The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-04-26

luton. at last have risen 70 posltlvi
dominion of moral power.
You do not tell him that, do you
No. You say to him; Loan you
money? No. You are down. You
will have to go to the dogs. Lend you
a dollar? l would not lend you five
cents to keep you from the gallows
You are debauched, Get out Of my
sight, now! Down; you will have &c
stay down" And thus those bruised
and battered men are sometimes ac'
costed by those who ought to lift them
up Thus the last vestige of hope is
taken from them. Thus those who
ought to go and lift and save them, are
guilty of stripping the slain.
The point I want to make is this: Sin
is hard, cruel and merciless; instead OF
helping a man up it helps him down.
and when, like Saul and his comrades,
you lie on the field, it will come and
steal your sword and helmet and
shield, leaving you to the jackal and
the crow.
But the world and Satan do not do
all their work with the outcast and
abandoned. A respectable impenitent
man comes to die He is fat on his
back. He could not get up if the house
was on fire. Adroitest medical skill
and gentlest nursing have been fail
ure. He has come to his last hour.
What does Satan do for such Il man?
Why, he fetches up all the inapt, dis
agreeable, and narrowing things in
his life. He says: do you remember
those chances you had for Heaven. and
missed them? Do you remember all
those lapses in conduct? Do you re-
member all those opprobrious words
and thoughts and actions? Don't re.
member them. Ell? I'll make you re-
member them" And then he takes all
the past and empties it on that death
bed. as the mail-bags are empticd on
the post Office door. The man is sick.
He cannot get away from them.
Then the man says to Satan: ''You
have deceived me. You told me that
all would be well. You said there
would be no trouble at the last You
told me if l did so and so, you would
do so and so. Now YOU corner me. and
hedge me up, and submerge me in
everything evil" "IIa, ha." saws
Satan, Il was only fooling you 1t is
mirth for me to see you suffer. have
been for thirty years plotting to get
you just where you are. 1t is hard for
you now-it will be worse for you after
awhile. 1t pleases me. Lie still, sir.
Don't finch or shudder. Come. now.
| will tear off from you the last rag of
l will rend from your
soul the last hope. I will leave you
bare for the beating of the storm. It
is my business to strip the slain"
While men are in robust health and
digestion is good. and their nerves are
strong, they think their physical
strength will get them safely through |
the last eXigency. They say it
IS only cowardly women who are |
afraid at the last. and cry out for God. |
Wait till come to die. will show you. |
You won't hear me pray, nor call for a |
nor want a chapter read from |
the Bible" But after the man has |
been three weeks in a sick room his |
nerves are not so steady, and his world |
Y companions are not anywhere near
% cheer him up, and he is persuaded |
hat he must quit life his physical
courage is all gone.
He jumps at the fall of teaspoon in
saucer. He shivers at the idea of 60
ng away. He says: Wife. I don't
hink my inidelity is going to take
ne through. For Gods sake. don't
,ring the children up to do as I have
lone. If you feel like it wish YOU
would read a verse or two out of Fan
lies Sabbath school hymn book or
Iew Testament But Satan breaks in
nd says: You have always thought
eligion trash and lies; don't give up
t the last. Besides that, you cannot
n the hour you have to live, get off
hat track Die as you have lived.
With my great black wings l shut ont
he light. Die in darkness. I rend
way from you that last vestage of
ope. It is my business to strip the
lain"
A man who had rejected Christianity
nd thought it all trash, came to die.
lie was in the sweat of great agony,
nd his wife said: I'VE had better have
ONE prayer Mary. not a breath OF
hat he said. The lightest word of
rayer would roll back on me like
ocks on a drowning man. I have
ONE to the hour OF test. l had a
nance, but forfeited it. I believed
D a liar. and he has left me in the
nreh. Mary, bring me Tom Paine,
he book that swore by and lived by,
nd pitch it into the fire. and let it
urn and burn, as 1 myself shall soon
urn And then, with the foam on
is lip and his hands tossing wildly IN
he air. he cried out: ''BlacknesS OF
arkness, Oh, my God, too late" And
he spirits of darkness whistled up
rom the depth, and wheeled around
nd around him. stripping the slain.
Sin is luxury now; it is exhilaration
ow; it is victory now. But after
while it is collision; it is defeat; it is
it is jackalism: it is rob-
ing the dead; it is stripping the slain. ;
i've it up tO-day-give it up. Oh. how 4;
on have been cheated on, my brother
rom one thing to another. All these
ears you have been under a mastery {
hat you understood not. What have f;
our companions done for you? What {
ave they done for your health? Near .
' ruined it by carousaL What have
hey done for your fortune? Almost ]
catered it by spendthrift behavior.
What have they done for your reputa-
on? Almost ruined it with good men. I
What have they done for your i'm !
lortal soul? Almost insured its over !
brow. I
You are Fastening on toward the {
Onsummation of all that is sad. To- ,
ay you stop and think. but II is only I