The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1895-05-02

mailbags are emptied on the postofflce moor
The man is sick. He cannot get away iron
them.
Then the man says to satan: ''You hav
deceived me. You told me that all would b.
well. You said there would be no trouble
the last. You told me if I did so and so yol
would do SO and SO. Now you corner mi
and hedge me up and submerge me in every
thing evil. lila, hal says satan. Il was oni!
fooling you. 1t is mirth for me to see you sui
fer. / have been for thirty years plotting tt
get you just where you are. 1t Is hard fol
YOU now; 1t will be worse for you after
awhile. 1t pleases me. Lie still, sir. Don
finch or shudder. Come, now, will teal
off from you the last rag Of expectation.
will rend away from your soul the last hope
l will leave you bare for the beating OF the
storm, 1t is my business to strip the slain. "
You are fastening on toward the consum-
nation of all that is sad. To-day you stop and
think, but it is only for moment, and then
| you will tramp on and at the close OF this
service you will go out. and the question
will be, "How did you like the sermonI.
And one man will say, II liked 1t very well,
| and another man will say, 81 didn't like 1t
at all, but neither of the answers will touch
the tremendous fact that II impenitent you
are going at thirty knots an hour toward
| shipwreck. Yea, you are in battle where
YOU will fall and while your surviving rel
| atives will take> your remaining estate and
the cemetery will take your body the messen-
gers of darkness will take your soul and
come and go about you, stripping the slain
Many are crying out. II admit l am slain;
I admit it," On what battlefield. my broth
ers? BY what weapon? polluted imaSina-
ton" saws one man; Intoxicating liquor,
says another man; my own hard heart,
says another man. Do you realize this?
Then / come to tell you that the omnipo-
tent Christ is ready to walk across this bat
tleheld and revive and resuscitate and resur-
rect your dead soul. Let Him take your
hand and rub away the numbness, your head
and battle off the aching, your heart and
stop its wild throb. He brought Lazarus to
life, He brought Jairus's daughter to life, He
brought the young man of Main to life, and
these are three proofs anyhow that He can
bring you to life.
When the Philistnes came down on the
field, they stepped between the corpses, and
they rolled over the dead, and they took
away everything that was valuable. And so
it was with the people that followed after the
armies at Charlottesville and at Pittsburg
Landing and at Stone River and at Atlanta,
stripping the slain. but the Northern and
Southern women-God bless them!-came on
the field with basins and pads and towels
ard lint and cordials and Christian en-
couragement, and the poor fellows that lay
there lifted up their arms and said, "Oh,
how good that does feel since you dressed
itl'' And others looked up and said, "Oh,
how you make me think of my mothern
And others said, "Tell the folks at home 1
died thinking about them" And another
looked up and said, miss. won't you sing
me verse of. Home, Sweet Home, before l
die?' And then the tattoo was sounded, and
the hats were off, and the service was read,
II am the resurrection and the life" And
in honor of the departed the muskets were
loaded and the command given, "Present-
4l,a.A oh In cot,,, ~ %l.p
head of the grave, with the epitaph Of
Lieutenant - in the Fourteenth Massa-
chusetts regulars" or Captain - in the
Fifteenth regiment of South Carolina volun-
teers." And SO now, across this great field
of moral and spiritual battle the angels of
God come walking among the slain, and
there was voices Of comfort and voices of
hope and voices of resurrection and voices OF
heaven.
One night saw tragedy on the corner
of Broadway and Houston street. A young
man, evidently doubling as to which direc-
ton he had better take, his hat lifted high
enough so that you could see he had an in
telligent forehead, stout chest; he had
robust development. Splendid young man.
Cultured young man. Honored young man.
Why did he stop there while so many were
going up and DOWN. The fact is that every
man has good angel and a bad angel con-
tending for the mastery of his spirit, and
there were a good angel and bad angel
with that young mans soul Mt
the corner of Broadway and Houston street,
"Come with me-" said the good angel II
will take you home; will spread my wings
over your pillow; l will lovingly escort you
al! through life under supernatural protec-
ton; will bless every cup you drink out Of,
every couch you rest on, every doorway you
enter; will consecrate your tears when you
weep, your sweat when you toll, and at the
last 1 will hand over your grave into the
hand of the bright angel of a Christian
surrection. In answer to your fathers petit
ton and your mothers prayer l have been
sent of the Lord out of heaven to be your
guardian spirit Come with me" said the
good angel in a voice of unearthly symphony.
1t was music like that which drops from a
lutte of heaven when a seraph breathes on it.
"No, no" said the bad angel; leone with
me; have something better to offer. The
wines pour are from chalices of bewitching
carousal; the dance | lead is over floor tes-
sellated with unrestrained indulgences; there
is no God to frown on the temples of sin
where l worship. The skies are Italian The
paths tread are through meadows, daisied
and primrosed. Come with me-"
The young man hesitated at time when
hesitation was ruin, and the bad angel
smote the good angel until it departed,
spreading wings through the starlight up
ward and away until door flashed open in
the sky and forever the wings vanished.
That was the turning point in that young
mans history, for, the good angel flown, he
hesitated no longer. but started on path
way whic. is beautiful at the opening, but
blasted at last. The bad angel, leading the
way, opened gate after gate, and at each
gate the road became rougher and the sky
more lurid. and, what was peculiar, as the
gate slammed shut it came to with a jar that
indicated that it would never open.
Passed each portal there was grinding
of locks and showing of bolts, and the seem
cry on either side of the road changed from
gardens to deserts. and the June air became
g cutting December blast, and the bright
wings OF the bad angel turned to sackcloth,
and the eyes Of light became hollow with
hopeless grief, and the fountains, that at tho
start had tossed with wine, poured forth
bubbling tears and foaming blood, and
on the right side of the road there was
serpent. and the man said TO the bad angel,
"What is that serpent?" and the answer was,
THAT is the serpent of singing remorse."
Or the left side the road there was lion,
and the man asked the bad angel, "What is
that lion?" and the answer was. "That is the
lion of all devouring despair" A vulture
flew through the sky and the man asked the
bad angel, "What is that vulture?" and the
answer was, "That is the vulture waiting for
i