Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-09-01

fou have no more right to take such r
mans life a specimen Of religion thar
you have to take the twisted irons and
split timbers that lie on the beach at Cone,
Island as a specimen Of an American ship
1t is time tnat We draw a line between re.
ligion and the frailties Of those who pro.
fess it,
Do you not feel that the Bible. take it al
In all, Is about the best book that the world
has ever Scenp Do you know any book that
has as much in it? Do you not think, upon
the whole, that its influence has been bene.
hcent? come to you with both hands ex-
tended toward you. In one hand have
the Bible and In the other hand have moth.
ing. This Bible in one hand will surren-
der forever Just as soon rs In my other hand
you can put n book that Is better.
invite you back into the good old fash.
ioned religion Of your fathers, to the God
whom they worshiped, to the Bible they
read, to the promises on which they leaned
nal expectations. You have not been happy
day since you swung of. You will not be
happy minute until you swing back.
Again. there may be some who in the at
tempt after Christian life will have to run
against powerful passions and appetites
Perhaps 1t is n disposition to anger that
you have to contend against, and perhaps.
while In a very serious mood, you hear OF
something that makes you feel that you
must swear or die. 1 know a Christian
1 "hh who was oi'c So tNhSl'tTut tnHt ne
| said to mean customer 81 cannot swear
| ut you myself, for I am a member Of the
| church, but il You will go downstairs nv
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 IL
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 a thousand things
In the world we ought to be mad at. There
| Is no harm In getting redhot If you only
bring to the forge that which needs ham
| mering. man who has no power of
| righteous indignation is an imbecie. But
| be sure 1t Is II righteous Indignation and
not petulancy that blurs and unravels
| and depleteS the soul.
| There Is n large class OF persons in mid
die life who have still In them appetites
| that were aroused in early manhood mt n
| time when they prided themselves on be-
ing little fnst, high livers." g" "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, "as with the skin
| Of your teeth God and your own soul
only know what the struggle Is. Omnipo-
tent grace has pulled out many 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 a while and
then turn you of. II you ask for their par
don, they will give 1t and say they will try
you again; but, falling away again under
the power of temptation, they cast you
of 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.
If with all the Influences favorable for a
| right life men make so many mistakes,
how much harder Is it when, for instance,
some appetite thrusts its iron grapple into
| tho roots of the tongue and pulls man
| down with hands of destruction2 IT, under
such circumstances, he breaks away, there
will be no sport in the undertaking. no
holiday enjoyment but a 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 rs
| with the skin of his teeth
The ship Emma, bound from Gottenburg
| to Harwich, was sailing on when the man
on the lookout saw something that he pro-
nounccd n vessel bottom up. There was
ON IL llHt looked ike Il sea gull,
| but was aftcrWari found to bs waving
handkerchief. In the small boat the crew
pushed out to the wreck and found that it
was caISiZcd vessel, aud that three men
had been digging their way out through
the bottom of the ship. When the vessel
capsiZed, they had no means of escape
! The captain took his penknife and dug
| away through the planks until his knife
broke. Then IN 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 paraIyzei,
and he sank back faint and sick. After
long and tedious work the light broke
through the bottom of the ship. hand
kerchfef was hoisted. Help came. They
were taken on board tho vessel and
saved. Did ever men come 30 near q watery
grave without dropping into it2 How mar
the skin of their teeth" There are men
who have been capsized OF evil passions
and capsized midocean and they are a
thousand miles away from any shore of
help. They have for years been trying to
dig their way out. They have been digging
away and digging away, but they can never
be delivered unless now they will hoist
some signal Of distress. However weak
and feeble it may be, Christ will see it and
bear down upon the helpless craft and take
them on board, and 1t will be known on
earth and In heaven how narrowly thew
have escaped escaped rs with the skin OF
their teeth"
There are others who In Attempting to
come to God must run between a great
many business perplsxities. II a man go
over to business at 10 o'clock In the morn
Ing and come away at 3O'clook In the after
noon, he has some time for religion, but
how shall you find time for religious CON
temptation when you are driven from sun
rise to sunset and have been for five years
going behind in business and are frequent
iy dInned by creditors whom you cannot
pay. and when from Monday morning until
Saturday night you are lodging bills that
you cannot meet? You walk day by day I'm
uncertainties that have kept your brain on
fire for the past three years. Some with
less business troubles than you have gone
crazy. The clerk has heard noise In the
back counting room and gone In and found
the chief man of the firm n raving maniac,
or the wife has heard the bang of a pistol
In the back parlor and gone fn stumbling
over the dead body of her husbands
suicide. There are men pursued, harassed,
trodden down and scalped Of business per-
pleNities, and which way to turn next they
do not know. Now God will not be hard on
you. He knows what obstacles are in the
way of your being Christian and your
first effort in the right direction He will
crown with success. Do not let SATAN with
cotton bales, and kegs, and hogsheads, and
counters, and stocks of unsalabls goods
block up your way to heaven. Gather up
all your energies. Tighten the girdle about
your loins. Take an agonizing look into
the face Of God, and then say, Here goes
one grand effort for life eternal" ," and then
bound away for heaven, escaping las with
the skin Of your teeth
1ln the last day it will be found that
Hugh Latimer, and John Knox, and Huss
and Ridley were not the greatest martyrG.
hut Christian men who went up incorrupt
from the contnminations and perplexities
of Pennsylvania avenue, Broad street, State
street and Third street. On earth they
were called brokers or stock jobbers, or
tailers, or importers, but In heaven Chris
tian heroes. No fagots we're heaped about
their feet; no inqulstiOn demanded from
them recantation; no soldier aimed pike
| at their heart. but they had mental tor
| ture compared with which all physical
consuming is as the breath Of q spring
morning.
I find in the community large class Of