Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-08-21

wounds. Ehrlus- ior all your Euilt. NoA-
f0rt Tor an your troubles.
Then, also, / counsel you II YOU want 10
got back 10 quit all your bad associations.
one unholy intimacy will an your soul with
moral disivmper. In all the ages OF the
church there has not been an instance where
a man kept one evil associate and was re-
formed.
when a man deliberately chooses bad as
ISOLATION because he likes n, that man has
started on the road down. Oh, l DO not care
what YOU call IL, that association will ces-
DOLL YOUR soul. After YOU are destroyed,
body, mind and soul. what will they do for
your what willthey do foryJur family? They
will not give one cent TO support your chill
dren after YOU are dead. Thy win not weep
one tear at your burial. They will chuckle
over your damnation.
Ihad a rare friend at the West. He was
full Of welcome when / vent there 70 live
He had splendid personal appearance. There
Is not a grander looking person In this house
to-day than ne was; and 10 this grand per-
soual appearance he added all geniality and
all Kindness ~ soul-tender as q child,
a beautiful aud loving nature, aud loved
him as a brother; but | saw evil people COM
Ing up around him, evil men coming up
from bad places Of amusement, and they
seized hold OF his social and genial nature
and they began to drag him down, and he
went further and further.
used TO say 10 him, "Now, why don't you
stop these bad habits and become Chris
tian?" for talked with him just as l would
talk with brother, and he UNDERSTOOD me-
and understood him. 1 said, "Why don't
you give up these things aud become a Chris
tiauY" ooh" he said to me- one day, lean
ing over his counter-just after l had asked
him for a hundred dollars to help educate
young man for the ministry, and he had
given me the money before / had the story
half told-"if II will do the young man any
good, here is hundred dollars" Right
after that conversation | said, NOW, you
are a splendid fellow why don't you give
up your bad habits and be n Christian?"
"Oh," he said, Us the tears ran down his
! cheeks, II can't. | should like to be Carts
| tiun. You see, have got these habits on me
so. sir can't get rid Of them. have been
/ going wrong longer than you would think
| for, and can't stop"
Sometimes, IN the moments Of repentance,
/ he would GO to his home and embrace his
/ little girl OF eight years conyusively to his
! heart. and he would cover her with adorn-
/ ments and streW toys and pictures all about
| her and then from her beautiful presence
/ the beautiful presence OF his little child-he
would go to the Intoxicating cup, and to the
/ house OF shame, as fool to the correction
| stocks and there these ba 1 men kept pus h
| ing him on, ship, full-wlngcd, crashing
/ into the breakers.
was called to his deathbel ] hastencd,
/ aid when l got into the room | was sur.
| prised to ind him In full everyday dress, ~
/ ing on the top Of the couch. | put out my
/ hand and he greeted me very cordially He
. said: Now, Mr.. Talmage, sit down right
there" | sat down and he said: Last
night, just where you sit now, l saw my
! mother though she has been dead twenty
| years-yes, sir; just where you sit now she
/ SAT. / couldn't have been mistaken. was
as wide awake rs | am now. She sat just
where you sit. Wife, wish YOU would take
these strings off that they are weaving
around me, l wish you would take them off,
they annoy me very muon in this eonvelsa'
ton" | saw he was in derium. His wife
said: "There is nothing there, my dear; there
Is nothing there"
/ Then he resumed tho conversation, and
said: Yes, my mother sat just where you
sit now. / knew her. She had the same
/ spectacles, and the same cap and the same
apron, and the same dress. 1t must have
been her, just as she looked twenty years
| ago--she has been dead now twenty ears.
! And sitting there she said to me, Roswell, l
wish you would do better,' and got up out
Of bed, and | knelt beside her and said,
Mother, | wish l could wish l could do
better; / would like to DO better. Won't you
help me? You used TO help me. Why can't
you help me now, mother" But soon l
said. "Now we will pray" I knelt to pray.
He did not realize anything said, sup
pose. Then | got up and said "Good-by!
good-byw That night he went to God.
Arrangements for the obsequies were be-
ing made, and they said, con. 1t won't do to
bring him 10 the churchi he has been so dis
suIutr." l said, bring him, bring hun; he
stood by me when he was alive. and I'll
stand by him when he is dead. Bring him
intothe church" The sabbath came As |
stood in the pulpit and saw his body coming
up the aisle, felt rs If l could weep tears OF
blood. stood there that day and / said
This man had his virtues, and a good many
otthem; he had his faults and good many
of them; but let that man in this assembly
who is without sin cast the first stone on this
coffin lid. -
On the one side of the pulpit sat the beau
tiful child, a. radiant and sweet faced as any
child that sat at your table this morning,
She knew not the sorrows Of an orphan
child; she was not old enough to realize
them. Sometimes when think Otthat awful
scene. her face hauntS me like 4 beautiful
face through a horrtd dram. On the Other
side OF the pulpit sat the man who had do
3troyed him. They had put the wormwoot
and the galt into that orphans cup. They
pushed him Off the precIpice. | stood there
and told them that there was God and
Judgment and hell for those who destroyed
their fellows. Did they weep? Oh, no, no
one tear. Did they sigh repentingly? Not on,
sigh. Did they say, "What a pity that W.
DESTROYED him." Oh no. They sat aut
gazed at the coffin as yultures at the carcass
Of u lamb whose heart they had ripped out
That night, though my friend lay In 0akwooC
Cemetery, heard afterward that these mel
went right on with their iniquties, destroy
ing themselves and destroying others.
Gather up all the energies OF body, mine
and soul, aud appealing to God for success
, declare this day everlasting war against al
. drinking habits, all gaming practices, al
, houses OF sin. Half-and-halt work viii
, amount to nothing. 1t must be Waterloo
Shrink back now, and you are lost! Pusl
, on, and you are saved! Spartan Genera
, fell at the very moment Of victory, but h
dipped his finger in his blood and wrote OF
a rock, near which he was dying, "Spart
has conquered" Though your struggle t
, get rid of sin may seem to be almost deaf
!. struggle, you can dip your finger i
your own blood and write on the Rock O
, Ages Victory through our Lord Jesu
Christi
Oh, what glorious news it would be fo
, some of these young men to send home t
, their parents in the country! They 90 t
, the postofflce every day or to SEQ II ther
, are any letters from you. How anxlou
! they are to hear! Nothing would pleas
tiIcin lait uauon Us tho news you migl
: send home tomorrow that you had give
, your heart TO God. I'know how it is in Ii
country. The night comes on. The cattl
, stand under the rack through which bur
the trusses of hay. The horses, Just havin
/ frisked up through the meadow al the nigh
+ fall, stand knee deep In the bright s.ra
t that invites them to lie down and rest TT
, porch Of the howell is full Of fowl. In IL
I old farm house at night no candle
: lighted, for the flames clap hands about Il
: great backlog, and shake the shadow
. the group up and down the wall. Fathe
! and mother sit there for half an hour, say
:. ing nothing. wonder what they are think
inc, of ftnr q ruhila tha father hrnn kn Al