The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-04-11

a young man start out for Christ? Here
issome one falling; he lifts him up. Here
is a vagabond boy; he introduces him 70
a mission school. Here is afamily freez-
ing to death; he carries them a scuttle of
coal. There are 500, 600, 600 perishing in
midnight heather darkness. By all pos
sible means he tries to send them the
gospel. He may be laughed at, and he
may be sneered at, and he may be carl
catured, but he is not ashamed to 90
everywhere saying: Il am not ashamed
Of the gospel of Christ. It is the power
of God and the wisdom Of God unto sal
vation."
Such a young man can go through
everything. There is no force on earth
or in hell that can resist him. I show
you three spectacles:
CERTAIN SPECTACLEs.
Spectacle the First-Napoleon passed
by with the host that went down with
him to Egypt and up with him through
Russia and crossed the continent on the
bleeding heart of which he set his iron
heel, and across the quivering flesh of
which he went grinding the wheels of his
gun carriages-in his dying moment ask
ing his attendants to put on his military
boots for him.
Spectacle the Second-Voltaire, bright
and learned and witty and eloquent, with
tongue and voice and strategem internal,
warning against God and poisoning whole
kingdoms with his infdelity, yet ap-
plauded by the clapping hands of thrones
and empires and continents-his last
words, in delirium supposing Christ
standing by the bedside-his last words.
s.Crush that wretch"
Spectacle the Third-Paul-Paul, in
significant in person, thrust out from all
refined association, scourged, spat on,
bounded like a wild beast from city to
city. yet trying to make the world good
and heaven full; announcing resurrection
to those who mourned at the barred gates
of the dead; speaking consultations which
light up the eyes of widowhood and
orphanage and want with glow of Ger
tain and eternal release; undaunted be-
fore those who could take his life, =
cheek flushed with transport and his eye
on heaven; with one hand shaking de-
fance at all the foes of earth and all the
municipalities Of hell, and with the other
hand reckoning messenger angels to
come and bear him away as he says: Il
am now ready to be offered, and the
time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought the good fight; I have finished my
course; I have kept the faith. Hence
forth there is laid up for me q crown OF
righteousness, which the Lord, the right
eous Judge. will give me-"
Which Of the three spectacles do you
most admire? When the wind Of death
struck the conqueror and the in1del,
they were tossed like sea gulls IN a
tempest, drenched Of the wave and torn
of the hurricane, their dismal voices
heard through the everlasting storm,
but when the wave and the wind of
death struck Paul, like an albatross, he
made q throne Of the tempest and one
day hoated away into the calm, clear
summer Of heaven, brighter than the
dove, its wings covered with silver, and
its feathers with yellow gold. On, are
you not in love with such a religion-a
religion that can do so much for a man
while he lives and so much for a man
when he comes to die?
A CONTRAST.
I suppose you may have noticed the
contrast between the departure Of a
Christian and the departure of an infdel.
Diodorus, dying in chagrin because he
could not compose a joke equal to the
joke uttered at the other end of his table;
Zeuxis, dying in a cit of laughter at the
sketch of an aged woman--a sketch
made by his own hand; Mazarin, dying
playing cards, his friend holding his
hands because he was unable to hold
them himself.
All inst Oh one side, compared with
the departure Of the Scotch minister
who said to his friends: 81 have NJ in
terest as to whether I live Dr. die. If I
die, I shall be with the Lord, and if I
live the Lord will be with me-" Or the
last words of Washington, ..It is we'll"
Or the last word of Mcintosh, the learn
ed and the great, Happy" Or the last
words of Hannah More, the Christian
poetess, 'Joy!!' Or those thousands of
Christians who have gone, saying: Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit! Come, Lord
Jesus, come quickly!!' go death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy VIC
tory??'
Behold the contrast. Behold the charm
Of the one, behold the darkness of the
other. Now, I know it is very popular
in this day for young men to think there
is something more charming in skepti-
cism than in religion. They are ashamed
of the old fashioned religion of the cross,
and they pride themselves on their free
thinking on all these subjects. My
young friends, I want to tell you what I
know from observation-that while skep-
ticism is a beautiful land at the start, it
is a great Sahara desert at the last.
AN APT STORY.
Years ago a minister's son went of
- oo~o Lo