The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-03-16

down into the grave. No man can con-
t~inuously break the Sabbath and keep
his physical and mental health. Ask
those aged men, and they will tell you
they never knee roen who
ly broke the Sabbath who did not fail
either in mind, bouy or moral principle.
a manufacturer gave this as his ex-
perience. He said: Il owned a fac
tory on the Lehigh. Everything pros
pered- / kept the Sabbath, and ev-
erything went on well. But one Sab
bath morning I b~ethought myself Of a
new shuttle, and / thought I would
invent that shuttle before sunset. and
I refused all food and drink until / a
completed that shuttle. BY SHUTDOWN
/ had completed it. The next day. Mon
day, / showed to my workmen and
friends this new shuttle. They all
congratulated me on my great success.
1 put that shuttle into play. / enlarg-
ed my business: but, sir, that Sundays
work cost me $4,000. From that day
everything went wrong. / failed in
business. and / lost my mill" Oh, my
friends, keep the Lords day. You may
think it old fogy advice, but 1 give it
TO you now: Remember the Sabbath
day, to keep il holy. Six days shalt
thou labor and do all thy work, but
the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God; in it thou shalt not do any
work. A man said that he would
prove that all this was a fallacy, and
so he said, II shall raise a Sunday
crop" And he plowed the field on the
Sabbath, and then he put in the seed
on the Sabbath n cultivated the
ground on the Sabbath. When the har-
vest was ripe, he reaped ii on the Sab
bath, and he carried it into the NOW
on the Sabbath, and then he stood out
defiant to his Christian neighbors and
said, There, that is my Sunday crop,
and it is all garnered." After awhile
a storm came up and a great darkness,
and the hghtnings of heaven struck
the barn, and away went his Sunday
crop. Beware, young man, of all Sab
bath breakers.
WARNING AGAINST DISSIPATION.
Again. / charge you, beware of as
ISOLATION with the dissipated. Go with
them and you will in time adopt their
habits. Who is that man fallen against
the curbstone, covered with bruises
and beastliness? He was as bright
faced a lad as ever looked up from
your nursery. His mother rocked him,
prayed for him, fondled him, would not
let the night air touch his cheek, and
held him up and looked down into his
loving eyes and wondered for what
high position he was being fitted. He
entered life with bright hopes. The
world beckoned him, friends cheered
him, but the archers shot at him; vile
men set traps for him, bad habits
hooked fast to him with their iron
grapples; his feet slipped on the way,
and there he lies. Who would think
hat that uncombed hair vas once toy
ed with by a fathers fingers? Who
would think that those bloated cheeks
were ever kissed by a mothers lips?
Would you guess that that thick
tongue once made a household glad
with it's innocent prattle? Utter no
harsh words in his ear. Help him ul.
Put the hat over that once manly
brow. Brush the dust from that coat
Show him the way to the home that
once rejoiced at the sound of his foot
step, and with gentle words tell his
children to stand back as you help him
through the hall.
That was a kind husband once and
an indulgent father. He will kneel
with them no more as once he did at
family prayers-the little ones with
clasped hands looking up into the
heavens with thanksgiving for their
happy home. But now at midnight he
will drive them from their pillows and
curse them down the steps, and howl
after them as, unclad, they fly down
the calm starlight. Who slew that
man? Who blasted that home? Who
plunged hose children into worse than
orphanage-until the hands are blue
with cold, and the cheeks are blanch-
ed with fear, n the brow is SCARED
with bruises, and the eyes are hollow
with grief? Who made that life a
wreck and filled eternity with the up
roar of a doomed spirit?
Oh, if / had some art by which I
could break the charm of the tempter's
bowl and with mailed hand lift out the
long serpent of eternal despair n
shake out it's coils and cast it down
and crush it to death!
Shake off the Sabbath breaker. Oh,
turn your back upon these men. Shake
off the sceptic. Shake off the idler.
Shake off the ~pleasurist. You may do
this work of election in politeness, but
you may do it firmly. You are not I'M
der any circumstances to lose all the
remembrance of the fact that you are
a gentleman and mus always act the
gentleman. A young man said to a
Christian Quaker, "Old chap, how did
you get your money!"
WELL said the Quaker, 81 got it by
dealing in ar article in which thou
mayest dealt if thou wilt-civility.'
Be courteous, be polite, but be firm.
Say NO as if o meant it. If you
say mo" in a feeble way, they will
keep on with their importation and
their temptation, n after awhile you
will stand in silence, and then you will
say, after they have gone on a little
longer, les, ana men you are lOSt.
Oh, turn your back upon the BAN
quet Of sin! 1 call you to a better feast
today. The promises of God are the
fruits. The harpS of heaven are the
music. The clusters of Eschol are
pressed into the tankards. The ons
and daughters of the Lord Almighty
are the guests, while standing at the
banquet to pour the wine and divide
the clusters and command the music
and welcome the guests is a daughter
of God, on her brow the blossoms of
paradise and in her cheek the flush
of celestial summer. And her name IS
Religion. Her ways are way of
pleasantness, n all her paths are
peace"