Connecticut western news., 1897-08-19

people will fall in the streets by slip ping on an orange peel, In other words, there are no accidents. The most insig- nificant event you ever heard of Is the link between two eternities-the eter- nity of the past and the eternity of the future. Head the right way, young man, and you will come out at the right goal.
 Bring me a young man and tell me what his physical health is and what his mental caliber and what his habits, and will tell ycu what will be his destiny for this world and his destiny for the world to come, and will not make five inaccurate prophecies out ct the 500. All this makes me solicitous in regard to young men, and want to make them nervous in regard to the contraction of unpayable debts. give you paragraph from my own expe- rience.
 My first settlement as pastor was in a village My salary was $500 and par sonage. The amount seemed enormous to me. said to myself, "What, all this for one year!'' 1 was afraid of getting worldly under so much prosperity. l resolved to invite all the congregation to my house in groups of 25 each. We began, and as they were the best con- gregation in all the world, and we felt nothing was too good for them, we piled all the luxuries on the table. I never completed the undertaking. At the end of six months 1 was in finan- cial despair 1 found that we not only had not the surplus of luxuries, but we had a strugglaato get the necessities, and vIssl4pfps1 ~ hat every young man slonx1n lianF to save himself or too iGE feld1y must meaassaare the size of niADs body before you begin to cut gnne cloth for his coat.
 When a young man willfully and Of choice, having the comforts of life, goes into the contraction of unpayable debts, he knows not into what he goes. The creditors get after the debtor, the pack of hounds in full cry, and alas for the reindeerl They jingle his doorbell be- fore he gets up in the morning, they jingle his doorbell after he has gone to bed at night. They meet him as he comes off his front steps. They send him postal card or letter in curtest style, telling him to pay up. They at tach his goods. They want cash or note at 80 days or note on demand. They call him knave. They say he lies. They want him disciplined in the church. They want him turned out of the bank They come at him from this side and from that side and from be- fore and from behind and from above and from beneath, and he is insulted and gibbeted and sued and dunned and sworn at until he gets the nervous dyspepsia, gets neuralgia, gets liver complaint, gets heart disease, gets con
 vulsive disorder, gets consumption. Now he is dead, and you say, "Of course they will let him alone. Oh, no! Now they are watchful to see whether there are any unnecessary ex- penses at the obsequies, to see whether there is any useless handle on the cas- ket, to see whether there is any surplus plait 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 tho 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 pillow on which he died. Cursed be debti 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 possible keep out of itl | Irreligious Young Men.
 But I 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 man s morals, take his Bible l away. How will you do that? Well. you 1 will caricature his reverence for the Scriptures, you will take all those incl. | dents of the Bible which can be made mirth of - Jonah's whale, Samson $ | foxes, Adams rib. Then you will cari- cature eccentric Christians or inconsist- ent Christians. Then you will pass off as your own all those hackneyed arguments against Christianity which are as old as 1 Tom Paine, as old as Voltaire, as old as sin. Now you have captured his Bi.
 ble, 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 ot
 earth and the sorrows of death, that
 they may come in and drive the stake
 for their encampment.
 A steamer l,500 miles from shore,
 with broken rudder and lost compass
 and hulk leaking 50 gallons the hour. i. better off than 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? It is
 meaner than to come to sick man and
 steal his medicine, meaner than to come
 to cripple and steal his crutch, meane1
 than to come to pauper and steal his
 crust, meaner than to come to poor
 man and burn his house down. It is the
 worst of all larcenies to steal tha Bible
 which has been crutch and medicine
 and food and eternal home to so many.
 What generous and magnanimous
 business infidelity has gone into-this
 splitting up of lifeboats and taking
 away of fire escapes and extinguishine
 of lighthouses I come out and say to
 such people, What are you doing all
 this for?" "Oh," they say, "just fol
 fun." It is such fun to see Chrisdrs:
 try to hold on to their Biblesl Many o1
 them have lost loved ones and have
 been told that there is resurrection
 and it is such fun to tell them there
 will be no resurrection Many of then
 have believed that Christ came to carry
 the burdens and to heal the wounds ot
 the world, and it is such fun to tel
 them they will have to be their ow1
 savior Think of the meanest thing
 you ever heard of, then go down l, 00t
 feet underneath it, and you will fint
 yourself at the top of stairs 100 miles
 long; go to the bottom of the stairs
 and you will find ladder 1000 miles
 long; then go to the foot of the ladder