The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-04-15
ENEMIES OF YOUNG
MEN WAS SUBJECT
All Sides of Nature Must Be
Victorious
DANGER OF LIES MORNING
Young Men Who Follow and Obey the
Commandments of God Have a
Right to Expect
Success.
DANGER OF LIES MORNING

The Rev. DR.. I. D. Steele preached at
the First Cumberland Presbyterian
church yesterday morning on the sub
iect of Enemies OF the Young" taking
his text from the thirteenth chapter of
Matthews the twenty eighth verse. AN
enemy hath done this"
DR.. Steele spoke in part as follows:
There are enemies to the health and
strength of the body, and there are enc
mics to the success of business and the
strength and elearness of the mind. 1t
is difficult to clearly separate these from
the foes of the moral and spiritual ma
ture To live as we should. and to be
what God expects us to be, we must
overcome all things which hinder our
nas1re must be victorious, the physical,
mental moral and spiritual.
The Most Dreaded Foes.
The foes which are to be dreaded most
are those which are hurtful to the moral
and spiritual life Around these all in
terest centers. The danger period is in
the morning of life, from twelve to TWEEN
ty years of age. At this stage boys and
young men are filled with restless energy
and thoughtless action. Life then takes
shape and goes either right or wrong.
In this period every step meets with hos
tile enemies. Life's victories are practi-
cally lost or won when we are twenty.
1t may not appear so to the young
man at the time but he passes the crisis
on this part of the road. At an early age
habits are acquired and associations are
formed which tell how the battle of life
is going. The records of courts and PEN
itentiaries show that the great majority
of wrecked lives become so under the age
of twenty-one. Those who go down later
are victims of fatal wounds inflicted in
early life.
1t is shown that per cent of the boys
who are blghted fall into crime by the
time they are sixteen years cid. 1t is
not best to denounce boys and young
men who have been overcome by evil,
for many are thoughtless, without ex-
perience, or observation, and most of all
without suitable training or examples at
home. They need to be shown their dan
ger, Shown the sure results which are to
follow In this world and in the world to
come.
Evil habits are always enemies OF the
worst type They come from Intimate
evil associations However great people
are, however rich, IL they be corrupt and
morally degraded their position does not
make them any more suitable as assoc
ciates than If they were deprived of posi-
ton and means.
1t is character and not possessions that
maAes the boy of value to the country
ar to God.
Ideness a Great Enemy.
Idleness Is a great and unsupported en-
envy. II is a waste of mind body, skill,
and, above all, waste of opportunity.
1t is a sin to live an idle life. A vagrant
is a menace to himself and to the COM
munity.
One of the greatest evils today Is the
drink habit. Thousands who drink do not
expect nor intend any evil to themselves
or to others. Much of it is brought about
as a social habit The barrooms are
thronged with young men day and night
all fully knowing it is a road to the aims
house, to the Jail, and to the peniten-
tiary; and yet they press on to ruin
All courts tell that the great majority
of crimes and criminals are brought about
by drinking. 1t blights he spiritual life
blights the home, bllghts business. This
! evil ruins the best and the brightest or
| young men. If we are true to our deeper
| convictions as citizens we Will put the
| saloon out of business. The gospel or
| Christ stands for the salvation of all
humanity, and against all our enemies.
With boys the cigarette is a favorlte
Is it worth while to speak of 1t? Is 1t
really hurtful? The average boy loves
to smoke and glories in his cigarette, II
! it does not hurt him why not let him
have H. Does it help him or hurt him?
A great daily paper says that In one year
thirty boys went crazy from smoking
cigarettes. A Judge said that of one hun
bred boys brought before him, all but one
had this habit There were thirty-hye
! boys arrested in one day in a great city
a. brought before the same judge. He
/ found that of this number thirty-three
were confirmed eli arctic iends. The
Judge said that he was not crank nor
a reformer, but this habit was the boy
| great enemy.
Effect of Cigarettes.
1t weakens his heart, skaters his
| nerves. and benambs the moral nature.
| 1t is not a friend of the boy. 1t never
| can make boy bright or smart. 1t dulls
! the mind In Harvard university 1t Is
| said that not smoker has stood at the
( head of his class in twenty years In a
great academy, in one year, no cigarette
smoker was able to stand in the front
rank in any of the class 5.
| The president of a business college
where fifty thousand people have been
educated declares that this habit destroys
tie mental grasp of the boy and blunts
his moral nature.
All these habits are enemies to the boy
and young man, enemies TO success, en-
emies to health, enemies to spiritual life.
, Gods book says, che that overcometh
shall inherit all things" BE not over
| come with evil, but overcome evil with
| good" In godliness and righteousness
late tyfcf Dry