Connecticut western news., 1901-11-14

ger the coruiul. Anu when soul comes to God he does not ask where you came from or what your ancestry was. Healing balm for all your wounds pardon for all your guilt, comfort for all your troubles.
 Then. also, counsel you, If you want ates. One unholy intimacy will fill your soul with moral distemper. In all
 the ages of the church there has not been an instance where a man kept one evil associate and was reformed among the sixteen hundred million of the race not one instance. Give UT
 your bad companions or give up heav. en. It Is not ten bad companions that
 destroy a man, nor five bad compan' ions, nor three, but one.
 What chance Is there for that young
 man I saw along the street, four or five young men with him. In front of a
 grogshop, urging him to go in, he re sistlng-violently resisting-until after awhile they forced him to go i'm Ii
 was a summer night, and the door was left open, and saw the process. They held him fast, and they put the cup to
 his lips. and they forced down the strong drink. What chance Is there for such young man?
 I counsel you also to seek Christian ndvice. Every Christian man Is bound to help you. If he declines to help you, he Is not Christian. Now gather up all your energies of body, mind and soul and. appealing to God for success, de- ,Io +, do ct all evil influences. A half and half
 work will amount to nothing; 1t must be Waterloo. Shrink back now and you are lost. Push on and you are saved.
 Victory over Sin.
 Some of you, like myself, were born In the country. And what glorious news might these young men send home to their parents that this after noon they had surrendered themselves to God and started a new lifel I know how 1t is in the country. The night comes on. The cattle stand under the rack, through which burst the trusses of hay. The horses have just frisked up from the meadow brook at the nightfall and stand knee deep in the bright straw that invites them to lie down and rest. The perch of the hovel Is full of fowl, their feet warm under their feathers. When the nights get. cold, the flames clap their hands above the great backlog and shake the shad- ow of the group up and down the wall Father and mother sit there for half an hour, saying nothing. wonder what they are thinking of. After
 awhile the father breaks the silence
 and says, Well, wonder where our boy Is in town tonight" And the mother answers: "In no bad place.
 warrant you. We always could trust him when he was at home, and since he has been away there have been so many prayers offered for him we can trust him still" Then at 8 or 9 o'clock, l just before they retire, for they go early to bed, they kneel down and com mend you to that God who watches In | country and in town, on the land and on the sea.
 Some one said to Grecian general, | "What was the proudest moment of your lifeY He thought a moment and ! said, ''The proudest moment was when | I sent word home to my parents that
 had gained the victory" And the glad dest and most brilliant moment in your
 life will be the moment when you can tend word to your parents that you
 nave conquered the evil habits by the | grace of God and become eternal victor. Oh, despise not parental anxietyi The i time will come when you win have i neither father nor mother, and you will | go around the place where they used to
 watch you and find them gone from the house and gone from the field and | gone from the neighborhood. Cry as | loud for forgiveness as you may over the mound In the churchyard, they | cannot answer. Dead! Dead! And then | you will take out the white lock of hair that was cut from mothers brow just | before they buried her, and you will take the cane with which your father
 used to walk, and you will think and
 think and wish that you had done just
 as they wanted you and would give the
 world If you had never thrust a pang
 through their dear old hearts.
 | The Door of Mercy.
 l God pity the young man who has
 brought disgrace on his fathers name! God pity the young man who has bro
 ken his mothers heart! Better that he
 had never been born. Better if in the
 first hour of his life, instead of being
 laid against the warm bosom Of mater
 nal tenderness, he had been coffined and
 sepulchered. There is no balm power.
 full enough to heal the heart of one who | Hno Nto to yf,yl grave and who wanders about through
 the dismal cemetery rending the air
 and wringing the hands and crying:
 Mother! Motherr Oh, that today, by
 all the memories of the past and by all
 the hopes of the future, you would
 yield your heart to God! May your fa-
 tter's God and your mothers God be | your God forever!
 This hour the door of mercy swings
 wide open. Hesitate not a moment.
 In many a case hesitation is the loss of
 all. At the corner of street saw a
 tragedy. A young man evidently
 doubted as to which direction be had
 better take. His hat was lifted high
 enough so you could see he had an in-
 telligent forehead. He had a stout
 chest and robust development. Splen-
 did young mani Cultured young mani
 Honored young manl Why did he stop
 there while so many were going up and
 down? The fact Is that every young
 man has good angel and a bad angel
 contending for the mastery of his spir-
 1t. and there were a good angel and a
 bad angel struggling with that young
 mans soul at the corner of the street.
 Come along with me-" said the good
 angel; T will take you home. I will
 spread my wings over your pillow.
 will lovingly escort you all through life
 under supernatural protection. will
 bless every cup you drink out of. every
 couch you rest on, every doorway you
 enter. will consecrate your tears when
 you weep, your sweat when you toll.
 and at the last I will hand over your
 grave into the hand of the bright angel