Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1896-08-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
once the Soul Reaches Eternity, All
Chance of Reform Is Lost.
xnere WIN he No Opportunity to Turn
1eck-Ffnsi Judgm ent Taken Upon
Earthly Action-A Question That
Often Arises to Puzzle
Christians.

IL.
II, 3; 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
VIII be an opportunity in the next
world of correcting the mistakes of
this; that however complete ship
wreck we may make of our earthly life.
III VIII be on beach up which
we may walk TO a palace; that as the
defendant may lose his case i'm cir
cult 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 80 man may lose
his case in this world. but in the high
er jurisdiction of eternity have the de-
cision of the earthly case set side. 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. IF the tree fall toward
the south, or toward the north in the
place where the tree fallcth. there it
shall be"
There are those who say that il the
impenitent and unforgivcn man en-
tiers the next world and sees the
disaster, as result of that dis.
aster he will turn, the distress
the cause of his reformation. but we
nave 10000 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 wrong. There is man flung of
dissipations. 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. g"
The patient thanks the physician
Tor his warning and gets better:
ne begins to sit up; begins to walk
around the room, begins to go to bust
ness and takes in the same round of
grog shops, where he got his morning
dram and his evening dram and the
drains between.
Down again. Same doctor. Same
physical anguish. Same medical warn
ing. 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 sac
rilege against his physical health.
Sometimes he wakes up TO see
what he is doing, and he real
izcs he is destroying his family. and
that his life Is perpetual perjury
against his marriage vows, and that
that brollen-hcarted woman is so diff
ferent from the roseate wife he mar
RED that her old schoolmates do not |
rec HaFWWu neyaa L.
his sons are going out in life under the |
taunt OF fathers drunkenness. and |
that has daughters are going out in |
life under the sCariication of q
dlsreputaDle ancestry. His nerves |
are all jangle. From crown of |
head TO sole o. loot he is one aching. |
rasping, crucifying damning torture. |
Where Is he? He is in hell on earth |
Does il stop him? Al. no. After awhile |
deiiriTm tremens pours out upon his /
pillow q whole Jungle of kissing rep /
tiles. His screams horrifying the neigh !
bors rs he dashcs out of bed CRYING: |
Take these things of me"' lie is |
drinking down the comfort of his fam |
lily. the education of his children. their.
prospects for this life and per-
haps their prospects for the |
life to come. Pale and con |
valescent he sits up. Physician SAYS to |
him: Now, my good fellow. | am 90 |
ing TO have plain tall, with you. If /
you ever have an attack OF this kind |
again you will die. / can not save YOU. /
and all the doctors in creation cant |
save you The patient gets up. goes |
the same round OF dissipation and is |
down again; but this time medicine, do |
not touch his case. Consultations of /
physicians say there is 10 hope. Death |
ends the scene.
That process of incbriatioc and phv- !
steal suffering and medical vvarni..-
and dissolution is taking place within /
a stones throw OF where Won sit and in !
every neighborhooG OF Christendou.
Pain does not reform. Suffering does
not cure. NJ hat is true i'm regard 10 /
one sin is true in regard To- all .
sins. and yet men are expecting
IN the next life there will bel
opportunity for uurgutor.ai rcgen- .
Grafton. Take up the rri cipa rcports
OF the prisons of the United state.
and find that tho vast ma .1rftv of the
criminals we're There before. some for
two times. three times. tour times. Six
times. Punished again and again. but
they 60 right OF. Million, OF Incidents
and instances wording tho other way
and yet men thinl thatin theuext world
punishment will work out for them sally.
able effects Why you and can not
imagine any worse torture from another
world than we nave seen men in i'm this
world, and without any salutary inhu-
ence. furthermore. the prospect OF
reformation ~ another world IS more
improbable than here. DO You not re-
alize the fact that man starts in this
world with the innocence Of infancy?
In the other case. starting ia the other
world, ne starts with the accumulated
bad habits Of "a lifetime is it not
70 b. expected that you could build
better ship out Of new timbcrs than
out OF an old hulk that has been ground
mp IN the breakers? II starting with
comparative innOcency the man does
not become godly, is IL possible that
starting with sin scraph can be evo.
luted? is their not more prospect that
q sculptor viii make finer statue out
Of a block Of pure white Parian marble
than out 81 a black rock that ha. been
crackeCNand twisted aud split and
Scared with the storms of half cen.
tury?
Could you not write q last will and
testament, or write % deed or write Am