The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1900-08-11

} i
ing soap bubbles, and they rolled out
of the cup blue and gold and green
and sparkling and beautiful and orb.
ocular, and i'm so small a space never
saw more splendor concentrated. But
she blew once too often, and all the
glory vanished into suds. Then
turned and took glass of water and
was refreshed. And so far as soul
thirst is concerned ! put against all
the blowing. glittering soap bubbles
OF worldly reform and human specula-
ton one draft from the fountain
from under the throne of God clear
as crystal. Glory be to God for the
religion that drops from above. not
coming up from beneath! And the
Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou? And | said. y plumb line"
| want YOU to notice this fact. that
when man gives up the straight up
and down religion of the Bible for
any new tangled religion, IT is gener-
ally TO suit his sins. You first hear
of his change of religion. and then YOU
hear of some swindle he has practiccd
in a special mining stock, telling some
one if he will put in $4,000 he can
take out Si00.D0o; or he has sacrificed
| his integrity or plunged into IRENE
diablc worldliness. His SINS are so
broad he has To broaden his religion,
i and he becomes rs broad as tempta-
| ton, as broad as the souls darkness,
aS broad as hell. They want Il reli-
! gion that will allow them to keep
their sins and then nj death say TO
! them: well done. good and faithful
servant" and that tells them: All
is well. for there is no hell" What a
! glorious Heaven they hold before us!
| Come. let us go in and see it, There
are Herod and all the babes he mas
sacred. There are Charles Guiteau
and Robesperre. the feeder of the
French guillotine. and all the liars,
thieves, house burners, garrotcrs.
| pickpockets and lbertines of all the
centuries. They have all got crowns
and thrones and harps and Scepters,
and when they chant they sing:
Thanksgiving and honor and glory
and power TO the broad religion that
! lets us all into Heaven without re-
pentance and without faith in those
humiliatng dogmas of ecclesiastical
old fogysm''
My text gives me n grand opportun-
! ity ofsaying n useful word 10 all young
men who are now forming habits for a
! lifetime. Of what use TO a stonema-
son or a bricklayer is a plumb line?
| Why not build the wall by the undided
eye and hand? Because they are in
sufficient, because if there be a de-
! Election in the wall il cannot furt her
on be corrected. Because by the law
of grayitation wall must be straight
in order 10 be symmetrical and safe.
One of the best friends | ever had
! died of delirium tremens at 90 years
of age, though he had not since 2l
years of age, before which he had
been dissipated, touched Intoxicating
| liquor until that particular caroGsal
that took him off. Not Keeling Well in
! the street on a hot summer day he
stepped into a drug store, just as you
and | would have done. and asked for
a dose of something to make him feel
! better. And there was alcohol in he
dose, and that one drop aroused the
old appetite. and he entered the first
! liquor store and staid there until
thoroughly under the power of rum.
He entered his home raving maniac,
his wife and daughters fleeing from
his presence. and at first he was taken
to the city hospital to die.
Remember that the wall may be 100
feet high. and yet IA DETECTION one foot
from the foundation affects the entire
structure. And if YOU live 100 years
and do right the last 50 years YOU may
nevertheless do something at 20 years
of age that will damage all your earth
ly existence. All you who have built
houses for yourselves or for others,
am not right in saying to these young
men. you cannot build wall so high
as TO be independent of the character
of its foundation? \ man before 30
years of age may commit enough sin
to last him a lifetime. Now. John or
George or Henry, or whatever be your
Christian name or surname, say here
and now: mo wild oats for me, no
cigars or cigarettes for me, no wine
or beer for me, no nasty stories for me.
no Sunday sprees for me. am going
| TO start right and keep on right. God
help me. for am very weak. From the
throne of eternal righteousness let
down to me the principles by which
can be guided in building everything
from foundation to capstone. Lord
God. by the wounded hand of Christ
throw me plumb line"
But" you say, you shut us young
folks out from all fun" Oh. no! like
fun. believe in fun, have had lots
of it in my time. But / have not had
to go into paths of sin to find it. No
credit to me, but because of an extraor-
idnary parental example and influence
was kept from outward transgres-
sions, though my heart was bad enough
and desperately wicked. / have had
fun illimtable, though / never swore
one oath and never gambed for Sc
much as the value of pin and never
saw the inside Of haunt of sin save
as when many years ago. with a com
missioner of police and a detective and
two elders of my church, explored
New York and Brooklyn by midnight