Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-08-14

SIX llmeSi puHlsucu again anu dBaihS
but they 90 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
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 a lifetime. Is it not to be ex-
pected that you could build a better
ship out Of new timber than out of an
old hull that has been ground up in the
breakers? If starting with comparative
innOcency the man does not become
godly, is it possible that starting with
sin seraph can be evoluted? Is there
not more prospect that sculptor will
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 century? Could you not
write a last will and testament, or write
a deed, or write an important document
on pure white sheet Of paper easier
than you could write it upon q sheet
scribbled all over with infsmy and blot
ted and torn from top to bottom? And
yet there are those who are 30 uncom-
mon sensical as to believe that, though
q man starts in this world with infancy
and its innocence and turns out badly,
in the next world he can start with
dead failure and turn ont well.
But" say some people, 1--WE ought
TO have another chance in the next
world because our life here is so very
brief We scarcely have room to turn
around between the cradle and the
grave, the wood Of the one almost strik- !
ing against the marble Of the other We
ought to have another chance because Of
the brevity Of this life. D." Ny friends,
do you know what made the ancient |
deluge a necessity? 1t was the longevity |
Of the antediluvians They were worse |
In the second century than in the first, |
and worse when they got 300 years old,
and worse at 400, and worse at 500, and |
worse at 900, and worse at 500, until |
the world had to be washed and secured |
and scrubbed and soaked and sunk and |
anchored a whole month under water |
before it was ft for decent people to live
in. / have seen many pictures Of old |
Time with his scythc to cut but never |
saw any picture of Time with chest Of
medicines to heal Seneca said that in
the first few years of his public life
Nero was set up as an example Of Glenn
ency and kindness, but he got worse |
and worse the path descending, until
at 68 years of age he was the suicide. |
If 500 years of lifetime could not cure /
the antediluvians of their iniquity,
undertake to say that all the ages Of
eternity would be only prolongation Of
depravity.
But" says some one, "in the next
life the evil surroundings will be with
drawn and good influences will be sub
stituted, and hence expurgatiOn, srbli-
nation, glorifcation. But you must
remember that the righteous all their
sins forgiven, pass right up into be-
attic state, and then, having passed up
into the beatific state, not needing any |
other chance, that will leave all those
who have never been forgiven, and who
were impenitent, alone-alone-and
where are the salvable influences to come
from? Can it be expected that DR.. Duff,
who spent his whole life in pointing
the Hindoos to heaven, and DR.. Abeel,
who spent his life in eyangelizing
China, and that Judson, who spent his
life in preaching the gospel to Burma
can it be expected that they will be sent
down from some celestial missionary |
society to educate and TO save those who |
wasted their earthly existence! No.
We are told distinctly that I'll mission
ary and evangelistic influences will be
ended forever, and the good, having |
passed up to their bcatific state, all the |
morally bankrupt will be together. and |
where are the salvablc influences to |
come from? Will a spccked or bad apple |
put in barrel Of diseased apples make |
the other apples good? Will enc who Il
down be able to lift others up? Will
those who have miserably failed in the |
business Of this life be able TO pay the |
debts Of other spiritual insolvents. Will
million wrongs make one right! Po-
neropolis was the city where King Ru-
fus of Thracia put all bad people Of his
kingdom, and whenever there were in
iquitous people found in any part OF the
land they were all sent to Poneropolis. |
1t was the great capital Of wickedness.
Suppose a man or q woman had opened |
primary school in Poneropolis; would |
the parents of other cities have sent |
their children there TO be educated and |
reformed?
Ifaman in this world was surrounded |
with temptation, in the next world, all
the righteous having passed up into the |
beatifc state, the association will be
more deteriorating, depreciating and
down. You would not send TO cholera |
or yellow fever hospital man for his
health, and the great lazaretto OF the
future, in which are gathered the dis
eased and the plague struck, will be
poor place for moral recovery. The
Count Of Chateaubriand, in order to
make his child courageous, made him
sleep in the turrets Of the castle, where
the winds howled and specters were
said to haunt the place. The mother
and the sisters almost died OF fright,
but the son afterward gives his account
and he says, THAT gave me nerves OF
steel, and gave me courage that has
never faltered."
But, my friends, do not think the
turrets Of darkness or the spectral
world swept by sirocco and euroclydon
will ever prepare a soul for the eternal
land of sunshine. wonder what is the
curriculum in the College Inferno,
where a man. having been prepared by
enough sin. enters and goes mp from
freshman of iniuuity TO sophomore OF