Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-11-17

HouSS. II SSSlHS 10 lle NDat once or
twice, when was not myself, struck
YOU, and several times. know, /
called you hard names, Now, want
YOU 10 forgive me | am going 20 DO
better, and | want you 10 help me-"
Help Nou?" she says; "hlcSS Nour
soul! of course will help YOU. I
anew You didn't mean II when you
treated me roughly. All that is in the
past. Never refer TO il again. To-day
let US begin anew" Sympathizins
friends come around, and kind bust
ness people help the man to something
10 do, so that he can again earn a hv-
ing. The children soon have clothing,
SO that they can go TO school. The old
songs which the wife sang years ago
come back TO her memory, and she
sings them again at the cradle, or
While preparing thenoonday meal. Do
mrStic resurrection! He comes home
earlier than he used to, and he is glad
t. pend the evening playing games
with the children or helping them
with arithmetic or grammar les
sons. which are 4 little too hard,
Time passes on, aud some outsider
suggests to him that he is not getting
as much out of ,fc as he ought, and
proposes an occasional visit TO scenes
of worldHness and dissipation. He
consents to go once, and, after much
solicitation, twice. Then his old habit
comes back. He says he has been be-
lated, and could not get back until
midnight, He had To see some west
EN- merchant that had arrived and
talk of business with him before he
got out of town. Kindness and gent
alitN again quit the disposition of that
Husband and father. The wife's heart
breaks in a new place, That man goes
into II second wrestle with evil habit
and is flung, and all hell cackles AT
the moral defeat. II told You sol"
say many good people who have no
faith in the reformation of fallen
man. II told YOU sol" You made u
great fuss about his restored home,
but | knew it would not last. You
can't trust these fellows who have
once gone wrong. SO with this unfor-
tunate, things get worse and worse,
and his family have to give up the
house, and the last valuable goes to
the pawnbrokcr's shop. But that UNI
fortunate man is sauntering along the
street one Sunday night, and he goes
up to q church door, and the congrega
ton are singing Il second hymn, the
,ne just before sermon. and it is Will
ham Cowper's glorious hymn:
There Is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emanuers veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
He goes into the >eStibule of the
church and stops there, not feeling
we'll enough dressed to go among the
worshipcrS. and he hears the minister
say: You will find the words of my
text in Luke, the nineteenth chapter
and tenth verse: The Son of Man is
come to seek and save that which was
lost. The listener in the Nestihulc
says: "lf any man was ever lost, | am
lost. and the Son Of Man came TO save
that which is lost, and He has found
me, and He will take me out of this
lost condition, Oh, Christ, have mercy
on mel The poor man has courag"
now to enter the main audience room,
and he SitS down on the first seat 10y
the door, aud when nj the close OF the
service the minister comes down the
aisle, the poor man tells his story:
and he is encouraged and invited to
come again, and Tia" way is cleared for
him for membership in II Christian
church. and he feels the olnnipotcuCc
of what Peter. the apostle. said when
he spoke Of those kept hy the power
of God through faith unto complete
salvation" Yet he is To have one more
wrcstle before he is free from evil
habits, and he goes into il, not in his
own strength, for that has failed him
twice, but in the strength Of the Lord
God Almighty. The old habit seizes
him, and he seizcs it, and the wrcs-
tiers bend backward and forward. and
from side to side in awful struggle.
until the moment comes for his lib
Grafton; and, with both arms infused
WitS strength from God, he lifts that
habit, swings II in the air, and hurls it
into the perdition from which il came,
and from which ii never again will
rise. Victory! Victory! through our
Lord Jesus Christi Hear it, all ye
wrestlcrs! 1t threw him twice, but
the third time he threw it: and, by
the grace OF God, threw il SO hard he
is as safe now as if he had been ten
years in Heaven. Oh, | am so glad
that Paul in my text suggests the
wrestler and the power Of the third
throw.
All military men Will tell you that
there is nothing more unwisc than to
underestimate an army. In estimat-
ing what we have TIC contend with, the
most Of the reformers do not recog-
nize III" biggest opposers. They talk
about the Agnosticism, and the Athe-
ism, and the Materialism, and the
lirahminism, and the Mohammedan-
ism as well as the more agile and or
ganized and endowed wickedness Of
our day. But these are only part OF
the hostiltes arrayed against God
and the best interests of humanity.
'Iba invisible hosts are far moro num-