The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-08-26

lOE dll your lIOuDiCs'
Then. also. counsel you il you want to
get back to quit all your bad associations.
One unholy intimacy will flll your soul with
moral distemper. In all the ages OF the
church there has not been an instance where
man kept one evil associate and was re-
formed.
When a man deliberately chooses bad as
sociation because he likes it, that man has
started on the road down. Oh, I do not care
what you call it, that association will des-
poll your soul. After you are destroyed,
body, mind and soul. what will they do for
your what willthey do for your family2 They
will not give one cent to support your chill
dren after you are dead. They will not weep
one tear at your burial. They will chuckle
over your damnation.
had rare friend at the West. He was
full Of welcome when vent there to live.
He had splendid personal appearance. There
is not a grander looking person in this house
to-day than he was; and to this grand per-
sonal appearance he added all genlality and
all kindness of soul-tender as a child.
a beautiful and loving nature, and loved
him as 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 aud genial nature.
and they began to drag him down, and ne
went further and further.
used to say to him. "Now, why don't you
stop these bad habits and become q Chris
tian?" for talked with him just as I would
talk with brother. and he understood me,
and understood him. / said, "Why don't
YOU give I'D these things and become Chris
tian?' ooh" he said to me one day, lean
ing over his counter-iust after had asked
him for hundred dollars to help educate q
young man for the ministry, and he had
given me the money before l had the story
half told-"if it 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 give
up your bad habits and be Christian?"
ooh" he said, as the tears ran down his
cheeks, II can't. should like to be Chris
tlan. You see, have got these habits on me
so. sir. can't get rid Of them. 1 have been
going wrong longer than you would think
for, and can't stop"
Sometimes, in the moments OF repentance,
he would 60 to his home and embrace his
little girl OF eight years convulsively 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 60 to the Intoxicating cup, and to the
house of shame, as fool to the correction
stocks; and there these bad men kept push
ing him on, a ship, full-winged, crashing
into the breakers.
1 was called to his deathbed. hastencd,
and when I got into the room I was sur
prised to find him in full everyday dress, ly-
Ing on the top of the couch. 1 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, saw my
,l,a haa hnn trpnn nfty
years-yes, sir; just whore you sit now she
sat. couldn't have been miataken. I was
as wide awake as I am now. She sat just
where you sit. Wife, wish you would take
these strings Off that they are weaving
around me; wish you would take them OF;
they annoy me very mucn in this converse
ton" saw he was in delirtum. 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. I knew her. She had the same
spectacles, and the same cap and the same
apron. and the same dress It 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,
wish you would do tetter;'' and got up out
Of bed, and I knet beside her and said,
Mother, wish I could-I wish 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 I
said. "Now we will pray" knelt to pray.
he did not realize anything I said, sup
pose. Then got up and said "Good-by!
good-by" That night he went to God.
Arrangements for the obsequies were be-
ing made, and they said, "Oh, 1t won't do to
bring him to the church; he has been so dis
solute." said, Bring him, bring him; he
stood by me when he was alive. and I'll
stand by him when he Is dead. Bring him
into the church." The Sabbath came. As I
stood in the pulpit and saw his body coming
up the aisle, I felt as IL could weep tears OF
blood. stood there that day and I said,
':This man had his virtues, and 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 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 ofthat awful
scene. her face haunts me like Il beautiful
face through horrid dream. On the other
side OF the pulpi sat the man who had de-
strvyed him. They had put the wormwood
and the gall into that orphans cup. They
pushed him off the preclpice. stood there
and told them that there was God and q
judgment and hell for those who destroyed
their fellows. Did they weep? Oh, no, not
one tear. DID thev sigh repentingly? Not one
sigh. Did they say, "What pity that we
DESTROYED him?" Oh, no. They sat and
gazed at the coffin as yultures at the carcass
of lamb whose heart they had ripped out.
That night, though my friend lay in Oakwood
Cemetery. I heard afterward that these men
went right on with their iniquities, destroy
ing themselves and destroying others.
Gather up all the energies OF body, mind
and soul. and appealing to God for success,
declare this day everlasting war against all
drinking habits. all gaming practices, all
houses Of sin. Half-and-half work will
amount to nothing. 1t must be 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 he
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 death
struggle, you can dip your finger in
your own blood and write on the Rock of
Ages Victory through our Lord Jesus
Christi"
Some one said to Greclan General:
"What was the proudest moment of your
life?" He thought a moment, and said:
"The proudest moment Of my life was when
I sent word home to my parents that had
gained the victory" And the proudest and
most brilliant moment in your life will be
the moment when you can send word to
your parents in the country that you have
conquered your evil habits by the grace OF
God, and become eternal victor.
Oh! despiss not paternal anxiety. The
time will come when you have neither
father nor mother, and you will 20 around
the place where they used to watch you, and
find them gone from the house, and gone
from the field and gone from the neiphbor-