The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1892-01-21

Il
you say. "Can you tell me anything about
the Petersons who used TO live heref" "Ye~,p
says the old inhabitant; ~ remember them
very well. The father and mother have
been dead for years" "Well how about
the childrenl What has become of themyn
The old inhabitant replies; "They turned
out badly. You know the old man was
about half an infidel and the boys were all
,nfdels The oldest son married. but cot
mo mo drinking habits, and In few years his
wire was not able TO live with him any long
er, and his children were taken by relotives
and he died of delrium tremens on Black
| wells Island His other son forged the name
OF his employer and fed to Canada.
| 'one OF the daughters OF tho old folks
married an inebriate with the idea of reform-
ing him, and you know how that always
ends-in the ruin OF both the experimenter
and the one experimental with. The other
daughter disappeared mysterously and has
not been heard OF. There was young
woman picked out OF the East River and put
In the morgue, and some thought it was her,
but cannot say" rs IL possibleY' you cry
out. "Yes, IL is possible. The family Is a
| complete wreck" NY hearers. that IL lust
| what might have been expected. All this IL
| only the Echo. the dismal Echo, the awful
| Echo, the dreadful Echo OF parental obliquity
and unfaithfuness. The old folks heape1 up
mountain Of wrong influences, and this Is
| only what my text calls Tho sounding of
| the mountains"
Indeed our entire behavior in this world
will have resound. While opportunities
| dy in a straight line and Just touch us once
anu are gone never to return, the wrongs
/ we practice upon others fly in circle, and
they come back 70 the place from which
/ they started. Doctor Guillotine thought 10
smart to Introduce the instrument OF death
named after him. but did not like IL so
well when his own head was chopped of
| with the guillotine.
/ So also the Judgment Day will be an Echo
/ of all our other days. The universe needs
such day, for there are 10 many things in
| the world that need to be fixed up and ex-
/ plained. IL God had not appointed such
/ day all tho nations would cry out. "Oh,
/ God, give us Judgment Day" But we are
/ apt to think OF IL and speak about II as n
day away off in the future having no spe-
| cial connection with this day or any other
/ day. the fact is that we are now making
up its voices; its trumpets will only sound
back again 10 us what we now say and do.
That is the meaning of all that Scripture
which says that Christ will on that day ad-
dress the soul saying, III was naked and Se
( clothed me; was sick and in prison and Ye
visited me-"
All the footsteps in that prison corridor as
the Christian reformer walks too the wicket
/ Of the incarcerated, yea all the whispers of
coincidence in the ear of that poor soul dying
in that garret, yea all the kindnesses are be-
Z ing caught up and rolled on until they dash
against the Judgment throne and then they
will be struck back into the ears of thess
] sons and daughters OF mercy. Louder than
the crash of Mount Washington falling on
its face in the world wide catastrophe, and
/ the boiling OF the sea over the furnaces of
/ universal confiagration will be the Echo an1
re-echo OF the COOL deeds done and the SYM
| pathetic words uttercl and the mighty bene-
| factions wrought.
/ On that day all the charities, all the self
sacrifices, all the philanthropies, all the
/ benehcent last wills and testaments, all the
Christian work of all the ages, will be piled
up into mountains, and those who have
served God and served the suffering human
race will hear what my text styles The
sounding of the mountains"
My subject advances TO tell you that
eternity itself is only an echo of time Mind
/ you, the analogy warrants my saying this.
/ The echo is not always exactly in kind like
| the sound originally projected, Lord Ri-
| leigh says that woman's voice sounding
! from grove was returned an octave higher.
| A scientist playing flute In Fairfax County,
/ Va, found that all the notes were returned,
although some of them in a raised pitch
A trumpet sounded ten times near Glas-
| gov, Scotland, and the ten notes were all
repeated, but a third lower. And the spr-
/ itual law corresponds with tue natural
world. What we do of good or bad may
| not come back 10 us in just the proportion
we expect IL, but come back IL will; IL may
/ be from higher gladness than we thought
! or from deeper woe, from "A mightier con-
/ queror or from worse captive, from
/ higher throne or deeper dungeon. Our
| PRAYER or our blasphemy, our kindness or
| our cruelty, our faith or our unbelief, our
| holy life or our dissolute behavior, will come
back somehow.
Suppose the boss of factory or the head
of IA commercial firm some day comes out
| among his CLERKS or employees, and putting
| his thumbs in the armholes Of his vest says,
/ with an air of swagger and jOcOsity: "Well,
/ / don't believe in the Bible or the church.
| The one is an imposition and the other Is
| full OF hypocrites. | declare / would not
/ trust one OF those very pious people further
! than | could see him. That is all he says,
| but he has said enough. The young men go
! back to their counters or their shuttles AMI
/ say within themselves "Well he isa sue.
cessful man and has probably studied up the
whole ject an is probably right
That one lying utterance against Bibles
anl churches has put five young men on the
wrong track, and though the influential man
| had spoken only in half Jest, the echo shall
come back 10 him in five ruined lifetimes
aud five destroyed eternites. You see ths
| Echoes are an octave lower than he antici'
pated On the other hand some rainy day,
when there are hardly any customers, tho
| Christian merchant comes ont from his
counting room and stands among the young
men who have nothing tn do, and says;
"Well, boys, this is dull day, but 1t VIII
clear of after awhile. There are IA good
many ups and downs in business, but there
is an overruling Providence.
Years ago made up my mind 10 trust
| God and He has always seen me through.
remember when | was your age, hal just
come 10 town and the temptations Of city
life gathered around me, but | resisted.
| The fact is there were two old folks out on
the old farm praying for me and knew IL,
aud somehow | could not do as some Of the
clerks did or go where some of the clerks
went. | tell you. boys 1t is best always 10
do right and there is nothing TO keep one
right like the old fashioned religion o. Jesus
Christ John, where did you go TO church
last Sunday Henry how is the Young
| Mems & ristian association prosperingY
| About noon the rain ceases and the sun
comes out and the clerks go 10 their places
and they say within themselves: swell, he
Is n successful merchant and 1 guess he
knows what he is talking about, and the
Christian religion must be IA good thing.
God knows l want some help in this battle