The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-01


pictures, the carpets, the chairs, the sofa,
the piano, the mattresses, the pillow on
which he died. Cursed be debt! For the
sake Of your own happiness, for the sake
Of good morals, for the sake Of your i'm
mortal soul, for Gods sake, young man, as
far as possible keep out Of It'll -.
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, II you want to destroy
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, Simpsons foxes, Adams rib. Then
you will caricature eccentric Christians OF
inconsistent Christians. Then you will
pass off as your own all those hackneyedl
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 invitation to the sins of earth and the
SORROWS Of death, that they may come In
and drive the stake for their encampment.
A steamer 1900 miles from shore, with
broken rudder and lost compass, and hulk
leaking fifty gallons the hour, Is better on
than young man when you have robbed
him of his Bible. Have you ever noticed
how despicably mean 1t Is to take away the
worlds Bible without proposing q substi1
tute2 It Is meaner than coming to sick
man and steal his medicine meaner than
to come to cripple and steal his crutch,3
meaner than to come to pauper and steal
his crust, meaner than to come to poor
man and burn his house down. 1t fs the
worst of all larcenies to steal the Bible
which has been crutck and medicine and
food and eternal home to so many. What
generous and magnanimous business In.
fidelity has gone into-this splitting up OF
Ifeboats and taking away Of fire escapes
and extinguishing Of lighthouses I come
out and I say to such people, "What are
you doing all this for?" "Oh," they say
"just for fun" 1t is such fun to see Chris
tians try to hold on to their Biblesl Many
Of them have lost loved ones and have
been told that there Is q resurrection, and
1t is such fun to tell them there will be no
resurrectionl Many of them have believed
that Christ came to carry the burdens and
to heal the wounds Of the world, and 1t is
such fun to tell them they will have to be
their own savior! Think Of the meanest
thing you ever heard Of, then 90 down 1000
feet underneath it, and you will find your
self 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 and look OF prect-
pice half as far as from here to China, and
you will find the headquarters Of the mean
ness that would rob this world Of its only
comfort in life, it's only peace in death and
its only hope for Immortality. Slaughter
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 retribution. Not much
prospect for young man who started life
with good health and good education and
Christian example set him, and oppor-
tunity Of usefulness, who gathered all his
treasures and put them In one box, and
then dropped 1t into the sea. -
Now, how is this wholesale slaughter to
be stopped? There Is not q person who is
not interested in that question. The OBJ
ject of my sermon Is to put weapon In
each of your hands for your own Defense ?
Wait not for Young Mems Christian Asso-
tect you. Appealing to God for help, take
care of Yourself.
First, have room somewhere that you
can call your own. Whether 1t be the
back parlor Of fashionable boarding
house or a room in the fourth story. OF q
cheap lodging care not. Only have that
one room your fortress. Let not the dfsst-
pater or unclean step over the threshold.
If they come up the long fight OF stairs and
knock at the door, meet them face to face
and kindly yet firmly refuse them admit
uo,a fo,o ilu portraifa IN the
wall, il you brought them with you from
your country home. Have Bible on the
stand. II 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 Seyastopol,
your Mount Zion. Let no bad book or
newspaper come into that room any more
than you would allow 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 be-
trayed young man who tried to be good
and Christian. Let me say in regard to
your adverse worldly circumstances, in pass
ing, that you are on level now with those
who are finally to succeed. Marx my WORDS,
Young man, and think Of 1t thirty years
from now. You will find that those who
thirty wears 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 merchants OF the coun.
try, who are the great philanthrop1sts OF
the country-mightiest in church and
State-are this morning on alevel with you,
not an inch above, and in straitened cir.
cumstances now.
There is no class Of persons that 80 stif
my sympathies as young men In great
cities. Not quite enough salary to live on,
and all the temptations that come lrop
that deficit. Invited on oil hands to drink,
and their exhausted nervous system seem
ing 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
forty miles the hour, and he In frali boat
headed up stream, with nothing put
broken oar TO work with. Unless Almighty
God help them they will go under.
One Sabbath morning at the close OF the
service I saw gold watch Of the world
renowned and deeply lamented violinist,
Ole Bull. You remember he died in h1s
island home off the coast of Norway. That
gold watch he had kept wound up day
after day through his last illness, and then
he said to his companion, "Now, want to
wind this watch as long as can, and then
when am gone I want you to keep it
wound up until it goes to my friend, Dr.:
Doremus, In New York, and then he will
keep it wound up until his life Is done, and
then want the watch to 90 to his young
son, my especial favorite."
The great musician who more than any
other artist had made the violin speak, and
sing, aud weep, and laugh, and triumph
for it seemed when he drew the bow across
the strings rs if all earth and heaven shiv-