The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-08-20
THhMAoE's SERMON.
''If the tree fall toward the south, or to-
ward the north, in the place where the tree
falleth, then it shall be. "-Eccl., XII, 3.

IF the tree fall toward the SOUTH or to-
ward the north, in the place where the tree
falleth, then it shall be.'-Eccl., XII, 3.
There is a lowering hope in the
minds of a vast multitude Of people
that there will be an opportunity in
the next world Of correcting the mis-
takes of this; that, however complete a
'Shipwreck we may make of earthly
life, it will be on beach up which we
may walk to d palace; that as the de-
PENDANT may lose his case in a criminal
court, and appeal it and have it go up
to the supreme court OF court of chanc
cry and all the costs thrown over on
the other party; so q man may lose his
case in this world, but in the higher
jurisdiction of eternity have the de-
cision Of the earthly case set aside, all
the costs RENTED, and the defendant
be triumphant forever.
The object Of my sermon is to show
you that common sense declares with
the text that such an expectation is
-chimerical. eff the tree fall toward
the south, OF toward the north, in the
place where the tree falleth, there it
shall be-" There are those who say
that if the impenitent and unfortunate
man enters the next world and sees
the disaster, as result of that disas-
ter he will turn. the distress the cause
of his reformation; but we have ten
thousand instances all around about
us Of people who have done wrong, and
disaster suddenly came upon them
did the disaster heal them? No; they
went on. There is a man flung of dis
;SipatiOnS. The doctor says to him:
""Now, my friend, if you don't stop
drinking and don't stop this fast life
you are living, you will die" The pa
tient thanks the physician for his
warning and gets better; he begins to
sit up, begins to walk around the room,
begins to go to business and take the
same round Of grog-shOpS where he got
his morning dram and his evening
dram and the drains betWet II. Down
again. Same doctor. Same physical
anguish. Same medical warming
But now the sickness is more pro
tracted the liver more obstinate, the
stomach more irritable, the digestive
organs more rebellious. But still, I'M
der medical skill, he gets better. goes
forth, commits the same sacrilege
against his physical health. Some
times he wakes up to see what he is
doing, and he realizes that he is de-
stroying his family, and that his life
is perpetual perjury against his mar
riage vows, and that that broken-heart-
ed wife is so different from the rOseate
wife he married that her old school
mates dO not recognize her on the
street, and that his sons are going out
in life under the taunt of a fathers
drunkenness, and that his daughters
are going out in life under the sacritica-
ton Of a disreputable ancestry. His
nerves are all of a jangle From
crown OF head to sole of foot he is
one aching, rasping, crucifying, damn
Ing torture. Where is he? He is in a
hell on earth. Does it stop him? All,
no! After a while delrium tremens
pours out upon his pillow a whole jun
gle of kissing serpents. His screams
horrify the neighbors, and he dashes
out Of bed crying: '"Take these things
OIL me!' He is drinking down the COM
fort of his family, the education of his
Children, their prospects for this life
and perhaps their prospects for the
life to come. Pale and cOnvalescent,
he sits up. Physician says to him:
"'NoW, my good fellow, l am going to
nave a plain talk with YOU If you
ever have all attack Of this kind again
you will die. 1 can't save you, and all
tie doctors III creation can't save YOU"
Ihc patient gets up, starts out, goes
the same round of dissipation and is
down again; but this time medicines
90 not touch his case. Consultations
or physicians say there is no hone.
Death ends the scene. The process of
1neDrlatlOn and physical suffering and
medical warning and dissolution is
taking place within a stones throw of
Where you sit and in every neighbour
hood OF Christendom. Pain does not
reform. Suffering does not cure What
is true in regard to one sin is true in
regard to all sins; and yet men are ex-
pecting in the next life there will be
opportunity for purgatorial regenelsl-
ton. Take up the printed reports of
the prisons Of the United States and
find that the vast majority Of the Grim
lnals were there before, some for two,
times, three times, four times, six
times. Punished again and again.
but they go right on. Millions of Incl
dents and instances working the
other way; and yet men think that in
the next world punishment will work
out for them some salvable effects.
Why. you and I cannot imagine any
worse torture rom another world than
we nave seen men IN THIS world. and
without anv salutary consequences.
Furthermore, the prospect of reform
alton in another world is more i'm
probable than here. Do you not real
iZc the fact that man starts in this
world with the innocence of infancy?
In the other case, starting in the other
world, he starts with the accumulated
bad habits of lifetime. Is it not to
be expected that you could Guild bet
ter ship out of new timber than out Of
an old hulk that has been ground up in
the breakers? In starting with COM
parative innocency the man does not
become godly, is it possible that start
Ing with sin a seraph can be evoluted?
Is there not more prospect that sculp-
tor would make finer statue out of a
block Of pure, white Parian marble
than out of a black rock that has been
cracked and twisted and split and
scared with the storms of half a cent
ury? Could you not write a last will
and testament or write a deed, OF write
an important document on a pure
white sheet of paper easier than you
could write it upon sheet scrubbed
all over with infamy and blotted and