The Globe-republican., 1894-02-23

Now, suppose man seated in a COZ
ner grocery. or business among clerks
gives himself to jolly skepticism- H
laughs at the Bible, makes sport of tn
miracles, speaks of perdition in jokes
and laughs at revivals as frolic, ant
at the passage of a funeral procession
which always solemnizes sensible peo
pie, says: Boys, let's take drink.
There is in that group young mar
who is making a great struggle agains
temptation, and prays night and morn
ing. and re DIS his Bible. and is asking
God tor help day by day.. But tina,
guffaw against Christianity makes
him lose his grip of sacred thing:
and he gives up Sabbath, and
church. and morals. and goes from bad
to worse, till he falls under dissipa-
tions. dies in lazar house and is buried
in the potter's field. Another young
man who had heard that jolly skepti-
cism made up his mind that 1t makes
no difference what we do or say, for
we will all come out at last at the right
place., began, as consequence, to
purloin. Some money that came into
his hands for others he applied to his
own uses, thinking perhaps he would
make it straight some other time, and
all would be we'll even if he did
not make it straight He ends in the
penitentiary. That scoffer who uttered
the jokes against Christianity never
realized what bad work he was doing,
and he passed on through life. and out
of it, and into a future that l am not
now going to depict. do not propose
with search-light to show the break
ers of the awful coast on which that
ship is wrecked, for my business now
is to watch the sea after the keel has
plowed it. No phosphoresence in the
wake of that ship, but behind it two
souls struggling in the wave; two
young men destroyed by reckless skep-
ticism; an unillumined ocean beneath,
and on all sides of them. Better look
out what bad influence you start. for
you may not be able to stop it. 1t does
not require very great force to ruin
others Why was it that .many years
ago great flood nearly destroyed New
Orleans? A crawfish had burrowed in
to the banks of the river until the
was saturated, and the banks
until the flood burst.
But find here a man who starts out
in life with the determination that he
will never see suffering but he will try
to alleviate it; and will never see dis
but he will try to cheer
; and will never meet with any body
out he will try to do him good. Get
ing his strength. from God. he starts
rom home with high purpose of doing
Ill the good he can possibly do in one
lay. Whether standing behind the
or talking in the business of
ice with pen behind his ear, or max
ng bargain with fellow trader, or
'ut in the fields discussing with
lis next neighbor the wisest rotation
# crops, or in the shoemaker's shop
sole leather, there is
omething in his face, and his phrase
logy, and in his manner that demon
trates the grace of God in his heart.
lie can talk on religion without awk-
vardly dragging it in by the ears. He
owes God, and loves the souls of all
vhom he meets, and is interested in
heir present and eternal destiny. For
fly or sixty years he lives that kind
f life and then gets through with it
nd goes into Heaven a ransomed soul
tut l am not going to describe the port
lto which that ship has entered For
Iod in his words to Job calls me to
L. ho ~ 81 |
that ship, and 1 tell you it is all
CLEAN with splendors of kindness
one, and rolling with illumined tears
hat were wiped away, and a-dash with
and clear out on the
ORION in all directions is the spark
ng, flashing. billowing phosphores- :
ence of a Christian life. He maketh a
ath to shine after him"
There were in the seventeenth CEN
Try men and women whose names you
ever heard of, who are to-day infiu- I
ncing schools, colleges. churches. ma
Ons You can no more measure the
racious results of their lifetime than |
ou could measure the length, and |
and depth of the phosphor- I
'cence last night following the ship of {
lie White Star line 1.500 miles out at s
"a. How the courage and consecra-
on of others inspires us to follow, as :
general in the American army. cool ,
mid the flying bullets, inspired a ,
embling soldier, who said afterwards: l
was nearly scared to death, but saw {
le old mans white mustache over -,
is shoulder and went on" Aye, 8
e are following somebody either in
ght or wrong directions. You will,
sfore twenty-four hours go by, meet {
me man or woman with big pack of a
ire and trouble, and You may say c
mething to him or her that will en- a
Ire until the world shall have been so +
r lost in the past that nothing but
e stretch of an angelic memory will I
able to realize that it ever existed at a
l. If this be the opportunity of or c
nary souls. what is the opportunity G
those who have especial intellectual, y
social. or monetary equipment v
Have you any arithmetic capable of e
timating the influence of our good l.
I'd gracious friend who few DAYS t
RI want mn fo roSf-Gaorpo w Ch;11s | ID