The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-03-01

| pour out into the Pacific ocean, and tht
| other riYulet flowing down iuto tho rlv.
ers which pass out into the Atlantic
| ocean? Every man, every woman,
stands ut point where words uttered
| or deeds done, ofprayers offered, decide
opposite dcstiuies and opposite eterni
ties. We ece u man planting tree and
treading the sod firmly on either side of
it and watering il In dry weather and
q great care in it's culture, and he never
plucks any fruit from its bougb, but his
children will. We ARG all planting trees
that will yield fruit hundreds ofyears af-
ter we arc dead orchards Of golden
| fruit or groves Of deadly upas.
l am 80 fascinated with tho pnosphor.
escCucc in tho track Of q ship that have
sometimes watched for long while and
have seen nothing on tho face Of the
deep but blackncss. The mouth of wa
tcry chaems that looked like gaping Jaws
Ct hell. Not spark Gs big as tho FREELY
net white scroll Of surf; not taper to
| illuminate tie mighty scpulcbers of dead
ships; darkness 5000 feet dsepnnd moro
| thousands OF feet long and wide. That
is the kind of wake that bad man
leaves behind him as he plows through
the occau Of this life toward the vaster
ocean Of the great future.
Now. suppose man seated in a cor
ncr grocery OK business rillco among
clerks 9iyos himself TO jolly skepticsm.
He lNu ;hs at too Bible, makes sport of
the DIraclcs, speaks of perdition in jokes
and laughs at rcviyals as trolic and at
the puseuGe Of - funeral procession,
which always solomnzes sensible people
says, boys, let's take O drink" There
is iii that group y young man who is
making q "rent struggle against temp.
M'iur, mud prays night and morning aud
reads his Bible, and is asking God for
help day by day. But that guflaw
against Christianity makes him lose his
grip Ct sacred things, and ho gives up
Sabbath and church and morals, aud
GOES from bad to worse, TIL he falls un.
der dissipations, dies in laZar house
and is hurled in the pottcr's field.
Another young mau who heard that
jolly skeptlc!sm. made up his mind TINT
"it makes no difference what VIC do or
say, for we all come out Mt the right
place" and began as q consequence to
purioln. Some money that came into
his hands for Others he applied TO hia
own uses, thinking perhaps he would
make it itstraight some other tine, and ali
would be well even if he Gid not make il
straight. lie ends in the pentcntiary
That scotler who uttered the Jokes
against Christianity never realized what
bad work lie was doing, aud he passcd
Oh through life and out Of it and into q
future that nm not now going to depict.
do not propose with asearchlight to
show the breakers of tho awful coast OF,
which that slip is wrecked, for my busi
ness is now TO watch tho sea after the
| keel has plowed it. No phosphoreec cepc;
IN the wake OF that ship, but behind |
two souls struggling in Tho wave; two
| young men destroyed by reckless skcpti
cism, and unlllumincd ocean benout
and on all sides of them. Blackucss c
darkness.
You kuow what n glorious good ma
Rev. John Newton was the most OF hi
life, bat before his conversion he was
very wicked sailor, aud on board the sh
Har"ich mlidelity and vice in the MN
of a yOuO@ man, principles which de
stroyed him. Afterwards the Two mo
and Newton tried to undo his bad Wor
but i'll vain. The young man becam
worse and worRe and died prolligate
|
stood by him in his last moments.
! But lind hero man who starts on
III life with the determination that he
will never see suffering but hS will try
to alleviate j., aud mover SEQ discourage.
mcnt hut he will try 10 cheer it, and
never meet with anybody but he will
try to do him good. Getting his strength
from God, he starts from home with
high purpose Of doing all tho good he
can possibly do IN one day.
Whether standing behind the counter,
or talking in tho business Office with a
pen nchind his enr, or making bargain
with fellow trader, or OuL in the fields
discussn" with his next neighbor the
wisest rotation OF crops, or in the shoe.
makers shop pounding the solo leather,
there il something in his face, and in his
phascology, and in his manner that dem
Ouslratcs the grace OF God in his heart.
He can talk On religion without awk-
wardly dragging it in by the ears. He
loves God ard loves the souls Of al
| whom ho meets AMI is interested in their
prcasnt and eternal destiny.
For so or 60 yeara he hvos that kinC
OF hle and then gets TIN ough with it an(
goes INTO heaven ransOmed soul
But am not going to describe the port
into which that ship has entered. l an
rot going to describe tho Pilot who me-
| him outside at the "iightship."
| am not going to say anything abou
| The crowds Of friends who met him OF
the chrYstalline wharvcs up which kt
goes on steps of chrysoprases. For Goo
IN his words to Job calls mo to look a
tho path Of foam in the wake OF thai
ship, and tell you 1t is oil agieam witt
splendors Of kindness done and rol
ling with illumined tears that wer,
! wiped away ard adash with congr0t
ulations, and clear out to tho horizon II
all dire ctions is the sparkling, flashing
Dlllowing phosphorescence OF Christ
iau life. lilo maketh Path TO shln
after him."
And here / correct one Of the meal
| notions which at some time takes pos
session Of all OF us, aud that is as TO th
brevlCy Of human life. When l bur.
some very useful man, clerical or lay
in his thlrtieth or fourtleth year, 1 say