Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-08-24

| obsequies, to see whether there is any
useless handle On the casket, to see
whether there is any surplus plat on
the shroud, to see whether the hearse
| is costly or cheap to see whether the
! flowers sent to the casket have been
! bought by the family or donated, to
| see in whose name the deed to the
grave is made out. Then they ransack
the bereft household, the books, the
pictures, the carpets, the chairs, the
sofa, the piano, the mattresses, the pill
low on which he died. Cursed be debt.
For the sake of your own happiness,
for the sake of your good morals, for
the sake of your immortal soul, for
Gods sake, young man, as far as pos
sible, keep out of it.
But | think more young men are
slaughtered through irreligion. Take
away young mans religion and you
make him the prey of evil. We all
know that the Bible is the only perfect
system of morals. Now. if you want to
| destroy the young mans morals, take
his Bible away. How will you do that?
Well, you will caricature his reverence
for the Scriptures, you will take all
those incidents of the Bible which can
be made mirth of-Jonah's whale, Sam
sons foxes, Adams rib-then you will
caricature eccentric Christians, or in
! consistent Christians, then you will
pass OFF as your own all those hack
| neyed arguments against Christianity
which are as old as 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 invi-
tation to the sins of earth and the sor
| rows of death, that they may come in
and drive the stake for their encamp-
| ment.
A steamer fifteen hundred miles
from shore with broken rudder
and lost compass, and hulk
leaking fifty gallons the hour,
| is better off than a 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 a substitute? 1t is
meaner than to come TO a sick man
and steal his medicine, meaner than
t. come to cripple and steal his
clutoh, meancr than to come to pau
per and steal his crust, meaner than
TO come to a poor man and burn his
house down. 1t is TIE worst of all lar
cenies TO steal the Bible which has
been crutch and medicine and food
and eternal hcme to SO many. What
a generous and magnanimous business
infldelity has gone into! This split
ting up of fe-boats, and taking away
or fire-escapes, and eXtinguishing of
lighthouses. | come out and | say to
such people, What are you doing all
this for?" OH they say, Just for
fun 1t is such fun to see Christians
try to hold on to their Bibles. Many
| OF them have lost loved ones and have
been told that there is a resurrection,
and it is such fun to tell them there
will be no resurrection! Many of them
have believed that Christ came to car
ry the burdens and TIC heal the wounds
of the world, and it is such fun to tell
them they will have to be their own
saviour! Think of the meanest thing
you ever heard of; then go down
thousand feet underneath it, and you
will find yourself at the top of stairs
a hundred miles long; go to the bot
tom of the stairs, and you will find a
ladder a thousand miles long; then go
to the foot of the ladder and look off
precipice half as far as from here to
China, and you will find the headquar-
ters of the meanness that would rob
this world of its only comfort in life,
its only peace in death, and it's only
hope for Immortality. Slaughter a
young mans faith in God, and there is
no. much more left to slaughter.
Now, what has become of the slaugh-
tered? Well, some of them are in
their fathers or mothers house, broken
down in health, waiting to die; others
are in the hospital. others are in the
cemetery, or, rather their bodies are,
for their souls have gone on to retri-
tuition Not much prospect for young
man who started life with good health.
and good education, and a Christian
example set him, and opportunity of
usefulness, who gathered all his treas
ures and put them in one box, and
then dropped it into the sea.
Now, how is this wholesale slaugh-
ter tc be stopped? There is not per-
soI who is not interested in that ques-
ton. The object of my sermon is to
put a weapon in each Of your hands
for your own defense. Wait not for
Young Mems Christian Associations to
protect you, or churches to protect
you. Appealing to God for help, take
care of yourself.
First, have a room somewhere that
you can call your own. Whether it
be the back parlor of a fashionable
boarding house, or room in the
fourth story of a cheap lodging, l care
not Only have that one room your
fortress. Let not the dissipater or
unclean step over the threshold. If
they come up the long flight of stairs
and knock at the door, meet them face
to face and kindly yet firmly refuse
them admittance. Have few family
portraits on the wall, il you brought