Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-11-23

by the talk OF bad men. He arose,
struck a light. took out the letter from
his mother and knelt down by his bed
side and said, 20 Lord God Of my moth
er, have mercy on me-" He said that
since that prayer he was entirely chang
ed and loved what he before hated, and
hated what lie before loved, and asked
what thought 1t all meant replied,
you have become a Christian" He
said he might be called at any time to
leave the city. never saw him again,
but 1t seemed to me that he had turned
his back upon his wicked past and had
started In the right direction. And 1t
may be SO with your boy. Write him
often. Tell him how you are all think
ing Of him at home, and 1t may be, your
letter in hand. he may call upon his
mothers God to help and save him.
Hope. you Of the gray hairs and wrin-
/ kles. Heaven has its thousands OF
souls who were once as thoroughly
wrong as your boy is. They repented,
and they are with the old folks In the
healthy air Of the eternal hills, where
they have become young again. Hope
on, and, though you may never hear or
your sons reformation and others may
think he has left this life hopeless, who
knows but that in the last moment,
after he has ceased to speak and before
his soul launches away, your prayer
may have been answered and he be one
Of the first to meet you at the shining
gate. The prodigal In the parable got
/ home and sat down at the feast, while
the elder brother, who never left the
old place. stood poutIng at the back
door and did not go In at all.
To another class Of persons | intro
duce the angel Of Hope, and they are
the invalids. cannot take the diagno-
sis Of your disorder. but let hope cheer
you with one Of two thoughts. Such
marvellous cures are being wrought In
our day through medication and sur
gerry that your invalidsm may yet be
mastered. Persons as Ill as you have
got well. Cancer and tuberculosis will
yet give way before some new discov-
cry. | see every day people strong and
well who not long ago saw pallid and
leaning heavily on staff and hardly
able to climb stairs.
The Perfect Life to Come.
But II you will not take the hand Of
Hope for earthly convalescence let me
point you to the perfect body you are
yet to have II you love and serve the
Lord. Death will put a prolonged an
aesthetic upon your present body, and
you will never again feel an ache or
pain, and then In his good time you
will have resurrection body, about
which we know nothing except that 1t
will be painless and glorious beyond
all present appreciation. What must
be the health OF that land which never
feels cut Of cold or blast Of heat and
where there Is no east wind sowing
pneumonas on the air, your deetness
greater than the foot Of deer, your eye
sight clearer than eagle In sky, perfect
health, In country where all the In
habitants are everlastingly well! You
who have. IN your body an encysted
bullet ever since the civil war; you who
have Kept alive only by precautious
and self denials. and perpetual watch
ing Of pulse and lung; you of the deaf
ened ear and dim vision and the severe
backache; you who have not been free
from pain for ten years, how do you
like this story of physical reconstruc-
tlon. with all weakness and suffering
subtracted and everything jOcund and
bounding added?
Do not have anything to do with the
gloom that Harriet Martineau express |
ed In her dying words: II have no rea-
son to believe in another world. | have
had enough Of life In one and can see
no good reason why Harriet Martineau
should be perpetuated." Would you
not rather have the Christian enthusi- |
asm of Robert AMMAN, who when some
one said, 81 will be satisfied II man.
age somehow to get into heaven" re-
piled, pointing to a sunken vessel that |
was being dragged up the river Tay: |
"Would you like to be pulled into heay-
en- with two tugs like that vessel yon-
der? | tell you | would like to go In |
with all my sails set and colors flying"
Again, let me introduce the element |
Of hope to those good people who are |
In despair about the worlds moral con- |
dition. They have gathered up appall- |
Ing statistics. They tell Of the number |
Of divorces, but do not take into con-
sideration that there are thousand |
happy homes where there is one OF mar
ital discord. They tell you Of the large |
number In our land who are living |
profiigate lives, but forget to mention |
that there are many millions Of men |
and women who are doing the best they |
can. They tell you the number OF
drunkeries in this country, but fall to
mention the thousands Of glorious |
churches with two doors-one door open |
for all who will enter for pardon and
consolation and the other door opening |
into the hea yens for the ascent Of souls |
prepared for translation.
Those peSslmlsts 90 not reailze tuaI
two inventions Of our times are going
to make 1t possible under God to bring
this whole. world into salvable and mil
lennial condition within a few weeks
after those two inventions shall be
turned into the service Of God and
righteousness, as they will be. l refer
to the telegraph and the telephone. II
you think that God allowed those two
inventions to be made merely TO get
rapid information concerning the price
Of railroad stocks or to call up friend
and make with him business engage
ment, you have very abbreviated idea
Of what can be done and will be done
with those two instruments. The In
telllgence of the world Is to be expand
ed, and civilization will overcome bar
bo risra opd iiliforaav will no pXtirDat-