Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-02-21

Yea going 10 put all that past Soy
awayg Arc YOU going 60 turn yout
back upon the only life which YOU
know is worth liNlngG Are you going
today 10 grip hands with sin and then
endure the evil results OF the sin you
have brought upon yourself and your
dear oncs2 Remember that the cocdi.
ton OF the man who has once known
the Christian hope and has departed
from it is infinitely worse than that of
the man who has never known II at all.
for then the specter OF remorse points
her finger at you and says. "You have
brought this misery upon yourself, and
you alone are responsible" And "Jesus
indeth him in the temple and said
unto him: Behold. thou art made whole.
Sin no more lest worse thing come
upon thee"
But when the backslider relapses into
evil he does more than clasp hands with
sin. He not only seeks sin, but he
turns his back upon Godsand the good
people with whom he used to associate.
As the pendulum swinging in one di-
rection gathers momentum and swings
just as far in the othe direction. so the
backslider when he goes astray is apt
TO go further astray because he has
once been good. AS remorse guaws at
his heart. so ingratitude makes him go
Just as far away from good associates
as he possibly can so.
A Protese's inqratitude.
Here, for instance, is young fellow
whom you have made your protege.
You felt you had the means and ought
to help some one in life. So this boy
appealed to your sympathies, and you
took him to your heart. You educated
him and started him in business. You
pushed him rapidly forward You
gave him an interest in the firm. You
loved him as son. Time passed on.
Suddenly you awoke to an awful fact.
You found that this young man whom
you had loved had desecrated your
home. You found that he had broken
every law of justice and honor and
truth. The meanest human cur that
ever crawled In slime could not be
more untrue to you than he has been.
What do you do? Do you upbraid him
and make him suffer the penalty of
the law? No. Like a loving father,
your heart is broken. You would like
to forgive him. You would even like
to give him another start But he will
not let you love him. He will flee
away from you. He will get just as
far away as he can. Like Absalom Of
old, all that he will do is to associate
with your enemies. And all that you
can do Is to go weeping to your bed
chamber as you cry, "Oh, my son Alb
SALON., my son, my son Absaloml
Would God had died for thee" Now,
my brother, is that the kind of ingrati-
tude you mean to show to God? Are
you about to drift into sin? Are you
going to turn your back upon Christ!
Are you ready to separate yourself
from those sweet Christian associa-
tons which contribute to our spiritual
life? Remember this: No Christian
man ever flung himself into sin but
he proved himself an migrate and his
shame led him to get just as far away
from God and from his people as he
could go.
There is another fact which the
Christian must bear we'll in mind.
Though the gospel life grows sweeter
and purer and more triumphant tho
longer man lives it, yet the old scars
of sin remain indelible. And when a
Christian backslides it is like the re.
lapse OF an attack OF typhoid fever or
pneumonia. The relapse is always more
dangerous than the first attack. Then
the physical organism is weakened.
Then the disease can the more easily
attack the vital parts. You and / had
better beware. We ought never to let
those old wounds of sin reopen. IL
they are once allowed TO bleed again
there Will be hemorrhage which will
sap away our lives.
Struck In Same Place.
You know there is an old proverll
among the soldiers that la time of war
no two bullets ever struck twice in the
same place. But that is not always
true. DR.. Ryan In his book entitled
"Under the Red Crescent gives q
vivid account of the siege OF Kalafat
The bullets were falling in perfect
hurricane. Suddenly there came tum.
bling over the wall a monster shell
and IT crashed into the ground and
e.rst. tearing q great hole out OF the
earth as large as Il house. A poor
frightened mother gathered her three
children about her and ran to this hole
for protection. But hardly had she set
tied herself there than there was heard
the singing of another shell flying ram
a gun two miles away. and II flung II,
self into that hole and tore those -four
human beings into shreds. oh" you
say, that was horrible; that was grew
some; that was overpowering- Yes, II
was. Ii was tragic because ii was SO
unusual for two shells TO strike the
same place. But | want TO tell YOU that
when Satan aims his guns for BON.
bardment he has been hitting us in the
same way for the last twenty years.
And. just as a priZeighter can keep
tapping an adversary in the same place
over the heart until he saps away his
antagonists strength, SO Satan can
Keep gathering at the old wounds of
our former sins and open them in their
weakened condition until at last we
fall before his blows as helpless as the
trembling fawn before the plunge of q
jungle tiger Beware Of that old sin.
man, If you start 1T again in its bleed.
Ing In all probability you will never
close 1t up. Beware!
i have heard my father again and
again tell this tragic story: In his
Philadelphia church he had an elder
he dearly loved. The elder was a
Scotchman who stood about six feet
two and was magnifcently proper
toned. He was nobleman In brain
and in heart. He was one of those