The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-08-20

is the link between two eternities-
the eternity of the past and the eter-
nity of the future Head the right
way. young man. and you will come
out at the right goal.
When a young man willfully and of
choice, having the comforts of life,
goes into the contraction of unpayable
iebts, he knows not into what he goes
Inc creditors get after the debtor, the
mack of hounds in full cry, and alas.
for the reindeer. They jingle his door
bell before he gets up in the morning,
thew Jingle his door bell after he has
gone TO bed at night. They meet him
IS he comes off his front steps They
send him postal card, or letter, in
curtest style, telling him to pay up.
They attach his goods. They want
cash, or a note at so days, or a
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
before, and from behind, and from
above, and from beneath, and he is in
suited and gibbeted, and sued, and
dunned, and sworn at, until he gets
the nervous dyspepsia. gets neuralgia,
gets liver complaint, gets heart dis
ease, gets convulsive disorder, gets
consumption. 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 DDS
sake. young man, as far as possible,
keep out of it
But 1 think more young men are
slaughtered through irreligiOn. Take
away a young mans religion and you
make him the prey of evil We all
know that the Bible is the only per-
feet 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 carl
cature his reverence for the Scriptures,
you will take all those incidents OF the
Bible which can be made mirth Of
Jonah's whale, Samson's foxes, Adams
rib-then you will caricature eccentric
Christians, or inconsistent Christians;
then you will pass off as your own all
those hackneyed arguments against
Christianity which are as old as Tom
Paine, as old as Voltaire, as old as sin.
What generous and magnanimOus
business infidelity has gone into! This
splitting up of lifeboats, and taking
away of fire escapes, and extinguish-
ing of lighthouses. | come out and
say to such people, "What are you do
ing all this for?" oh" they say,
lust 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, Many of them have be-
lieved that Christ came to carry the
burdens and to heal the wounds of the
world, and it is such fun to tell them
they will have to be their own savior.
Think of the meaneSt thing you
ever heard of; then go down 1000 feet
underneath it, and you will find your
self at the top of stairs 100 miles
long; 90 to the bottom of the stairs,
and you will find ladder 1000 miles
long; then go to the foot of the ladder
and look off a precipice half as far as
from here to China, and you will find
the Headquarters of the meanness that
would rob this world of its only COM
fort in life, its only peace in death,
and its only hope for immortality.
Slaughter a young mans faith in God,
and there is not 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 retribu-
ton. 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 to be stopped? There is not per
son who is not interested in that ques
ton. The object of my sermon is tC
put weapon in each of your hands
for your own defense. Wait not fol-
Young mems Christian associations &c
protect you, or churches to protect you
Appealing to God for help, take care Of
yourself. First, have a room some
where that you can call your own
Whether it be the back parlor of a
| fashionable clearinghouse, or a room
in the fourth story of cheap lodging
! l care not. Only have that one room
your fortress. Let not the dissipatel
! or unclean step over the threshold. L
they come up the long flight of stairs
and knock at the door, meet them fac'
to face and kindly yet firmly refus'
, them admittance.
Take care of yourself. Nobody els
: will take care of you. Your help vii
: not come up two, or three, or fOu
flights of stairs; your help will CONF
through the roof, down from Heaven
: from that God who in the 5000 year.
of the worlds history never betrayed
| a young man who tried to be good ant
/ | Christian. Let me say in regard Il
! your adverse worldly circumstances