Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-08-13

Gay discusses question that everybody
some time discusses 1t Is one Of tremen-
dous Import, Shall we have another
chance The text Is Ecclesiastes Il, 8, "If
the tree fall toward the south or toward
the north, in the place where the tree fall
eth there 1t shall be-"
There Is q lowering hope In the minds OF
a vast multitude Of people that there win
be an opportunity In the next world of cor
recting the mistakes Of this; that however
complete shipwreck we may make of our
earthly life it will be on beach up which
we may walk to palace; that as the de-
fendant may lose his case In a circuit court
and appeal It and have 1t go up to the su-
preme court or court of chancery and all
the costs thrown over on the other party,
so man may lose his case In this world,
but In the higher Jurisdiction of eternity
have the decision of the earthly case set
aside, all the costs remitted and the de-
fendant be triumphant forever
A Baseless Hope.
The object of my sermon Is 60 show you
that common sense declares with the text
that such an expectation Is chimerical "If
the tree fall toward the south or toward
the north, In the place where the tree fall
eth there 1t shall be-" There are those
who say that If the impenitent and unfor-
given man enters the next world and sees
the disaster, as result of that disaster he
will turn, the distress the cause of his ref
ormation, but we have 10, 600 instances ell
around about US Of people who have done
wrong and disaster suddenly came upon
NJ
they went on.
There Is a man flung of designations
The doctor says to him, CHOW, my friend,
If you don't stop drinking and don't stop
this fast life you are living you will die. Z"
The patient thanks the physician for his
warning and gets better. He begins TO sit
up begins to walk around the room, be-
gins to go to business, and takes the same
round Of grogshops where he got his
morning dram, and his evening dram, and
the drains between. Down again. Same
doctor. Same physical anguish. Same
medical warning. But now the sickness
is more protracted, the liver more obsti-
nate, the stomach more irritable, the diges-
tive organs more rebellious. But still, un-
der medical skill, he gets better, goes
forth, commits the same sacrilege against
his physical health. Sometimes he wakes
up to see what he is doing, and he realizes
he is destroying his family, and that his
life is perpetual perjury against his mar
riage vows, and that that broken hearted
woman Is SO different from the roseate
wife he married that her old schoolmates
do not recognize her on the street, and
that his sons are going out In life under
the taunt of fathers drunkenness, and
that bis daughters are going out in life
under the scarifcation of a disreputable
ancestry. His nerves are all a-jangle.
From crown of head to sole of foot he Is
one aching, rasping, crucifying, damning
torture. Where is heS
He is In hell on earth Does 1t stop him?
All, mol After awhile delirium tremens
pours out upon his pillow a whole jungle
of Kissing reptiles, His screams horrify
the neighbors as he dashes out of bed cry
ing, "Take these thing off mep' He is
down the comfort of his family,
the education of his children, their pros
poets for this life and perhaps their pros
poets for the life to come. Pale and con-
valescent he sits up. Physician says to
him: Now, my good fellow, am going
co have plain talk with you. If you ever
have an attack of this kind again, you
will die. I can't save you, and all the
doctors In creation can't save you"
The patient gets up, starts out, goes the
same round of dissipation and Is down
again, but this time medicines do not
touch his case. Consultations of physicians
say there is no hope Death ends the scene
That process of inebriation and physical
suffering and medical warning and disso-
luton is taking place within stones
throw OF where you sit and in every neigh
borhood of Christendom Pain does not
reform. Suffering does not cure. What
is true in regard to one sin is true in re-
gard to all sins, and yet men are expecting
liz the next life there will be opportunity
for purgatorial regeneration. Take up the
printed reports of the prisons of the United
States and find that the vast majority of
the criminals were there before, some for
Two times, three times, four times, six
times; punished again and again, but
they go right on. Millions of incidents and
working the other way, and yet
men think that in the next world punish
nent will work out for them salvable ef-
'ects Why, you and cannot imagine any
worse torture from another world than we
have seen men in in this world, and with
'ut any salutary consequence
The Last Chance.
Furthermore, the prospect of reformation
n another world is more improbable than
lere Do you not realize the fact that
nan starts in this world with the inno-
'ence of infancy In the other case, start
ng In the other world, he starts with the
accumulated bad habits of a lifetime. Is
not to be expected that you could build
! better ship out of new timber than out Of
N old hulk that has been ground up in the
breakers? If starting with comparative In
locency the man does not become godly Is
t possible that starting with sin seraph
an be evolutedp Is there not more pros
'ect thata sculptor will make finer statue
ut of block of pure white Parian marble
han out of black rock that has been
racked and twisted and split and SCARED
With the storms of half century, Could
ou not write a last will and testament, or
Vrite deed, or write an important docu-
nent on pure white sheet of paper easier
han you could write 1t upon sheet scrib-
led all over with infamy and blotted and
orn from top to bottom? And yet there
re those who are so uncommon sensical as
0 believe that though man starts in this
Torld with infancy and it's innocence and
1rns out badly, In the next world he can
tart with dead failure and turn out we'll.
But, =" say some people, 1--WE ought to
ave another chance In the next world be-
ause our life here Is so very brief. We
;arcely have room to turn around between
he cradle and the grave, the wood of the
ne almost striking against the marble Of
ne other. We ought to have another
hanee because of THE brevity of this ltfe."
" friends, do you know what made the
ncient deluge a necessity? 1t was the
'ngeyity of the antediluvians. They were
orse In the second century than in the
rst, and worse when they got 800 years
ID, and worse at 400, and worse at 500,
nd worse at 600, end worse at 800, until
lie world had to be washed and secured |