The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-03-29

#NIlNt NfllHHF 40 T. Auu say why was /
chat child started in llfe with such dihdytn-
tascs. while other have nl physical aud
mental equipment 4 cannot tell Ihoy 90
out of church on Easter morning and say
THAT doctrine of tho resurrection coa-
founded me- So 10 ls tome a mystery bo-
youl uumyelmeut understand an the proc
r'sso7 by which men get into tho dark. 1
know them nll. 1 have Travelled with burning
feet that bIlsiersd way. The first word which
most children learn % utter is "papa," OF
"NIlmml." but think ths frst word i ever
uttered wasl "Why' 1 know what 70 Us TO
hHy1 hunduod midnights pour their
darkness into one hour Such men aro not
t1 ho sconed, but helped. Turn your back
upon drowning m8n when you have the
rope with which t0 pull him ashore, and let
that woman lu the third story OF house
perish Ia tho flames when you have e ladder
Wlth which 90 help her out and help her
down. rather than turn your back seonlngly
Ou "a skeptic whose soul Is in moro peril than
tho bodies oi those other endangered Ona5
possibly can be- Oh. Bsepticism Is a dark
land. There arc men in this house who
would give "a thousand worlds n they pos
sas7ed them 90 get back TO the placid faith OF
their fathers aud mothers, and Il is our place
70 help them, and We may help them. never
through their heads, but always through
their hearts. These skeptics, when brought
60 Jesus, will be- nightly effective, far moro
sJ than those who never examined tho eyl-
dances OF Christianity.
Thomas Chalmers was once n skeptlo
Robert Hall a skeptc, Robert Newton skep-
tic, Christmas Evans a ,skeptic. But when
once with strong hand they took hold OF the
chariot OF the gospel they rolled It on with
what momentum! II / address such men
and women to-day 1 throw out no SCOT. ]
implead them by the memory OF the good
"a j a.
said, "NOw / lay me down 10 sleep, and by
those days and nights Of scarlet fever in
which she watched you, giving you the
medicine at just the right time and turning
your pillow when Il was hot, and with hands
that many years ago turned 20 dust sOothed
away your pain, and with voice that you viii
never hear again, unless you join her I'm the
| better country, told you 10 never mind, for
you would feel better by and by, and by that
| dying couch, where she looked so pale and
talked so slowly. catching her breath between
/ the words, and you felt an awful loneliness
! coming over your soul-by all that beg you
| 10 come back aud take the same religion 1t
was good enough for her. Il is good enough
/ Tor You. Nay, 1 haYo better plea than
: that. I plead by all the wounds and tears
| and blood and gr0ans and agOnies and death
| throes of the Son OF Cod who approaches
| YOU this moment with torn brow, and lacer-
/ "Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and
| heavy laden, and I will give you rest"
| Again, there is a field of usefulness but lit
! tie touched occupied by those who are astray
4 I'm their habits. All northern Nations, like
/ those of North America and England and
| Sc0tland-that is, in the colder cltmates-Gre
| devastated by alcoholism. They take the
FIRE 70 keep up the warmth. In southern
| countries, like Arabia and Spain, the blood
/ ga en- war nm
| liquids. The great Roman armies never
drank anything stronger than water tinged
with vinegar, but under our northern climate
the temptation to heating stimulants is most
mighty. and millions succumb. When a
mans habits 90 wrong, the church drops
him; the social circle drops him; good in
fluence drops him; we all drop him. OF all
the men who get off track, but few ever get
on again. Near my summer residence there
is a life saving station on the beach.
There are all the ropes and rockets, the
boats, the machinery for getting people of
shipWreels. One summerI saw there fifteen
or twenty men who were breakfasting after
having Just escaped with their lives and
nothing more. Up ami down our coasts are
built these useful strIc. ures, and the mari
ners know 1t, and they feel that II they are
driven into the breakers there will be APT
from shore to come a rescue. Iht
churches Of God ought to be 50 many life
saving stations, not so much to help those
who are in smooth waters. but those who
have been shipwrecked. Come, let us ruI
out the lifeboats! And who will man them
We do not preach enough to such men
We have not enough faith in their release
Alas, if when they come to hear us we are la
boriously trying to show the difference be
tween sublapsarianism and supraIapsarian
ism, while they have a thousand vipers of re
morse and despair eoiling around their Inn
mortal spiritsl
The church is not chiefly for goodish sor
of men whose prochvities are all right, AM
who could get to heaven praying and sing
ing in their own homes. 1t is on the beacl
to help the drowning Those bad cases ar
the cases that God likes to take hold of. II
can save big sinner as we'll as a small sin
ner, and when man calls earnestly to Got
for help He will 20 out to deliver such one
II 1t were necessary, God would come dow
FROM the sky, followed by all the artillery o
heaven and a million angels with draw
swords. Get 100 such redeemed men in eacl
Of your churches, and nothing could stan
before them, for such men are general
warm-hearted and enthusiastic.
Furthermore, the destitute children OF tn
streets offer q field of work comparativel
unoccupied. The uncared for children ar
in the majority in most OF our cities. Thei
condition was we'll illustrated by what bo
in this city said when he was found under
cart gnawing a bone and some one said t
him, F'Where do you live?" and he answered
Don't live nowhere, sir" Seventy thousan
of the children of New York City can nelthe
read nor write When they grow up If I'LL
reformed, they will outvote your children
and they will govern your children. Tn
whisky ring will hatch out other whisk
rings, and grogshops will kill with their hol
rid stencil public sobriety, unless the churc
7 of God rises up with outstretched arms an
infolds this dying population in her bosom
! Public schools cannot do it. Art gallerit
cannot do it. Blackwell's Island cannot
. it. Almshouses cannot do it. New Yol
, Tombs cannot do it. Sing Sing cannot dol
7 People of God, wake up to your magnifleeI
: mission! You can do it. Get somewher
:, somehow to work.
, The Prussian cavalry mount by putin