Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-08-04

will the world be as bright to him as to
that young man who retired at night say
ing his prayers, invoking Gods blessing
upon his own soul and the soul of his COM
ra0es, and father and mother and brother
and sister far away? No, no. His laugh
ter will ring out from the saloon so that
you hear it as you pass by, but it is hollow
laughter; in 1t Ia the swapping Of heart
strings and the rattle of prison gates.
Happyi That young man happy? Let
him I'll high the bowl; he cannot drown
an upbraiding conscience. Let the balls
roll through the bowling -alley; the deep
rumble and the sharp crack cannot over
power the voices of condemnation. Let
him whirl in the dance of sin and temp
tation and death. Allthe brilliancy of the
scene cannot make him forget the last
look of his mother as he left home, when
dc. right, am sure you will do right; you
will, won't your" That young man
happy? Why, across every night there
fits the shadows of eternal darkness;
there are adders coiled up in every cup;
there are vultures of despair striking
their tn iron beak into his heart; there are
skeleton fingers of grief pinching at the
throat. I come in amid the clicking Of
the glasses, and under the flashing of the
chandeliers, and l cry, "Woe! woe! woe!
The way of the ungodly shall perish.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the
wicked. The way Of transgressors is
hard"
Oh, do you know OF anything, nv hear
ers, that is more beautiful than to see a
young man start out for Christ? Here is
some one falling; he lifts him up. Here is
a vagabond boy; he introduces him to a
mission school. Here is a family freezing
to death, he carries them scuttle of coal
There are eight hundred millions perishing
in midnight heather darkness; by all posi-
BILE means he tries to send them the Gospel.
He may be laughed at, and he may be
sneered at, and he may be caricatured: but
he is not ashamed to go everywhere. saw
ing, II am not ashamed of the Gospel of
Christ. 1t is the power of God and the wis
dom of God unto salvation" Such a Young
man cango through everything. There is
no force on earth or in hell that can resist
him.
l show you three spectacles. Spectacle
the first: Napoleon passes by with the host
that went down with him to Egypt, and up
with him through Russia, and crossed the
continent on the bleeding heart of which
he set his iron heel, and across the culver
ing flesh of which went grinding the wheels
of his gun carriages, in his dying moment
asking his attendants to put on his mill
tary boot for him.
Spectacle the second: yoltaire. bright
and learned and witty and eloquent, with
tongue and voice and stratagem Internal,
warning against God and poisoning whole
kingdoms with his infidelity; yet applauded
by clapping hands of thrones and empires
and continents-his last words in delirium,
supposing Christ standing by his bedside
his last words, "Crush that wretch"
Spectacle the third: Paul-Paul, the in
significant in person, thrust out from all
refined association, scourged, spat on,
bounded like wild beast from city to city,
yet trying to make the world good and
heaven full; announcing resurrection to
those who mourned at the barred gates of
the dead; speaking consultations which
light up the eyes Of widowhood and or
phanage and want with the glow of GER
tain and eternal release; undaunted before
those who could take his life, his cheek
flushed with transport, and his eye on
heaven; with one hand shaking defiance at
all of the foes of earth and all the princi-
palities of hell, and with the other hand
beckoning messenger angels to come and
bear him away, as he says, 81 am now
ready to be offered, and the time of nv de-
parture is at hand; have fought the good
fight; have finished my course; have
kept the faith; henceforth there is laid nm
for me crown of righteousness which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me-"
Which OF the three Spectacles do Won
most admire? When the wind of death
struck the conqueror and the infldel they
were tossed like sea-gulls in tempest,
uECACacu VI LILO wave uUu TORN OF sle lnr-
ricane, their dismal voices heard through
the everlasting storm, but when the wave
and the wind OF death struck Paul, like an
he made throne Of the tempest
and one day floated away into the calm.
clear summer OF heaven, brighter than the
dove, its wings covered with silver and it's
feathers with yellow gold. Oh, are YOU
not In love with such religion--a relig-
lon that can do so much for a man while
be lives, and so much for a man when he
comes to die? l suppose you may have
noticed the contrast between the de-
parture Of Christian and the departure
Of an intidel. Deodorous, dying in a cha
grin because he could not compose Joke
equal to the Joke uttered at the other end
of the table. zeuxis dying in At Of laugh
Ter Mt the sketch OF an aged woman-a
sketch made by his own hands. Mazarin
lying playing cards, his friend holding
his hands because he was unable to hold
them himself. All that on one side, COM
pared with the departure of the
Scotch minister, who said to his friends,
Il have no interest as to whether
with the Lord, and if live the Lord will
be with me-" Or the last words OF Washing.
ton, "It is WE'LL" Or the last words Of
Mcintosh, the learned and the great.
. Happy" Or the last words Of Hannah
Moore, the Christian poetess, ''Joy." Or
Luose tuouSuuuS OF CHRISTIANS who have
gone, saying, Lord Jesus, receive nv
spirit. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly"
80 death! where is thy sting? o grave!
where is thy victory?' Behold the con-
-rast. Behold the charm of the one; be-
hold the darkness of the other. Now. I
know 1t is very popular in this day for
young men to think there is something
more charming in scepticism than in re-
igion. They IRE ashamed of the old
religion of the cross, and they
pride themselves on their free thinking on
all these subjects. My young friends, I
want to tell you what I know from observa-
lion, that while skepticism is q beautiful
and at the start, it is the great Sahara
D esert at the last.
That might WOO you to better life.
and that l might show you the glories
With which God clothes His dear children
In heaven, wish I could this morning
swing back one of the twelve gates that
here might dash upon your ear one shout
Of the triumph, that there might flame
upon your eye one blaze of all the splen-
ior. Oh, when l speak Of that good land,
you involuntarily think Of some one there
hat you loved father, mother, brother,
sister, or dear little child garnered al
ready. You want to know what they are
ioing this morning. I will tell you what
hey are doing. Singing. You want to
inow what they wear. 1 will tell you
What they wear. CorOnets OF triumph 8