Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-08-20

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the world, and it is such fun to tell
them they Will have to be their own
sayiorl Think Of the meanest thing
you ever heard Of, then go down !, 900
feet underneath it, and you will find
yourself at the top of a stairs 100 miles
long; 90 to the bottom Of the stairs,
and you will fad a ladder / 200 miles
long; then 90 TO the foot Of the ladder
and look of a precipice half as far as
from here to China and you will tud
the headquarters of the meanness that
would rob this world of its only COM
fort in life, It's only peace in death and
its only hope for Immortality Slaugh-
ter young mans faith in God, and
there is not much more left to slaughter
Physical aud Moral Wrecks.
Now what has become Of the slaugh-
tered; Well, some Of them are in their
fathers or mothers house, broken down
IN health, waiting 10 die; others are in
the hospital, others are in the cemetery.
or, rather, their bodies are, for their
souls have gone on to rcu.bution. Not
much prospect for young man who
started life with good health and good
/ education and a Christian example set
| hin. and opportunity Of usefulness,
who gathered all his treasures and put
them in one box and then dropped it
/ into the sea
Now, how is this wholesale slaughter
to be stopped? There is not a person
/ who is not interested in that question.
/ The Object Of my sermon is to put
/ weapon in each Of your hands for your
/ OWn defense Wait not for Young Mems
j Christian associations to protect you or
churches 10 protect you. Appealing to
! God for help, take care Of yourself
First have a room somewhere that
/ you can call your own. Whether 1t be
| the back parlor Of fashionable board
I ing house OF a room in the fourth story
of cheap lodging care not Only
have that one room your fortress. Let
not the dissipater or unclean step over
the threshold. II they come up the long
| fight Of stairs and knock at the door.
meet them face to face and kindly yet
| firmly refuse them admitt4pce. Have
| few family portraits on the wall, if you
brought them with you from your coun-
try home Have a Bible on the stand.
If you can afford it and can play on one.
| have an instrument Of music-harp or
flute or cornet or melodeon or violin or
piano Every morning before you leave
that room pray. Every night after you
come home in that room pray. Make
that room your Gibraltar, your Seyas-
topol, your Mount Zion Let no bad
book or newspaper come into that room
any more than you would allow a cobra
to coil on your table.
Take care Of yourself Nobody else
will take care Of you. Your help will
not come up two or three or four flights
Of stairs: your help Will come through
the roof, down from heaven, from that
God who IN the 5000 years Of the
worlds history never betrayed young
man who tried TO be gCod ana "a Chris
tian Let ne say in regard 70 your ad-
verse worldly circumstances, IN passing,
that YOU are on a level now with those
who are finally to succeed. Mark my
words. young man. and think Of It 80
years from now You will and that
those who 30 yeas from now are the
millionaires Of this country, who are the
orators Of the country, who are the poets
Of the country, who are the strong mer-
chants Of the country, who are the great
philanthropists Of the country-mighti-
est in church and state-are this morn
ing on level with you, not an inch
above, and you in straitened circum-
stances now.
Herschel earned his living by playing
a violin at parties, and in the inter-
stices Of the play he would 60 out and
look up at the midnight heavens, the
fields of his immortal conquests George
Stephenson rose from being the foreman
in a colliery 10 be the most renowned
Of the worlds engineers No outfit, no
capital TO start with Young man, go
down to the library and get some books
and read Ct what wonderful mechanism
God gave you in your hand, in your
foot, in your eye, in your ear, and then
ask some doctor 10 take you into the
dissecting room and illustrate to you
what you have read about, and never
again commit the blasphemy Of saying
you have no capital to start with.
Equipped Why, the poorest young man
is equipped as only the God Of the
whole universe could afford to equip
him. Then his body-a very poor affair
compared with his wonderful soul-oh,
that is what makes me sOlicitous. | am
not so much anxious about you, young
man, because you have so little TO do
with as | am anxious about you be-
cause you have so much 10 risk aud lose
or gain.
Young Men In Great Cities.
There is no class of persons that so
stir ny sympathies as young men in
great cities. Not quite enough salary
to live on. and all the temptations that
come from that deficit Invited on all
hands to drink, and their exhausted
nervous system seeming TO demand
stimulus Their religion caricatured by
the most of the clerks in the store and
most Of the operatives in the factory.
The rapids Of temptation and death
rushing against that young man 40
miles the hour, and he In frail boat
headed up stream, with nothing but
broken oar to work with. Unless AL
mighty God help them they will go un-
der.
All, when told you to take care OF
yourself you misunderstood me il you
thought meant you are to depend upon
human resolution, which may be dis
solved in the foam Of the wine cup or
may be blown out with the first gust OF
temptation. Here is the helmet the
sword Of the Lord God Almighty.
Clothe yourself in that panoply, and
you shall not be put to confusion. Sin
pays we'll neither in this world nor the
next. but right thinking and right be-
lieving and right acting will take you
in safety through this life and in trans
port through the next
never shall forget a prayer | heard