was sick and in prison and ye visited
me-"
AL the footsteps in that prison corri-
dor as the Christian reformer walks to
the wicket Of the incarcerated, yea all
the whispers Of coincidence in the ear of
that poor soul dying in that garrct, yea
all the klndDcsses are being caught up
and rolled on until they dash against the
Judgment Throne and then they will be
struck back into the ears of these sons
and daughters Of mercy. Louder than
the crash Of Mount Washington falling
on its face In the world WIDE catastro-
phe, and the boiling of the sea over the
furnaces OF universal contlagration will
be the Echo and Re-echo of the good
dcedsdone and the sympathetic words
uttered and the mighty beneiactions
wrought.
On that day all the charities, all the
selt-sacrlices, all the philanthropies, all
the bcncliceut last wills and testamcnts.
all the Christian work Of all the aces
Will be pllrd up into mountains. and
those who lave served God ana served
the suffering human race Will hear what
my text styles, "Thr sounding Of the
mOuntaiDs.'
My subject advances 10 tsll you that
eternity Itself is only an echo OF time.
Mlnd YOU, the analogy warrants nay say
'nY this. The echo ls not always exact
y IN KIND liHe the sound originally Pre-.
lected. Lord Raleigh says that 4 wo-
mans voice sounding from a grove was
returned IN octave higher. A scientist
H.,
found thIC all the notes were returned
although some Of them came in raiscd d
p'ch. a trumpet sounded ten times
near Glasgow, Scotland. and the ten
notes were al repeated, but 81 third
lower. And the spiritual law CORES
ponds with the natl!ra! world. What we
do Of Good or bad may not come back
to us in Just the proportion VIC expect
1t, but come buck it Will; It may be rom
higher %,adness than we thought or
from deeper woe. from a mighticr con-
Iueror or from worse captive, from a
higher throne or deeper dungeon. Our
prayer or onr blasphcmy, cur kiadness
Or our cruelty, our faith or our uubsliet,
our holy life or our dissolute behavior,
will come hack somehow.
Some rainy day, when there are hard
" any customers, the Christian mer-
chant comes out from his counting room
ana stands among the young men who
have nothing to do, and says: "Well,
boys, this is dali day, but 1T will clear
of after awhile. There are good many
ups and downs in business. but there is