The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-02-05
OUR SUNDAY COLUMN.
Original and Otherwise-Pre-
pared by Mark.
No. 35.

ing ATTENDED lew Sunday evenings
ago in one Of the churches in Roanoke.
There was goodlY number of young
ladies and gentlemen present and few
men of ripper years. After hymn and
prayer the leader announced tho topic,
which was THE Danger Line" based
upon the following scripture:
because have called and We have re-
fused; have stretched out my hand and
no man regarded; but ye have set at
nought all my counsel; and would mono
OF my reproof; l also will laugh at your
calamity, will mock when your fear
cometh"-Proverbs, 1885.
One young man arose and said: "In
every life there is o danger limo. The
very law of our nature makes this evi.
dent. We are progressive beings. We
necessarily and inevitably advance
either upward or downward. The i'm
agerv of the chapter from which this
passage is taken is very beautiful. Wis
dom is represented as pleading with the
young man to abstain from evil, to seek
noble life, to walk in the path OF vir
tue and Of piety. After these entreat.
les have ceased there comes the terrible
warning, that il the advice OF wisdom
BIO Ignored terrible results will follow"
Another said Every unconverted
man is approaching the danger line.
There may DO differences of character
among unbeiievers, but they are all
going the same way, and are in danger
of the Same spiritual and NOR al disaster.
Some are going more rapidly than
others, but all are tending downward.
Men are euamored of the world, its
pleasures, it's gains, its vices attract
them. Their eyes are blinded by the
God Of this world. They know OF no
higher life than that which is confined
to earth, nor do they desire to know any
other. How many young man there
is who worships the God OF this world,
forgetting all the time that he is sink
ing lower and lower.
"Unbelief possesses the souls of
many. They have been told of tho
spiritual dangers which threaten them,
but are unwilling to believe in their OK.
istence. They question the inspiration
OF the Bible; they cast doubt upon the
doctrines Of grace, they turn with moro
or less antagonism from ail the truths
of salvation. They are ready to hear
every whisper OF skepticism, but they
close their ears against the thunders of
divine love and against the pleadings
OF a crucihed Savior"
Another arose and said Men NAV
pass the danger line without know
ing it. 1t is a line hidden from
mortal view, but there will come tin @
when one may step over it without
knowing that he has made tho advance
which will decide finally his destiny.
Habit will Ak it's letters upon the soul.
Sin will take possession Of the heart
and life, the whole nature will be black
ened by iniqulty There are living to-
day men who have passed the danger
line who sometimes talk Of higher life
and heavenly existence, who will
never rise the least bit in the moral
scale and who are as near heaven as
they will ever be. The day will come
when the impenitent man will have no
further desire or intent to repent, and
when the besotted sinner Will be salts
fed to remain forever in his degrada-
ton"
The third speaker said: "There are
others who sink into sort of indiffer.
ence. These things may or may not be-
so but they care not one way or the
other. They have no higher ambition
than to buy, sell and get gain.
"Other people may think OF the dan.
ger line, but they have no time for such
meditations. They realize the fact
that they are going downward. They
intend some OF these days to turn back.
but with accelerated speed on they 90
toward destruction. They are worse to-
day than they were 12 months ago and
year hence they will be farther down
the steep incline than they are to-day.
The last speaker said: THE danger
line once past, recovery is impossible.
We see this constantly. We have
known men who are the victims OF bad
habits to solemnly promise that they
would never again indulge their evil
passions, and yet the echo Of their reso-
lutions had scarcely died away before
they were again under the power of the
dominant evil which is within their
souls. And there comes time in the
history Of every lost soul when its des.
tiny is fixed; when the offers of pardon
give no hope; when the promises of sal
vation send no joy to the heart, and
when heaven itself, with all its beau.
ties, fails to attract their souls.
1.-The language of the passage, as we
have said before, is fguratiye. God
never lau CHS at the calamity Of men nor
mocks them when they are overwhelmed
with fear. but the passage is an adapta.
ton to human thought and is an express
sion of the ideas 80 common to US, that
when one has rejected all his privileges
he has no claim to sympathy or help,
when the consequences Of his own evil
doing come upon him. Nor will God
ever refuse to hear one who calls upon
him in true penitence, but when a man
has passed the danger line, there will
be no more in his life spiritual desire or
penitent prayer.
I'VE are living solemn life, eternal
interests are suspended upon our con.
duct. The only way to avoid the danger
line Is to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and to spend our lives In his
service. Then shall we be led by his
hand higher and higher, till at last we