The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-07-24

| am suffering from the physical eff
fects of early sin. l can't preach now :;
am sick" y consecrated man he
now is. and he mourns bitterly over
early sins. but that does not arrest
their bodily effects.
The simple fact is, thatmen and wo-
men often take 20 years of their life to
build up influences that require all
the rest of their life to break down.
Talk about man beginning life when
he is 81 years of age; talk about wo-
man beginning 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 majority of men getting
their fortunes between 80 and 40.
They get or lose fortunes between 10
aud 90. " hen you tell me that man IS
just beginning life, | tell you he is just
closing it. The next 80 years will not
be OF as much Importance to him as
the first 20.
Now, why 10 say this. Is it for
the annoyance of those who have only
a baleful retrospect;on. You know
that is not my way l say it for the
benefit of young men and women. l
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 fashioning the mold in
which your great future is to run;
that a minute, instead of being 90
seconds long, is made up of everlast-
ing ages You see what dignity and
importance this gives to the life of all
our young folks. Why, in the light
of this subject, life is not something
to be frittered away, not something to
be smirked about, not somethingto 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
ZOO years-aye, over the great and
unending eternity You may, after
awhile, say Il am very sorry. Now
I have got to be 80 or 40 years of age,
and I do wish I had never committed
those sins" What doos that amount
to? God may pardon you, but undo
those things you never will, you never
can.
In this same category of irrevocable
mistakes I put all parental neglect.
We begin the education Of our child
ren too late. By the time they get
to be 10 or15 we wake up 10 our mis-:
takes and try to eradicate this bad
habit and charge that, but it is toe
late. That parent who omits, in the
first ten years of the child's life, to
make an eternal impression for Christ.
never makes it. The child will pro
baby 60 on..with all the disadvantages
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 al
80 years of age say to you, Il must be
Christian, and he yields his heart to
God and sits in the place of prayer to
day Christian. None of US can doubt
it. He goes home and he says: Here
at so years of age l have given my
heart to the Saviour. Now | must
establish a family altar" What
Where are your children now? One
in Boston: another in Cincinnati; an
other in New Orleans, and you, my
brother, at your fiftieth year going to
establish your family altar? Very vel
better late than never, but alas, alas
that you did not do it 25 years ago!
When was in Chamouni, Switzer
land, saw in the window of one o!
the shops a picture that impress
ed my mind very much. 1t was pic
ture of an accident that occurred or
the side Of one of the Swiss mountains
4 company of travellers, with guides
went up some very steep places--place:
which but few travellers attempted
to 60 up. They were, as all travel
ers are there, fastened together with
cords at the waist, so that if one slip
ped, the rope would hold him-the
rope fastened to the others. Passing
along the most dangerous point, one
of the guides slipped, and they all start
ed down the precipice, but after awhile
one more muscular than the rest stuck
his heels into the ice and stopped, but
the rope broke and down, hundreds
and thousands of feet, the rest went
And so see whole families bound
together by ties of affection and in
many cases walking on slippery places
of worldliness and sin. The father
knows it, and the mother knows 1t,
and they are bound all together.
After awhile they begin to slide down
sleeper and the father becomes alarm
ed, and he stops, planting his feet on
the Rock of Ages" He stops, but
the rope breaks, and those who were
once tied fast to him by moral and
spiritual influences 60 over the preclp
ice. Oh, there is such thing as com
ing to Christ soon enough to save our
selves, but not soon enough to save
others.
How many parents wake up in the
latter part OF life to find out the mis-
take. The parent says, Il have been
too lenieut, Or Il have been too severe
in the discipline of my children. II
had the little ones around me again,
how different | would do" You will
never have them around again. The
work is done, the bent to the charact,
er is given, the eternity is decided.
l say this to young parents-those
who are 25 or 80 or 35 years of age
have the family altar tonight. How
doyou suppose that father felt as he
leaned over the couch of his dying
child and the expiring son said to him
Father, you have been very good to
me. You have given me fine educa-
ton, and YOU have placed me in fine
social position; you have done every
thing for me in a worldly sense; but,
father, you never told me how to die.
Now L am dying and I am afraid.
In this category of i"revocable mis-,
takes | place, also, the unkindness
done the departed When I was a
boy, my mother used to say to me
sometimes, Dewitt, you will be sor-
ry for that when | am gone. And I