The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-04-18

Ah, no! Wnen ne opens Ills eyes IN rn0
morning, will the world be as bright to him
as to that young man who retired at night
saying his prayers, invoking Gods blessing
upon his own soul and the souls of his COM
| rades and father and mother and brothers
and sisters far away2 No, no! His laugh
will ring out rom the saloon so that you
hear 1t as you pass by, but 1t is hollow
laughter. In it Is the swapping Of heart
strings and the rattle OF prison gates. Happy
that young man happy2
Let him All high the bowl, he cannot
drown an upbraiding conscience. Let the
balls roll through the bowling alley the deep
rumble and the sharp crack cannot over
power the voices of condemnation. Let him
whirl in the dance Of sin and temptation and
| death all the brilliancy Of the scene cannot
make him forget the last look OF his mother
when he left home, when she said to him: :
"Now, my son, you will do right am sure
you will do right. You will, won't your"
That young man happy2 Why. across every
night there fit shadows Of eternal darkness;
there are adders coiled up in every cup there
are yultures of despair striking their iron
beaks into his heart there ar skeleton
fingers Of grief pinching at the throat.
leone in amid the clicking Of the glasses
and under the flashing of the chandeliers,
ungodly shall perish. There Is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked. The way OF
| transeressor Is hard" Oh, my friends,
there Is more joy In one drop OF Christian
| satisfaction than in whole rivers OF sinful de-
| upht. Other wings may be drenched Of the
| storm and splashed Of the tempest, but the
dove that comes In through the window OF
this heavenly ark has wings like the dove
covered with silver and her feathers with
| yellow gold.
Again, I remark, religion is an adornment
| In the style of usefulness into which 1t in
| ducts a man. Here are two young men. The
| one has fine culture, exquisite wardrobe,
plenty of friends, great worldly success, but
he lives for himself His chief care Is for
his own comfort. He lives uselessly. He dies
unregretted. Here is another young man.
| His apparel may not be 80 good bis educa-
tion may not be SO thorough. He lives Tor
others, His happiness Is to make others
| happy. Heis as self denying as that dying
| soldier falling In the ranks, when he SAID
"Colonel, there Is no need Of those boys tir-
ing themselves by carrying me to the hos
pital. Let me die just where I am 80
this young man of whom speak loves God,
wants all the world to love him, Is not
ashamed to carry bundle OF clothes up tnat
men do you admire the better2 The one
| sham, the other prince imperial.
Oh, do you know of anything, my hearer,
| that Is more beautiful than to see young
man start out for Christi Here Is some one
falling; he lifts him up. Here Is yagabond
boy !; he introduces him to q mission school
Here Is family freezing to death ; ne carries
600 perishing In midnight heather darkness.
By all possible means he tries to send them
the gospel. He may be laughed at. and
he may be eneered at. and he may be carl
| catured, but he Is not ashamed to 60 every
where saying: II am not ashamed OF the
gospel of Christ. It Is the power OF God
and the wisdom of God unto salvation"
Such young man can 60 through every.
thing. There is no force on earth or In hell
that can resist him. show you three spec
| tacles:
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
| uuiyering flesh OF which he went grinding
| the wheels OF his gun carriages-in his dying
moment asking 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 infdc1ty, yet applauded
| by the clapping hands Of thrones and en-
pires and continents-his last words, In
delirium supposing Christ standing by the
bedside-his last words, "Crush that
! wretch
Spectacle the Third-Paul-Paul, insigni-
| flcant in person, thrust out from all refined
association, scourged, spst on, hounded IKE
| a wild beast from city to city, yet trying TO
make the world good and heaven full an
nouncing 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 certain and eternal release un-
| daunted before those who could take his
life, his cheek flushed with transport and
his eye on heaven with one hand shaking
defiance at all the foes OF earth and all the
principalfties of hell, and with the other
hand beckoning messenger angels to come
| and bear him away as he says: II am now
ready to be offered, and the time OF my de-
parture is at hand. I have fought the good
| fight I have finished my course; have
! kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up
for me crown Of Righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me-"
Which Ct the three spectacles do you most
admire? When the wind OF death struck the
conqueror and the inhdel, they were tossed
like sea gulls in 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
| throne OF tine tempest and one day foated
away into the calm, clear summer OF heaven,
brighter than the dove, its wings covered
with silver, and its feathers with yellow
gold. Oh, are you not in love with such
religion--a religion that can do so much for
q man while he lives and so much for man
| when he comes to die?
I suppose you may have noticed the con-
| trast between the departure OF Christian
| and the departure Of an inhde. Diodorus,
| diving in chagrin because he. could not COM
pose joke equal to the joke uttered at the
other end of the table; Zeuxis, dying In fit
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 that on one side, compared with the
departure OF the Scotch Minister, who said
to his friends: ~ have no interest as to
whether live or die. II die I shall be
with the Lord, and if I live the Lord will be
with me-" Or the last words Of Washington,
SIT Is we'll" Or the last word OF Mcintosh,
the learned and the great, Happy" Or the
last words Of Hannah More, the Christian
poetess, "Joym Or those thousands Of
Christians VINO have gone saying: Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit Come, Lord Jesus,
come quickly" 20 death, where Is thy
sting? o grave, where Is thy vlctoryw
Behold the contrast. Behold the charm
OF the one, behold the darkness OF the other.
Now, know it is very popular in this day
for young men to think there Is something
more charming in skepticism than in religion.
They ara ashamed OF the old-fashoned re-