The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-15

I bodily effects
The simple fact Is. that men and wo-
| men often take twenty years Of their life
I TO build ny influences that require all the
/ rest Of their life 20 break down Talk
y about a man beginning life when he IS =
I years OF age. talk about = woman begin
] ming life when she IS IS years OF age
I Al, no. In many respects that Is the time
! they close life. In nine cause out of ten al
tie Questions Of eternity are decided be-
I fore thar. Talk about n majority of men
getting their Il rtuues betw cen - and 40,
They get or lose fortunes between 10 and
Z 20 When You tell me that a man is just
I beginning life, I tell you he Is Just clos
ing IT, The next fifty years will not
tee Of as much importance 10 him as the
nrst tW enty.
Now. why DC I say this? Is 1t for the
annoyance Of those who have only a bale
ful retrOspection? You know that is not
my way / say 10 for the benefit Of young
men and women / want them 10 under
stand 5hat eternity is wrapped up in this
/ hour; shat the sins Of youth we never
get oyer; that you are now fashiOning the
mould IN which your great future is to
run; that minute. instead of being sixty
seconds long, is made up OF everlasting
ages. You see what dignity ard import
ance this gives to the life Of all cur young
folks. Why. in the hight Of this subjec.
life is not something to be frittcred awav
AttA c1AliAiAiuEs 10 De tnllEkeQ ABOUT. not
something 10 be danced out, hat some
thing % be weighed in the balances Of
eternity on, young man. the sin Of yes
terday, the sin of tomorrow, will reach
over 10000 ye1rs. ny, over the great and
unending eternity. YoG iAay, after awhile.
say, I am very sorry. Now / have got
20 be - or ~ years of age and do wish
had never committed these 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 mis-
takes put all parental neglect. We begin
the education OF our children too late BY
the time they get to be ten or fifteen we
wake up TO our mistakes and try to eradi-
cate this bad habit, and change that: but
IL is too 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 probably
go on with all the disadvantages, which
might have been avoided by parental faith
fulness. Now you see what a mistake
that father or mother makes who puts
off too late life adherence to Christ Here
Is a man who at fifty years of age says to
you, Il must be a Christian and he yields
his heart TO God, and sits in the place
OF prayer to-day a Christian. None of us
can doubt It. He goes home. and he says.
Here at nifty years of age l have given
MY HNatL " Aut 0dNiOuTs NOW must eS-
tablish a family altar" What? Where
are your children now? One in Boston;
another in Cincinnati: another IN New Or
leans; and you, my brother. at your fiftieth
year going 10 establish your family altar
Very well; better late than never; but alas,
alas, that you did not DO 1t twenty-five
years ago
When I was in Chamouni. Switzerland,
I saw IN the window of one of the shops
picture that impressed my mind very
much. II was a picture of an accident
that occurred on the side of one of the
Swiss mountains. A company Of travel
ers, with guides, went up some very steep
places-places which but few travellers at
tempted 10 so up. They were, as all trav-
elers are there. fastened together with
cords at the waist, so that if one slipped,
the rope would hold him-the rope fasten-
cd to the others. Passing along the most
dangerous point, one OF the guides slip
ped, and they all started down the preci-
pice; but after a while one more muscular
than the rest struck 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 fami-
lies bound together by ties of affection.
and in many cases walking on slippery
places of worldiness and sin. The father
knows IT. and the mother knows IT, and
they are bound all together. After a while
they begin to slide down sleeper and
sleeper, and the father becomes alarmed,
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.
go over the precipice. Oh, there is such
thing as coming to Christ soon enough to
save ourselves, but not soon enough to
save others!
How many parents wake up in the lat
ter part Of life to find out the mistake!
The parent says, 81 have been too lem
lent" or Il have been too severe in the
discipline of my children. If l had the
little ones around me again, how differ.
ent l would do" You Will never have
them around again. The work is done
the bent to the character is given, the
eternity Is decided. l say this to young
parents-those who are % or 30 of 80 years
OF age-have the family altar tonight.
How do you suppose the 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 a fine education, and
you have placed me in fine social posi-
ton; you have done everything for me
in a worldly sense; but, father, you never
told me how to die. Now l am dying,
and 1 am afraid
In this category of irrevocable mistakes
l place, also, the unkindnesses done the
departed When 1 was a boy, my mother
used to say to me sometimes, Dewitt,
you will be sorry for that when 1 am
gone" And l remember Just how she
looked, sitting there, with cap and spec
tacles. and the old Bible in her lap; and
she never said a truer thing than that,
for ] have often been sorry since. While
we have our friends with us, we say
unguarded things and wound the feel
ings of those to whom we ought to give
nothing but kindness. Perhaps the par
ent without inquiring into the matter,
boxes the child's ears. The little one,
who has fallen in the street, comes in
covered with dust and as though the first
disaster were not enough, she whips it. Az
ter a while the child is taken, or the par
ent is taken, or the companion is taken, and
those who are left say, oh, if we could
only get back those unkind words, those
unkind deeds; if we could only recall
them" But you cannot get them back.
You might bow down over the grave of
that loved one, and cry and
cry and cry-the white lips would
make no answer. The stars
shall be plucked out of their sockets, but
these influences shall not be torn away.
The world shall die. but there are some
wrongs immortal. The moral of which is,
take care of your friends while you have
them sroo 70 the ScOldinp. ha economical ne