The Penn's Grove record., 1896-08-14

woun 70 soldier. and the only question was
low to take on the rags the most gently,
ani put on the bandags, ana administer the
cordial. Aud when Il soul comes to God, He
does not ask where you came from, or what
YOUR ancestry was. Healing for all your
wonn =. Pardon for all your guilt. Com
fort for all your troubles.
Then, also, | counsel You II you want to
ret back TO quit all your bad associations.
One unholy Intimacy will all your soul with
moral distemper. IL all the ages OF the
rhurcil there mas not h IN I'm Instance where
n man kept QUE evil associate and was re-
formed.
when a man deliberately chooses bad as
ISOLATION b'cau5a he likes 1t, that msn has
started on the ROAD down. oh, / do not care
what you call 1t, that association will des-
poll your soul. After you are destroyed,
body, mind AMI soul. what will they do for
youf what willthey do for your familyp They
will not give one cent to support your chill
hrrD after you are dead. Thy will not weep
one tear ut your burial. They will chuckle
over your damnation.
Ihad u rare friend at the West. He was
full Of welcome when l vent there to live.
He ha | stolen VI persona appearance. There
is NOT II grLnler looking person In this house
iO-tlny than he was; anil to this grand per-
s0nll appearances he added all geniality and
all kindness Of soui-tender aS a child,
1 beautiful and loving nature, and / loved
him ~ IL brother; but l saw evil people com
Ing up around him, evil men coming up
from bad places OF amusement, and they
saiHel hold OF his social and genial nature.
IN they blgan to drag him down, and he
went further and further.
/ used to say TO him. ''NoW, why don't you
Atop these bad habits and become u Chris
iian2" for / talked with him just as / would
talk with Il brother. and he understood me,
and | understood him. | said, "Why don't
you give up these things and bseomea Chris
iianf" '0h," he said to me one day, lean
ing over his counter-just after / had RsKed
him for a hundred dollars to help educate u
young man for the ministry, and he had
given me the money before | had the story
half told-"if 1t will do the young man any
good, here is a hundred dollars" Right
after that conversation i said, Now, You
are a splendid fellow; why don't you Civ
up your bal habits .lnh be a Christian
"oi," he said, as the tears ran down his
cheeks, II can't. / should like to be a Chris.
tian. You see, l have got these habits on ma
SO, sir. l emit get rid of them. I have been
going wrong longer than you would think
for, and / cant stop
Sometimes. in the moments of repentance,
he would go to his home and embrace his
littletgirl of eight years conyulsively to his
heart. and he would cover her with adorn-
ments and strew toys and pictures all about
hNlN NAIhA NAiD ~ AhSA pa ~
the beautiful presence of his little chiid-hs
would go to the Intoxicating cup, and to the
house of shame, as IL fool to the correction
stocks; and there these bad men kept pus h.
ing him on, a ship, full-winged, crashing
into the breakers.
1 was called to his deathbed. ] fastened,
and when l got into the room l was sur
prised to find him In full everyday dress, ly-
Ing on the top of the couch. 1 put out my
han aud he greeted me very cordially. He
said: NOW, Mr.. Talmage, sit down right
there" l 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 mi2tRken. / was
as wide awake as 1 am now. She sat Just
where you sit. Wife, l wish YOU would take
these strings off that they are weaving
around me; l wish you would take them of;
they annoy me very muon in this conversa-,
tion." / saw he was in delirium. His wife
said; "There is nothing there, my dear; there
Is nothing there"
Then he resumed the conversation, and
said; Eyes, my mother sat just where you
sit now. / knew her. She hal 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 years.
And sitting there she said to me, Roswell, l
WISH YOU WOuhuu o LCttcIJ anu L kut up tul
of bed, and 1 knelt beside her and said,
Mother, I wish / could-I wish / could do
better; I would like to do better. Won't you
help me2 You used to help me. Why can't
you help me now, mother4'" But soon I
said. "Now We will pray" I knelt to pray.
He did not realize anything I said, / sup
pose. Then l got up and said ''Good-byt
good-tyt" That night he went to God.
Arrangements for the obsequies were be-
ing made, and they said, ''oh, it won't do to
bring him to the church; he has been so dis
solute." l said, Bring him, bring him; he
stood by me wnen he was alive. aud lu
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, 1 felt as II l could weep tears of
blood. stood there that day n l said,
':This mar had his virtues, and q good many
ofthem: he had his faults, and a 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, as radiant and sweet faced as any
child thai 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 l think ofthat awful
scene, her face hRunts me like d beautiful
face through a horrid dram. On the other
side Of the pulpit sat the man who had de.
stroyed him. They had put the wormwool
and the gall into that orphans cup. They
pushed him off the precipice. 1 stood there
and told them that there was a God and q
Judgment and a hell for those who destroyed
their fellows. Did they weep Oh, no, moi
one tear. Did they sigh repentingly2 Not ont
sigh. Did they say, "What a pity that VI
destroyed him?" Oh, no. They sat and
gazed at the coffin as cultures at the carcass
OF q lamb whose heart they had ripped out,
That night, though my friend lay in 0akwood
Cemetery. / heard afterward that these men
went right on with their iniquities, destroy
ing themselves aud destroying othors.
Gather up all the energies of body, mini
and soul. and appealing to God for success,
declare this day everlasting war against all
drinking habits. all gaming practices, all
houses OF sin. H~alf-and-hali work will
amount to nothing. 1t must bs a Waterloo.
Shrink back now, and you are lost! Push
on, and you are saved! A Spartan General
fell at the very moment of victory, but h.
dipped his finger In his blood and wrote on
a rock, near which he was dying, Sparta
has conquered" Though your struggle to
get rid OF sin may seem to be almost a deatls
struggle, you can dip your finger in
your own blood and write on the Rock OF
Ages victory through our Lord Jesus
Christi"
oh, what glorious news it would be fol
iome of these young men to send home to
heir parents IN the country! Iney 90 TO
he postofice every day or to see IL there
ire any letters from You. How n ous
hey are to hear! Nothing would please
;hem halt SO much a the news you might
send home tomorrow that you had given
rour heart to God. know how it is iu the
country. The night comes on. Toe cattle
tand under the racK through which burst
he trusses of hay. The hors,s, Just having
risked up through the meadow al the nisht,
all, stand knGe deep in the br,sht straw
hat invites them TO lie down and rest. The
porch Of the howell is full of fowl. In thu
Did farm house at night 30 candle l'
lighted, for the lam"s clap hands about thi
great iackIog, and shake the shadow 4"
he c=onp up aud DOWN the wall. Father
md mother sit there for half an hour. say.
ng nothing. Iw1n'er what they are think.
ne Of! After a while the father breaks the
dlenee and says: "Weli. / wonder where
,ur how Is in town tonight" AMI the
mother "In no bad place. / war.
ant YOU; we always could trust him when
ie was home, and since no has been awsy
here have been so many pravars offered foi
lin we can trust him still" Then at
fcloek-for they retire esrly In the country
at 8 o'clock they kneei down n com
mend youto that God who watches 10 coun-
~ and in town, IN the land and on the
YEA.
Some one said to a Greoian General