The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-08-26

swindles ofthe present day have been car
! ried on by members OF the church.
I There are men standing In the front rank
In the churches who would not be trusted
for IS without good collateral security,
They leave their business dishonesties In
the vest!bule Of the church as they 60 In
and sit at the communion. Having con-
cluded the sacrament. they get up, wipe
the wine from their lips, go out and take up
their sins where they left of. To serve the
| devil Is their regular work, to serve God a
sort OF play spell. With Sunday sponge
they expect to wipe of from their business
slate all the past weeks inconsistencies.
You have no more right to take such a
| mans life as specimen Of religion than
you have to take the twisted irons and
split timbers that lie on the beach at Coney
Island as specimen Of an American ship.
II Is time that We draw line between re-
ligion and the frailties Of those who pro-
fess X.
Do you not feel that the Bible, take II oil
In all, is about the best book that the world
has ever seen? Do you know any book that
has as much in II? Do you not think, upon
the whole, that its influence has been bene-
ficentp leone to you with both hands ex-
tended toward you. In one hand I have
the Bible and in the other hand have moth
ing. This Bible In one hand will surren-
der forever just rs soon as in my other hand
you can put q book that is better.
Invite you back into the good old fash
Toned religion Of your fathers, to the God
whom they worshiped, to the Bible they
read, to the promises on which they leaned,
to the cross on which they hung their eter-
nal expectations. You have not been happy
a day since you swung Off. You will not be
happy minute until you swing back.
Again, there may be some who in the at
tempt after a Christian life will have to run
against powerful passions and appetites.
Perhaps 1t is a disposition to anger that
You have to contend against and perhaps,
while In very serious mood. you hear OF
something that makes you feel that you
must swear or die. l know Christian
man who was once so exasperated that he
said to mean customer, Il cannot swear
ut you myself, for / am n member OF the
church, but II you will go downstairs my
partner in business will swear at YOU" All
your good resolutions heretofore have been
torn to tatters by explosion Of temper.
Now, there Is no harm In getting mad II
you only get mad at sin. You need to
bride and saddle those hot breathed pas
sions and with them ride down injustice
and wrong. There are n thousand things
in the world We ought to be mad at There
is no harm in getting redhot II you only
bring to the forge that which needs ham
mering. A man who has no power Of
righteous Indignation is an imbecile. But
be sure 1t IL Il righteous indignation and
not a petulancy that blurs and unrayels
and depletes the soul.
There Is large class OF persons In mid
die life who have still in them appetites
that were aroused in early manhood, at n
time when they prided themselves on be.
ing q little fast, "high livcrs, free and
easy" "hail fellows well met" They are
now paying in compound interest for
troubles they collected twenty years ago.
Some of you are trying to escape, and you
will. yet very narrowly, las with the skin
OF your teeth" God and your own soul
only Know what the struggle is. Omnipo-
tent grace has pulled out many u soul that
was deeper in the mire than you are. They
line the beach of heaven-the multitude
whom God has rescued from the thrall of
suicidal habits. II you this day turn back
on the wrong and start anew, God will
help you. Oh! the weakness OF human
help! Men will sympathize for while and
then turn you Off. II you ask for their mar.
don, they will give it and say they will try
you again; but, falling away again under
the power OF temptation, they cast you
off forever. But God forgives seventy
times seven; yea, seven hundred times:
yea. though this be the ten thousandth
time, He Is more earnest, more sympa.
thetic, more helpful this last time than
when You took your first mistep.
II with all the influences favorable for n
right life men make so many mistakes,
how much harder Is it when for instance
some appetite thrusts its iron grapple into
the roots OF the tongue and pulls man
down with hands Of destruction? II, under
such circumstances, he breaks away, there
Will be no sport in the undertaking, no
holiday enjoyment, but n struggle in which
the wrestlers move from side to side and
bend and twist and watch for an oppor-
tunity to get in heavier stroke, until with
one final effort, in which the muscles are
distended and the veins stand out and the |
blood starts, the swarthy habit falls under
the knee of the victor-escaped at last ms 4,
with the skin Of his teeth"
The ship Emma, bound from Gottenbure |
to harwich, was sailing on when the man |
on the lookout saw something that he pro- |
nounced q vessel bottom up. There was |
on 1t that looked like sea gull |
but was afterward found to be waving |
In the small boat the crew
pushed out to the wreck and found that II |
was capsized vessel, aud that three men |
had been digging their way out through |
the bottom OF the ship. When the vessel |
.apohcu, tncy Huu no means OF escape, |
The captain took his penknife and. dug |
away through the planks until his knife |
broke. Then an old nail was found, with |
which they attempted to scrape their way |
up out of the darkness, each one working
until his hand was well nigh paralyzed,
and he sank back faint and sick. After
ong and tedious work the light broke
through the bottom Of the ship. A hand |
ierchief was hosted. Help came. They
we're taken on board the vessel and
aved. Did ever men come 50 near watery
grave without dropping into it? How mar.
owly they escaped-escaped only with
he skin OF their teeth" There are men
Who have been capsized OF evil passions
md capsized midocean, and they are n
housand miles away from any shore Of
lelp. They have for years been irving to
lig their way out. They have been digging
way and digging away, but they can never
70 delivered unless now they will hoist
ONE signal OF distress. However weak
nd feeble it may be, Christ will see IL and
ear down upon the helpless craft and take
hem on board, and 1t will be known on
arth and in heaven how narrowly thev
ave escaped-"escaped as with the skin OF
heir teeth"
There are others who in attempting TO
ONE to God must run between n great
iany business perplexities. II man 90
YER to business ut 10 o'clock in the morn
lg and come uWuy Mt z 3O'clocl In tba or,o, |