Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-07-19

Irrevocable Mistakes.
Belonging to this class Of irrevocable
mistakes is the folly Of a misspent
youth. We may look back to our college
days and think how we neglected chem
istry or geology or botany Or mathemat-
les. We may be sorry about it all our
days Can we ever get the discipline or
the advantage that we would have had
had we attended to those duties in early
life? A man wakes up at 40 years Of
age and fluids that his youth has been
wasted, and he strives to get back his
early advantages. Does he get them
back-the days Of boyhood, the days in
college, the days under his fathers roofl
"Oh," he says, "if l could only get
those times back again, how would
improve themp" Ny brother. you will
never get them back They are gone,
gone. You may be very sorry about it,
and God may forgive, so that you may
at last reach heaven, but you will never
get over some Of the mishaps that have
come to your soul as result Of your
neglect Of early duty. You may try to
undo it; you cannot undo it. When you
had boys arms, and boys eyes, and
a boys heart, You ought to have attend
ed to those things. A man says at 80
years of age, II do wish 1 could get
over these habits Of Incidence. When
did you get them? At 20 or 25 years Of
age. You cannot shake them off. They
will hang to you to the very day Of your
death. If young man through a long
course of evil conduct undermines his
physical health and then repents Of it in
after life, the Lord may pardon him,
but that does not bring back good phys
ical condition. said to minister OF
the gospel one Sabbath at the close Of
the service, "Where are you preaching
now?" "Oh," he says, II am not
preaching. am suffering from the phys
ical effects Of early sin. can't preach
now am sick. A consecrated man
he now is, and he mourns bitterly over
early sins, but that does not arrest their
bodily effects.
The simple fact is that men and wom-
en- often take 20 years OF their life to
build mp influences that require all the
rest Of their life to break down. Talk
about a man beginning life when Eo is
21 years Of age; talk about woman be-
ginning life when she is IS years Of age !
All, no! In many respects that is the
time they close life. In nine cases
out Of ten all the questions Of eternity
are decided before that. Talk about a
majority Of men getting their fortunes
between 30 and 40! They get or lose
fortunes between 10 and 90 When you
tell me that a man is Just beginning
life, l tell you he is just closing it. The
next 80 years will not be Of as much i'm
portance to him as the first 20.
Cannot BE Undone.
Now, why do say this? Is it for the
ANNOYANCE Of those who have only a
baleful retrospection? You know that is
not my way. say it for the benefit OF
young men and women. want them to
understand that eternity is wrapped up
in this hour; that the sins of youth we
never get over; that you are now fash
ioning the mold in which your great
future is to run; that a minute, instead
Of being so seconds long, is made up Of
everlasting ages. You can see what dig
nifty and Importance this gives to the
life Of all our young folks. Why, in the
light Of this subject life is not some
thing to be frittered away, not some
thing to be smirked about, not some
thing to be danced out, but something
TO be weighed in the balances Of eternity.
Oh, young man, the sin Of yesterday,
the sin of tomorrow will reach over 10,
900 years-aye, over the great and unend-
ing eternity. You may after awhile
say: II am very sorry. Now | have got
to be 30 or 40 years Of age, and l dc
wish had never committed those sins. "
What does that amount to! God may
pardon you. but undo those things you
never will, you never can.
In this same category Of irrevocable
mistakes l put all parental neglect. We
begin the education Of our children toe
late. By the time they get to be 10 Oh
Is we wake up to our mistakes and try
TO eradicate this bad habit and change
that, but it is too late. That parent who
omits in the first ten years Of the child
life to make an eternal impression fol
Christ never makes it. The child viii
probably 60 on with all the disadvan
tages, which might have been avoided
by parental faithfulness. Now you see
what mistake that father or mother
makes who puts off to late life adher
ence TO Christ. Here is man who at 81
years of age says to you, Il must be
Christian, and he yields his heart t(
God and sits in the place Of prayer TO
dav a Christian. None of us can doub
! it, He goes home, and he says; Here
1 at so years Of age have given my hear
to the Saviour. Now must establish
family altar. What? Where are you
children now? One in Boston, another
in Cincinnati. another in New Orleans
and you, my brother, at your fftietl
year going to establish your family al
tar? Very we'll, better late than never
but alas, alas, that you did not do it q
years agol
Too Late.
When I was in Chamouni, Switzer
land. l saw in the window Of one Of tn
shops a picture that impressed m,
mind very much. 1t was a picture OF az
accident that occurred on the side o
one of the Swiss mountains. A compan,
Of travellers, with guides, went up SOM
very steep places-places which but few
travellers attempted to go up. The.
were. as all travellers are there, fastene'
together with cords at the waist, so tha
il one slipped the rope would hold him
the rope fastened to the others. Passini
along the most dangerous point, one
the guides slipped, and they all starte'
down the precipice. But after awnil
one more muscular than the rest struc
his heels into the ice and stopped, bu
the rope broke, and down, hundreds an
thousands Of feet, the rest went
And so see whole families bound to
gether by ties of affection and in man
eases walking ON slippery places o
rura -