Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-04-01


serves Lot your excoriation, but your
pity. Do not sit with the lip curled in
scorn and with an assumed air Of angelic
innocence looking down upon such moral
precipitation. You had better get down
on your knees and first pray Almighty
God for their rescue and next thank the
Lord that you have not been thrown
under the wheels of that Juggernaut
Beset by Temptation.
In Great Britain and in the United
States in every generation there are
tens Of thousands of persons who are
fully developed criminals and incarcer-
ated. l say in every generation. Then
suppose there are tens Of thousands OF
persons not found out in their criminal
ity. In addition to these there are tens
Of thousands of persons who, not posi-
lively becoming criminals, nevertheless
have a criminal tendency. Any one OF
all those thousands by the grace OF
God may become Christian and resist
the ancestral influence and open a new
chapter Of behavior, but the vast ma
jority of them will not, and it becomes
all men, professional, unprofesslonal,
ministers Of religion, judges Of courts,
philanthropists and Christian workers,
to recognize the fact that there are these
Atlantic and Pacific surges Of hereditary
evil rolling on through the centuries.
| say, of course a man can resist this
tendency, just as in the ancestral line
mentioned in the first chapter Of
Matthew. You see in the same line in
which there was a wicked Rehoboam
and a desperate Manassas, there after
ward came pious Josiah and a glorious
Christ. But, my friends, you must recog-
nize the fact that these influences 60 on
from generation to generation. l am
glad to know, however, that a I-Ser
which has produced nothing but midsma
for 100 miles may after awhile turn the
wheels of factories and help support in
dustrious and yirtuous populations, and
there are family lines which were poi
soned that are a benediotion now. AT the
last day it will be found out that there
are men who have gone clear over into
all forms Of iniquity and plunged into
utter abandonment who before they
Welded to the first temptation resisted
more evil than many man who has
been moral and upright all his life.
But supposing now that in this age,
when there are so many good people,
that | come down into this audience and
select the very best man in it. l do not
mean the man who would style himself
the best, for probably he is a hypocrite,
but mean the man who before God Is
really the best will take you out
from all your Christian surroundings. l
will take you back to boyhood. | will
put you in deprayed home. l will put
you in a cradle Of iniquity. Who Is
bending over that cradle? An intoxicat-
ed mother. Who is that swearing in the
next room? Your father. The nelghbors
come in to talk, and their jokes are IN
clean. There is not in the house Bible
or a moral treatise, but only few
scraps Of an old pictorial.
After awhile you are old enough TO
get out Of the cradle, and you are struck
across the head for naughtiness, but
never in any kindly manner reprimand-
ed. After awhile you are old enough TO
90 abroad, and you are sent out with a
basket TO steal. If you come home with
out any spoil, you are whipped until the
blood comes. At Is years Of age you 90
out to fight your own battles in this
world, which seems to care no more Tor
YOU than the dog that has died OF ut
under the fence. You are kicked and
cuffed and buffeted. Some day, rallyipg
your courage, you resent some wrong.
A man saws: "Who are you! l know
who YOU are. Your father had free lodg-
ings at Sing Sing. Your mother, she
was up for drunkenness at the criminal
court. Get out of my way, you low lived
wretchr Ny brother, suppose that had
been the history of your advent and the
history of your earlier surroundings
would YOU have been the Christian man
you are today, seated in this Christian
assembly? tell you nay. You would
have been a yagabond, an outlaw, a
murderer on the scaffOld atoning tor
your crime. All these considerations
ought to make US merciful IN our deal
ings with the wandering and the lost.
Consider the Sinner.
Again, have to remark that in ouT
estimation the misdoing Of people who
have fallen from high respectati!ity and
usefulness. we must take into cOnsidera'
tion the conjunction of circumstances
In nine cases out Of ten "a man who goes
astray does not intend any positive
wrong. He has trust funds. lie risks
part of these funds in investment. he
saws "Now. if should lose that invest
ment have of my own property live
times as much, and if this investment
should 20 wrong | could easily make II
nm: could five times make it up. u
With that wrong reasoning he goes on
and makes the investment, and 1t doe:
not turn out quite as well as be expect
ed, and he makes another investment
and, strange to say, at the same time al
his other affairs get entangled and al
his other resources fail and his hand'
are tied. Now he wants TO extricat'
himself. He goes a little further ON IL
the wrong investment He takes
plunge further ahead, for he wants t'
save his wife and children, he wants tC
save his home. he wants to save hi
membership in the church. He take'
one more plunge and all is lost.
Some morning at 10 o'clock the oanl
door is not opened. and there is caro-
on the door signed by an officer OF the
bank. indicating there is trouble, ano
the name of the defaulter or the de-
frauder heads the newspaper column,
and hundreds Of men say, GOOD FOL
him :" hundreds Of other men say, I'm
glad he's found out at LAST" hundreds
of other men say, "Just as | told you;
hundreds Of other men say, "We could
not possibly have been tempted to de
that; no conjunction Of circumstance
could ever have overthrown me, " ant
there is q superabundance OF indigna
ton, but no pity; the heavens full o
lightning. but not one drop of dew. |
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