The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-01

hard for US when we lost everything but
 honor Many of our best friends then
 turned their backs upon us. But l want
 to tell you that that financial trouble was
 the greatest blessing which could have come to us It did for LIS, as family,
 more than money could ever have done. It has taught us to love each other as never
 before; for love grows on sacrifices and God knows we have had to sacrifice Tor each other. It has taught us not only to do for each other, but also to do for those of the outside world who are now In trouble, as we were when my daughter died and we knew not which way to turn
 to get the money to pay for her sickness
 and her burial" An. my friends, even the bitterest Marah waters of financial dis
 tress may become sweet waters for thine
 own lips and for the lips of the dear
 ones. Wait, friend, wait Do not com plain now. Remember that if you Will
 throw the cross into Marah waters they shall yet become the sweet spring of love and of eternal life"
 But" you say, my Marah waters have nothing to do with a wrecked finan- cial fortune. There was time when l used to worry about money matters and | fame; but that time has passed forever What I am worrying about now are my children and my husband. I have a boy | who Is a reprobate and a degenerate. | have done everything for that child. And, | oh he is so much to mel But the longer | he lives the more depraved he seems to |. get Oh Godi Why must I longer drink of these bitter waters, made out of the | tears which have welled up from mothers broken heart?" Well, my friend, | I believe that even these bitter waters | can yet become sweet Would you like me to tell you how this shall be?
 The Wayward Son.
 In the first place. I must picture your | own spiritual condition before I talk about | the rescue of your son. You are like l a tourist who is circumnavigating the globe No sooner did you tell your friends that you were going to be ''globe trot- | ter, than they sad ''We will come down | and see you off" The docks were crowd l ed on the day you sailed. The band Was playing there were thousands of people moving on and off the ship. After the | little tugs pushed the huge vessels out | into the deep water with your marine glass you watched the different boats coming into the harbor as you passed out. You were sailing along day after day, and the voyage was becoming more of | pleasure as the weeks went by. Now you have touched at Gibraltar. Now you are in the Mediterranean sea. You make lots of friends on board. The hours speed quickly past. You have practically no in terest in what is happening in the boats
  and anon But one day storm comes up and the machinery of your boat is broken. Helpless you are being driven by the cruel winds toward the rocks What do you now do? Why, they are in the same danger as yourself An, no; now you anxiously sean the horizon to look for a ship. And when a steamer
 heaves In sight the danger gun signals for help Then with bated breath you
 watch the approach of that vessel. The
 great hawsers are run between the two ships, then they become taut as the other
 boat pulls you into the harbor of safety. Then you cry: Thank God, Thank God
 for helpl Thank God for rescue
 New my friends. that is the picture of | your spiritual life, and You know it. You have been on a voyage of life. You have been singing and dancing and making
 merry with few friends on board your | own ship. But suddenly you awake to the fact that the moral and spiritual lives | of your dear ones as well as your own are in danger of eternal shipwreck. What are you to do? Why, today you ought to | take the gospel marine glass and sweep | the horizon and send forth the danger 1 signals. Who ought you to call to your | help? Shall men come who are just like ] you? Nay. What you need is divine help ] for the rescue of yourself and of that | child. It Is not too late. Believe me. 1t is | not too late. And the way you can bring that dlVine help to the spiritual rescue | of your loved one Is by first signaling l that divine help to come to your own res | cue Oh my friends, if the waywardness 1 of husband or child or friend be the means of your own spiritual consecration l as we'll as that of others do you not be- l lieve that these Marah waters shall yet I become as sweet waters of spiritual life? 1 Now comes the practical question: Is 1 there any one here who is unwilling to | signal for this divine help and to conse- | crate his own life to the Masters ser l vice when that person fully realizes that where he goes and what he does may | decide the eternal destiny of some one | whose salvation ought to be dearer to him | than his own life?
 | Man, woman, child. dost thou not know that anothers spiritual life is depending