Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-07-12

| and the legislature that are SWinS,nS W." W.
one; this grinding, creaky, stupenuous e"''
Of the lost. ,-;,od .t,ooo
Bnt YOU say: ''You have described these
gates of hell and shown US now tney S% VIII
in To allow the entrance to the doomeu. miiI
vo1, NOT nlease. before you get through the
sermon. tell us how these gates OF hell may
swing ont TO allow the escape OF the penn,
tent9I 7 replv. but very few escape. vi
Tho thousand that 20 in 999 perish. suppose
ono ~ these wanderers should knock at
vour door. Would you admit herr suppose
Won knew where she came from. Would you
ask her TO sit down at your dining taoie!
Would YOU ask her TO become the B0VernosS
! Of your children? Would you lntroduce her
among your mountaineering! "ou'n YOU
fake the responsibility OF pulling on tne OUT
| side of the gate Of hell while tho pusner Oh
the inside of the gate IS trying u ~.
thousand of YOU would dare to do 50. You
would write beautiful poetry over her sor-
| rows and weep over her misfortunes, put
give her practical help you never Will: but,
Won saw. care there no ways by which the
| wanderer NAV escape?" Oh, yes! Three or
| four. The one way is the sewing girls gar
ret, dingy. cold, hunger blasted. But, you
! saw. as there no other way for her 10 es
cape?" Oh, yes! Another way is the street
| that leads to the river at midnight, the Gnu
| of the city dock, the moon shining down on
| The water MAKING it look SO smooth she won
| ders if il is deep enough. Itis. No boatman
near enough to hear the plunge. No watch
man near enough to pick her out before she
| sjnksthe third time. No other way? Yes; by
the curve of the railroad at the point where
| the engineer of the lightning express train
cannot see q hundred yards ahead to tho
| form that lies across the track. He may
whistle "down brakes" but not soon enough
| to disappoint the one who seeks ner deatn'
! Bat. you say. "Isn't God good. lnl won t he
| forgiven Yes, but man Will not, woman
will not, society will not The church OF
| God SAYS it will, bnt it will not. Our WORK,
then. must be prevention rather than cure.
Those gates Of hell are to be Frustrated
inst as certainly as God and the BlDle
are true, but it will not be done until
| Christian men and women, quitting
their prudery end squeamishness In ms
matter. rally the whole Christian senti-
ment of the church and assail these great
evils Of society. The Bible utters us oe-
nunciaton in this direction again AM again,
and yet the piety of the day Is SUCH nanny
pamby sort OF thing that you cannot even
| auote Scripture without making somebody
| restless. As long as this holy imbecil'ty
reigns in the church OF God, sin will laugh
YOU to scorn. l do not know but that before
the church wakes up matters will get worse
and worse, and that there will have to be
one lamb sacrificed from each OF the most
carefully guarded folds, and the wave OF IN
cleanness dash to the spire Of the village
church and the top of the cathedral tower
Prophets and patriarchs and apostles and
evangeists and Christ Himself havo ihun
dered against these sins as against ~ cther,
| and vet there are those who think we ought
10 10, rtyean n these
tone apologize. put my foot on all the
conventional rhetoric on this subject and
tell YOU plainly that unless you give III that
sin your doom is sealed, and world without
end you will be chased by the anathemas OF
an incensed God rally you to besiege-
meDt of the gates of hell We want in this
besieging host no soft sentimentalists,0 but men
who are willing to take and give hart
| knocks. The gates of GAIA were carried of,
the gates of Thebes were battered down, tho
gates of Babylon were destroyed, and the
gates of hell are goingto be Frustrated.
The Christianizod printing press Will be
rolled I'D as the chief battering ram. Then
| there will be u long list OF aroused pulplts,
which shall be assailing fortresses. and God
redhot truth shall be the flying ammunition
of the contest, and the sappers and the min
| ers will lay the train under these foundations
of sin, and ut just the right time God, VINO
leads on the fray, will cry, down with the
gates!" and the explosion beneath will be
| answered by all the trumpets OF God on hlgn,
celebrating universal victory.
But there may b. one wanderer that would
ike TO have a kind word calling homeward.
hare told you that society has no mercy.
Did I hint, at an earlier point in this subject,
that God will have mercy upon any wan
| 1erer who would like to come back to the
heart of infinite love?
A cold Christmas night in farm1ou
Father comes In from the barn, knocks the
snow from his shoes and sits down by the
| fire. The mother sits at the stand Knitting.
! She says to him, "Do you remember II Is the
anniversary Tonight" The father is an
gered. He never wants any allusion to the
| fact that one had gone away, and tho mere
suggestion that it was the anniversary ol
! that sad event made him quito rough, al
| though the tears ran down his cheeks. iht
old house dog that had played with the wan.
! derer when she was u child comes up and
PUTS his head on the old mans knee, but he
| roughly repulses the dog. He wants nothing
TO remind him of the anniversary day.
A cold winter night in city church. Ii
IS Christmas night. They have been decora-
ting the sanctuary. a lost wanderer OF the
: street with hin shawl about her, attracted by
The warmth and light, comesin and sits near
| lhe door. The minister of religion is preach
| In, of Him who was wounded for our trans
gressions and bruised for our iniquities, and
| the poor soul by the door said: why, thas
must mean me! Mercy for the chief OF sin
ners; bruised for our iniquities; wounded foi
our transgressions.
The music that night in the sanctuary
brought back the old hymn which she use
| 10 sing when, with father and mother, sn'
! yorshipel God i'll the village church. The
.sryice over the minister went down IT,
aisle. She said to him: "Were those words
for me? Wounded for our transgressions.
Was that for me?' The man of Gol under
stood her not. He knew not how - comfort
q shipwrecked SOUL and he passed on, and
he passed out. The poor wanderer followed
into the street
"What are you doing here Meg?" said the
police. "What are you doing here tonight
ION" she replied, 81 was in 10 warm my
self" AMI then the rafting cough came
and she held to the railing until the paroxysnl
was over. She passed on down the stree
falling from exhaustion, recovering herself
again. until after awhile she reached the
outs OF the city. aud passed O into the coun-
trv road. 1t seemed 50 familiar She kept
on the road, and she saw in the distance 4
| light in the window. Alb, that light
hal been cleaning there every night
since she went away. On that country
road she passed until she came
to the garden gate. She opened 1t ana
passed up the path where she played III
childhood. She came to the steps ana
looked in at the fire on the hearth: Then
| she put her fingers to the latch. o.: IL thar
| door had been locked she would have per-
ished on the threshold for she was near 10
death! But that door hal not been locked
since the time she won't away. She pushe'i
opened the door. She went in and lay down