Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-08-25

Whether the Howers sent to the casket
have been bought by the family OF
donated, to see in whose name the deed tc
the grave is made out. Then they ransack
the bcreft household, the books, the
pictures, the carpets, the chairs the sofa
the piano, the mattresses, the pillow or
which ne died. Cursed be debit For the
sake of your own happiness, for the sake
Of good morals, for the sake of your i'm
mortal soui, for Gods sake, young man, as
far As possible keep out of 1t!
But l think more younS men ar
slaughtered through irreligion. Take away
a young mans religion and you make
him the prey Of evil. We all know that
morals. Now, il you want to destroy a
young mans morals, take his Bible away
How will you do that? Well you will carl
,ature his reverence for the Scriptures
you will take all those Incidents OF the
Bible which can be made mirth of -Jonah's
whale: Sampson's foxes, Adams rib. Then
you will caricature eccentric Christians or
Inconsistent Christians. Then You will
pass of as your own all those hackneyed
arguments against Christianity which are
as old rs Tom Paine, as old as Voltaire.
as old as sin. Now You have captured his
Bible, and you have taken his strongest
fortress. The way is comparatively clear
and all the gates OF his soul are set open
In invitation to the sins of earth and the
sorrows of death, tina: they may come in
and drive the stake for their encampnent
steamer 1900 miles from shore, with
broken rudder and lost compass and hulk
leaking fifty gallons the hour, Is better off
.han young man when you have robbed
him of his Bible. Have you ever noticed
how despicably mean it is to take away the
worlds Bible without proposing n substi-
ute? 1t is meaner than coming to a sick
nan and steal his medicine, meaner than
20 come to cripple and steal his crutch,
han.
his crust, meaner than to come to poor
man and burn his house down. 1t Is the
worst of all larcenies to steal the Bible
which has been crutch and medicine and
food and eternal home to so many. What
generous and magnanimous business in
ldelity has gone into-this splitting up of
ifeboats and taking away Of fire escapes
and extinguishing of lighthouses! l come
out and l say to such people, What are
you doing all this for2" "Oh," they say,
Just for fun 1t is such fun to see Chris
iians try to hold on to their Biblesl Many
Of them have lost loved ones and have
)een told that there Is resurrection, and
is such fun to tell them there will be no
-esurrectionl Many of them have believed
hat Christ came to carry the burdens and
o heal the wounds Of the world, and it Is
mch fun to tell them they will have to be
heir own savior! Think of the meanest
hing you ever heard of, then go down 1000
self at the top of a stairs 100 miles long; go
% the bottom of the stairs, and you will
Ind a ladder 1000 miles long; then go to
he foot of the ladder and look Off preci-
)ice half as TAR from here to China and
you will find the headquarters of the mean
less that would rob this world of its only
comfort in life. its only peace In death and
ts only hope for Immortality. Slaughter n
;ouG" mans faith in God, and there is not
much more left to slaughter
Now what has become Of the slaugh-
cred? Well some Of them are in their
,ather's or mothers house broken down
N health, waiting to die; others are in the
hospital, Others are In the cemetery. or,
:ather, their bodies are, for their souls
nave gone on to retribution. Not much
prospect for young man who started life
,.-i.ts s,0od he6sth and rood education and
Christian example set him, and oppor-
unity of usefulness, who gathered all his
treasures and put them in one box, and
hen dropped it into the sea.
Now, how is this wholesale slaughter to
De stopped? There is not a person who is
lot interested in that question. The OBJ
ect Of my sermon is to put weapon in
zach of your hands for your own defense.
Wait not for Young Mems Christian AssO-
.ations to protect you or churches to pro-
:ect you. Appealing to God for help, take
,are of Yourself.
First, have a room somewhere that you
iiH till your own. netuer IL De the
)ack parlor of a fashionable boarding
louse room in the fourth story of a
cheap lodging | care not. Only have that
Dne room your fortress. Let not the dissi- |
pater or uncean step over the threshold |
If they come up the long flight of stairs and
knock Ht the door, meet them face to face
and kindly yet firmly refuse them admit
ance. Have few family portraits on the
wall, if you brought them with you from
,our country home. Have Bible on the
stand. If you can afford 1t and can play
,n one, have an instrument Of music--harp
)r flute or cornet or melodeon or violin or
piano. Every morning before you leave
hat room pray: Every night after you
'ome home in that room pray. Make that |
-oom your Gibraltar, your SevastopoI |
Iour Mount Zion. Let no bad book or
newspaper come into that room any more
han you would allow u cobra to coil on
four table.
Take care of yourself. Nobody else will
AXE care of you. Your help will not come
Up two or three or four flights of stairs;
your help will come through the roof, down |
rom heaven, from that God who in the |
1000 years of the worlds history never be |
rayed young man who tried to he good |
md Christian. Let me say In regard to |
'our adverse worldly circumstances, in pass |
ng, that you are on n level now with those |
who are finally to succeed. Mark my words |
young man, ard think of 1t thirty years |
rom now. You will find that those who |
thirty years from now are the millionaires |
IF this country, who are the orators Of the |
country, who are the poets of the country, |
who are the strong merchants of the coun- |
Try, who are the great philanthropists OF |
he country -mightiest in church and |
State-arc this morning on alevel with you, |
not an inch above, and In straitened cir |
.umstances now.
There l. no class of persons that so stir |
hi..G In,
.ities. Not quite enough salary to live on |
and all the temptations that come from |
hat deficit Invited on all hands to drink |
md their exhausted nervous system seem
ing to demand stimulus. Their religion |
by the most of the clerks in the !
store and most of the operatives in the |
factory. The rapids of temptation and
leath rushing against that young man
forty miles the hour, and he in frail boat |
headed up stream, with nothing but
broken oar TO work with. Unless Almighty
God help them they will go under.
All. when told you to take care of your
self you misunderstood me if you though
meant you are to depend upon human
resolution, which may he dissolved in the
foam of the wine cup or may be blown out
with the first gust Of temptation. Here is
the helmet, the sword of the Lord God
Almighty. CIOthe Yourself in that panoply
and you shall not he put to confusion. Sin
pays well neither in this world nor the next,
but right thinking and right believing and
right acting will take you in safety through
this life and in transport through the next.
l never shall forget "A prayer l heard u
young man make some fifteen years ago.
1t was very short prayer, but it was
prayer: 80 Lord, help US! We
find it so very easy to do wrong aud Sc
hard to do right Lord, help usi' That
prayer. / warrant you, reached the ear ot
i7od and reached His heart. Aud there are
100 men who have ;Cand out-10O0 young
men, perhaps, who have found out-that
very thing. 1t is so very easy to do wrong
and so hard to do right.
got letter one day, only one para
graph. which l shall read:
"Having moved around somewhat,
have run across many young men OF intel
iigence, ardent strivers after that will-o'-
he-wisp-fortune- OF one OF these
Il. x-a q En- ll sh m an