Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-08-15
TT MAY BE TOO LATE
DANGER or PUTTING orr THE DAY
OF REFORMATION

DANGER or PUTTING OFF THE DAY
OF REFORMATION.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Does Not Believe That
There Ii Any Chance Of Repentance and
Pardon Beyond the Graye-shali We
Have Another Chancee
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9.--Dr. Talmage
today discusses question that every
body some time discusses. 1t Is one Of
tremendous import, Shall we have an
other chancet The text is Ecclesiastes
j ri. 8, IF the tree fall toward the south
or toward the north, in the place where
the tree falleth there it shall be. =
There is lowering hope IN the minds
of vast multitude of people that there
will be an opportunity in the next world
of correcting the mistakes Of this; that,
however complete a shipwreck we may
make Of our earthly life, it will be on a
beach up which we may walk to pal
ace that. as the defendant may lose his
case in a circuit court and appeal it and
have it go up TO the supreme court or
court of chancery and all the costs
thrown over ON the other party, so a
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 RENTED and the de-
/ PENDANT be triumphant forever.
The object of my sermon is to show
Won that common sense declares with
che text that such an expectation is
chimerical. IF the tree fall toward the
south or toward the north, in the place
where the tree falleth there ii shall
be. " There are those who say that, if
the impenitent and unforgiyen man en-
/ ters the next world and sees the disaster,
as "a result of that disaster he Will turn,
! the distress the cause of his reforma
ton, but we have 10, 600 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.
No Hope but In the Present.
There is man flung Of designations.
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 patient thanks the
physician for his warning and gets bet
ter; he begins to sit up, begins to walk
around the room, begins to go to bust
ness and takes the same round of greg
shops where he got his morning dram
and his evening dram and the drains
between. Down again. Same doctor.
Same physical anguish Same medical
warming But now the sickness is more
protracted, the liver more obstinate, the
stomach more irritable, the digestive
organs more rebellious. But still, u-der
medical skill, he gets better, goes forth,
commits the same sacrilege against his
! physical health. Sometimes he wakes
up to Zee what he is doing. and he
realizes he is destroying his family, and
that his life is a perpetual perjury
against hl marriage vows, and that
that broken hearted woman is so differ
/ emit from the roseate wife he married
1 that her oil schoolmates do not recog-
nize her Oh the street, and that his sons
are going Vat in life under the taunt of
a father'S drunkenness, and that his
daughters tre going out in life under
the scarifdation of disreputable an
cestry. His nerves are all a-jangle.
From crown of head to sole of foot he is
one aching. rasping, crucifying damning
torture. Where is he? He is in hell en-
earth. Does it stop him? All, mol After
awhile delirium tremens pours out upon
his pillow a whole jungle of kissing
reptiles. His screams horrify the neigh
bors as he dashes out of bed crying,
Take these things of mer He is
drinking down the comfort of his fam
| lily, the education of his children, 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 have a plain talk with you. If
you ever have an attack of this kind
again, you will die. l can't save you,
and all the doctors in creation can't
save you. f"
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 inebria-
ton and physical suffering and medical
warning and dissolution is taking place
within stones throw of where you sit
and in every neighborhood of Christen-
dom. Pain does not reform. Suffering
does not cure. What is true i'll regard
TO one sin is true in regard to all sins,
and yet men are expecting III the next
life there will be opportunity for purga-
torial 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 Incl
dents and instances working the other
way, and yet men think that in the
next world punishment will work out
for them salvable effects. Why, you and
l cannot imagine any worse torture
from another world than we have seen
men in in this world, and without any
salutary consequence.
The Next Life.
Furthermore, the prospect of reforma
ton in another world is more improb-
able than here Do you not realize the
fact that a 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 ex-
pected that you could build better
ship out Of new timber than out of an
old hull that has been ground up in the
breakers? If starting with comparative
innoeency the man does not become
cody, is it possible that starting with
sin a seraph can be evoluted? Is there
not more prospect that sculptor will
make finer statue out of block Of
pure white Parian marble than out of
black rock that has been cracked and
twisted and split and SCARED with the
storms Of half century? Could you not
write a last will and testament, or write
deed, or write an important document