The record-union., 1899-03-27

again. Oh, how many sinful, foolish
action would be left undone? How
many would give their lives ito God and
serve Him in the days of their youth
while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh when they shall say,
I have no pleasure in them.
| But youth will never, never return
| You have but one life to live, and may
you live it well. And, my young
! friends, as perhaps most of your Life
| is still before you, still uhstained by
the black and terrible sins Of the youth !;
adultery and fornication, riotous living
and licentious1less, I pray you, for your
souls salvation sake, keep faithful to
1 your confirmation vows, faithful to
Jesus, your Savior, and to the church,
your guarding mother.
| A young man, tired Of his father
watchful eye and rebuking word, left
his home and family to go the road OF
/ the prodigal son. He went to India
lsulisted in the army, but continuing ms
sinful and riotous living, went down
lower and lower. When at last he was
lpenniless he wrote a letter to his father,
stating his condition and asking for
money. A few months later the
answer came from home, just while he
was playing cards at the gambler
i table. Hastily he tore it open. But
when he found neither money nor cheek
/ he angrily threw it into his knapsacK.
Soon afterward his body collapsed
under the strain of the awful life OF
sim A terrible fever ragged through
his veins, burning UP his very vitality.
One might in hospital he remembered
the unread letter. He asked the nurse
to read it for him. Drops of cold sweat
rolled down from his furrowed forehead
over his sunken cheeks when he heard
what his father had written. We re-
ceived your letter. Call on Captain
N, at seaport s., who will buy
you from the army, and take you along
home Oh, come home, my son, and all
shall be forgotten and forgiven" That
was the letter which he had not read
and cast away. Struggling for breath
| he cried: "Too-late-too-late" Then
he fell back-it was all over.
My friends, will you wait till it is
too late? Some people are always too
late They arrive at the depot when
the train pulls out; they cover the well
after the child has drowned; they want
to mend their lines when life is over and
repent upon the deathbed, when it is
too late. Your Father in heaven has
written a letter to you, Come home,
| and all shall be forgiven and forgotten. -
Will you wait till you must cry in
despair, "the summer is ended, the
harvest is past and 1 am not saved?"
Oh, come backsliders. and abide
in Christ, before it is too late?
| Another devilish lie that Satan will
whisper into your ears is, that it
makes no difference how you i've what
you believe and which way you go,
that all roads lead to heaven" A very
common saying is likewise, "Au roads
lead to Rome" But the experience
teaches that one saying is as false and
deceitful as another. If Rome were the
only city on earth and heaven the only
place in eternity it would make no diff
| ference which way you went or what
kind of life you lived.
| But now there is a heaven and a hell,
a place for the faithful and the saved,
and a place for the unfaithful and the
wicked, and it all depends upon the
choice of the right way. A young man
had a remarka BILE dream. He thought
that the richest man in town came to
him and said: Come, take my posses
sions and my money; 1 will give them
to YOU" Then came an honored Judge
and lawyer and said: Come, take my
place in court and take my name and
my honor" Then came Christian
merchant and said: Come, take my
success and my honesty and the peace
of my heart At last a ragged, dis
| sipated drunkard came and said:
Come. take my rags, my misery, my
place in the gutter in the drunkard's s
grave, and in hell"
1t was a dream, and yet no dream.
Every young man has these same
chances before him. Tell me. my friend,
what way you are going and / will tell
you what success you will have in life
and what your eternity will be. Do you
suppose that Joseph would have ever
become the Egyptian Kings Chancel
lor had he yielded to that terrible
temptation in Potiphar's house, betray-
ing his master and shining against his
God by committing adultery? Never.
He might have escaped hardships for
awhile thereafter, but at last he would
have ended at the gallows. Do not
be deceived; it matters much how you
live and which road you go, and let
me tell you, that Christ and Christ
alone is the sure way to success. He is
the way, the truth and the life and no
one comes to God except through Him.
Therefore, 1 ask you all lastly:
To accept God as your only true and
faithful teacher He has given you His
holy love and pronounced to you His
good and holy will in this precious
book, the Holy Bible. God teaches you
through His word. Believe it and will
ingly love and learn it. Treasures more
precious than gold and silver and pre-
cious stones are treasured in this book.
Never consent to Sabbath desecra-
ton Moody said 1t is the curse of
this State" The devil knows that he
can catch souls better on Sunday than
in the week, for by Sunday desecration
he first keeps them away from Christ
and then leads them into transgres-
sion and sin. Therefore he is always
opposed to enjoymentsl in the week and
favors them on Sundays. Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy" saith
the Lord. And if you do not keep His
law, you and not God is the loser. For
He gave it not for His sake but for
yours, that you should rest and feed
your soul upon the bread of life. 1 ask
you, can any Sabbath pleasure pay for
the loss of Gods grace and for the loss
of your precious soul?
Honor your father and your
mother!" Don't say father is too strict
and mother is getting old-fashioned
and over-suspicious, and both are away
H. L. z.~x1