Democratic messenger., 1894-02-24

Ill TIME OF temptation ne gave IN aiil1El
ative or negative TO some temptation
which another hearing of. was induced
to decide in the same way.
Clear on the other side of the next
million years may he the first you hear
Of the long reaching influence Of that
yes or no. but hear of il you will. Will
that father make path to shine after
him? Will that mother make path TO
shine after her? You will be walking
along these streets or along that country
road 900 wears from now in the character
of your descendants. They will he affect
ell 10y yonr courage or your cowardice,
your purity or yt'nr dcpravity, your holi
ness or your sin. You Will make the path
to shine after you or blacken after you.
Why should they point ont to us on
some mountain two rivulets, one of
which passes down into the rivers which
pour ont into the Pacific ocean. and the
other rivulct flowing down into the rivers
which pass ont into the Atlantic ocean?
Every man. every woman, stands Mt "A
point where words uttered. or deeds
done. or prayers offered, decide opposite
destinies and opposite eternities. We see
a man planting "a tree. and treading sod
firmly on either side of it. and watering
it in dry weather. and taking great
care in its culture. and he never plucks
any fruits from its hough. But his chill
dren will. We are all planting trees
that will yield frut hundreds of years
after we are dcad-orchards of golden
fruit or groves of deadly upas.
am SO fascinated with the phosphor-
escence in the track of ship that have
sometimes watched for long while and
have seen nothing on the face of the deep
but blackncss. The mouth of watcry
chasms that looked like gaping jaws of
hell. Not spark as big as the firefly;
not white scroll of surf; not taper 10
illuminate the mighty sepulchers of dead
ships; darkness 1000 feet deep, and more
thousands of feet long and wide. That
is the kind of wake that bad man leaves
behind him as he plows through the
ocean Of this life toward the vastcr ocean
of the great future.
THE GROWTH OF SIN.
Now. suppose man seated in cor
ner. grocery or business office among
clerks gives himself to jolly skepticism.
He laughs ut the Bible. makes sport of
the miracles, speaks of perdition in
jokes and laughs AT revivalS as n frolic,
and at the passage of funeral process
sion. which always solemniZes sensible
people. saws. Boys. lets take drink"
There Is i'll that Groupa Young man who
is making great struggle against temp
tation and prays night and morning and
reads his Bible and is asking God for
help day by day. But that guffaw
against Christianity makes him lose his
grip of sacred things, and he gives up
Sabbath and church and morals and
goes from had to worse, till he falls I'M
der dissipations. dies in lazar honse
and is buried i'll the potter's field.
Another young man who heard that
jolly skep,icism made up his mind that
lit makes no difference what we do or
say for we will all come ont at last at the
right place" and 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 well even if he did not
make it straight. He ends in the peni-
tentiary. 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 il and
into future that ! am not now going To
depict.
do not propose with searchlight TO
show the breakers of the awful coast on
which that ship is wrecked. for my bust
ness now is To- watch the sea after the
keel has plowed it, No phosphorescence
in the wake of that ship. but hcilind it
two souls struggling in the wavc-two
young men DESTROYED by reckless skep-
ticism. an nnilumincd ocean beneath
and on all sides Of them. Blackucss of
darkness.
You know what gloriously good man
Rev. John Newton was the most of his
life. but before his conversion he ~as
very wicked sailor. and on board the ship
larwich inStilled infidclity and vice in
the mind Of Young man-pr principles
which destroyed him. Afterward the
two met. and Newton tried to undo his
bad work. but in vain. The Young man
became worse and worse and died a prof
ligate. horrifyins with his profanties
those who stood by mm in his last mo-
ments.
Better look ont what bad influence
you start. for you may not be able 10
stop it. II does not require very great
force To ruin others. Why was il that
many wears ago great flood nearly de-
stroyed New Orleans: \ crawfish had
bnrrowed into the banks of the river un-
til the ground was saturated and the
banks weakened until the flood burst.
TIE SHINING PATH
But find here a man who starts out
in life with the determination that he will
never see suffering but he will try 10 al
leviate il. and never See encouragement
but he will try 10 cheer il. and never
meet with anybody but he will try to do
him good. Getting his strength from
God. he starts from home with high pur-
pose of doing all the good he can possibly
do III one day.
Whether standing behind the counter,
or talking i'll the business office witha pen
behind his ear. or making a bargain with a
fellow trader. or ont i'll the fields discuss
ing with his next neighbor the wiscSt ro-
tation Of the crops I'm the shoemaker's
shop pounding sole leather, there is some
thing III his fa.c. and in his phrase
olo=y. and iii his manner. that demon
straies the grace Of God in his heart He
can talk on religion without awkwarrlly
dragging IL III 10y the ears. He loves God
and loves the souls If all whom he meets
and is interested in their present and
eternal dcs.:ny
For 80 or @ years he lives that kind of
life and then gets through with IL and
goes into heaven "A ransomcd soul But
! am not going /" describe the port into
which that ship has entered
! am not going to describe the Pilot
who met him outside nj the ''lightShip."
! am not GONG 10 say anything about the