Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-06-18

Upon Our Earthly Lives The Final
Chance.
BROOKLYN, June 17.-Rev. DR.. Tai.
mace, who is now on his round the
world journey, has selected as the sub
ject for his sermon through the press to-
day "Another Chance" the text being
taken from Ecclesiastes XII 8, eff the
tree fall toward tho south or toward the
north, i'll the place where the tree fall
eth there it shall be- -
There is lowering hope in the minds
of vast multitude that there will be
an opportunity in the next world to cor
rect the mistakes of this; that if we
do make complete shipwreck of our
earthly life it will be on shore NJ
which we may walk to palace; that
as defendant may lose his case in the
circuit court and carry it up to the su-
preme court or court of chancery and
get reversal of Judgment in his be-
half, all the costs being thrown over
on the other party, so, il we fail in the
earthly trial, we may in the higher ju-
risdiction of eternity have the Judgment
of the lower court set aside, all the costs
remitted, and we may be victorious de-
PENDANTS forever. My object in this
sermon is to show that common sense
as we'll as my text declares that such an
expectation is chimerical You say that
the impenitent man, having got into the
next world and seeing the disaster, will,
as result of that disaster, turn. the pain
the cause of his reformation. But you
can find 10, 900 instances in this world
Of men who have done wrong, and dis
tress overlook them suddenly. Did the
distress heal them? No; they went
right on.
That man was flung of dissipations.
"You must stop drinking" said the
doctor, land quit the fast life you are
leading. or it will destroy you. The
patient suffers paroxysm after paroxysn
but under slzillful medical treatment he
begins to sit up, begins to walk about
the room, begins to go to business
And, 10, he goes back to the same
grogshop for his morning dram, and
his evening dram, and the drans be-
tween. Flat down againi Same doc
tori Same physical anguish Same
medical warningl Now the illness is
more protracted, the liver is more stub
born, the stomach more irritable, and
the digestive organs are more rebellious.
But after awhile he is out again, goes
back to the same dramshops and goes
the same round of sacrilege against his
physical health.
Suffering Does Not Always Reform.
He sees that his downward course is
running his household; that his life is a
perpetual perjury against his marriage
vow; that that broken hearted woman is
so unlike the roseate young wife whom
he married that her old schoolmates do
not recognize her; that his sons are to
be taunted for lifetime by the fathers |
drunkenness; that the daughters are to
pass into life under the scarification of |
a disreputable ancestor. He is drinking |
up their happiness, their prospects for
this life, and perhaps for the life to
come. Sometimes an appreciation Of
what he is doing comes upon him. His
nervous system is all a-tangle. From
crown of head to sole of foot he is one
aching, rasping, crucifying, damning
torture. Where is he? In hell on earth.
Does it reform him?
After awhile he has delirium tre-
mems, with a whole jungle of kissing
reptiles let out ON his pillow, and his
screams horrify the neighbors as he
daahes out of his bed crying, "Take
these things off meP' AS he sits pale
and convalescent the doctor says:
"Now, want to have plain talk with |
you, my dear fellow. The next attack
of this kind you have you will be be-
yond all medical skill, and you will |
die. - He gets better and goes forth into
the same round again. This time medi-
cine takes no effect Consultation of
physicians agree in saying there is no
hope. Death ends the scene.
That process of inebriation, warning |
and dissolution is going ON within a
stones throw of you, going on in all the
neighborhoods of Christendom. Pain |
does not correct. Suffering does not re-
form. What is true in one sense is true
in all senses and will forever be so, and |
yet men are expecting in the next world |
purgatorial rejuvenation. Take up the |
printed reports of the prisons of the |
United States, and you will find that
the vast majority of the incarcerated
have been there before, some of them
four, five, six times. With l, 900, 600 il
Illustrations all working the other way in
this world, people are expecting that
distress in the next state will be saliva
tory. You cannot imagine any worse tor
ture in any other world than that which
some men have suffered here, and with
out any salutary consequence.
Prospects of Reform.
Furthermore, the prospect Of refor-
nation in the next world is more i'm
probable than a reformation here. In
this world the life started with inno-
cence of infancy. In the case supposed
the other life will open with all the
accumulated bad habits of many years
upon him. Surely it is easier to build
a strong ship out of new timber than
out of an old hulk that has been ground