Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-05-17
copyright. 1905, by William Ashley

SAsDesSAt
own wickedness shall correct thee and
thine back siidinSs shall reprove thee:
know, therefore, and see that 1t is an
forsaken. the Lord thy God and that
my fear is not in thee saith the Lord
God Of Hosts"
If / am ever at loss to know what
subject to preach upon usually set
tie down upon the subject Of back
sliding, for 1T always applies to one
half or two-thirds OF the people, and
always make an effort to reach and
interest as many as possible.
We speak Of back sliding in such a
sighting fashion that many think 1t
is an insignificant sin, one scarcely
worthy. Of attention, but to my mind
1t is one of the worst Of all we do
and positive am that God uses his
best language Il picture his loathing
of the sin Of backsliding.
I have sometimes in my fancy seen
a ship backing from her wharf and
starting for the open sea to lands you
never saw. Bright faces on the deck
or leaning DER the sides watch care
lessly the feathery foam that falls on
ripping tide, and they on shore are
shouting Goodbye, farewell to you,"
and they on deck are waving their
goodbyes; and the smoke as it lazily
curls from the funnel Of the ship is
waited toward the shore by the gentle
breezes that scarcely stir the ripple
of the waters. All nature seems inter-
ested in and DESTROYS of making the
trip one of pleasure and of profit. But
S,Se%
o'ercast with clouds, the gentle breezes
become hurricane, and the sea is
1ashed into mountain waves, and they
roll and pitch, and the ship groans as
she tumbles about. She leaps her
cables length; she rides the waves and
her screws buzz in midair until you
would think they would break the
machinery with non-resistance of the
water; and the Waterman on the deck
cries out breakers dead ahead" and
down below goes the command to the
engine room, Hard aport a helm "
The old rider OF the deep responds
magnificently to the touch of the
helmsman, but too late. She plows her
nose in the partly submerged reefs,
and down she goes, trembling like a
thing of life; and on the morrow the
circling sea -guls above the wreckage
tell the sad story CT where ship went
down and all on board found watery
grave.
How our hearts ache when we read
1t. How they pity any one who had a
friend on board, and how they break
with sorrow when a relative has found
q watery grave. But sadder 1t is to me
when it is the picture CT an immortal
soul.
see some men aond women in a
great campaign, in the church, or from
the Sunday school, yie.a.ns to Jesus
Christ. and friends GENE up to con-
graduate you upon having taken the
noble stand, and. it seems that every
breath Is anxious to watt you over the
seas. But just beyond the bar, just
after the revival, clouds arise and men
and women become careless and neg
1igent, and they drift back 10 the old
crowd, into the old haunts and in q lit
Tie while are away from God. Sad 1t is
TO me when it is the picture of an
Immortal soul. In a year they are not
TO be found in the prayer meeting, and
an less than that you can't find them
IN the service on Sunday morning. and
they have gone from God, out into the
world.
Well, we have all sorts and all kinds
OF reasons for backsliding. / sincerely
regret the necessity thrust upon me
by the way people live, to preach a
sermon along this line, but however
disagreeable it may be, l am not going
TO sacrifice what know to be the
truth for the sake of expediency. ]
am not built on that basis. A COM
promising man has never written his
name on the scroll of fame. A com
promising man has never amounted tc
Q snap of your finger.
There is a careless backslider. You
never start a campaign for God and
give the opportunity for people to ac-
knowledge Jesus Christ of renew their
vows but they are the ones to do II
and after the revival is over they will
deny the faith they professed to be-
heve, and back again they are with
the devil into the world.
. Tells Some Stories.
always had a great deal Of sympa-
thy for the Irishman who went to The
priest to acknowledge that he had
committed murder. The priest was
Mortified at the confession and asked
Pat for satisfactory explanation and
Pat Informed him that he was out IN
q boat with a Jew and the converse
tion turned to religion, and Of course
Pat stood for the holy cross while the
Jew stood for the Peutateuch. They
discussed the question and got to
Nrangling and the boat overturned
Pat took the Jew by the neck and said
"Will you be good Catholic?'' "No.''
He held him under the water again
and said, "Will you be good Catho-
JIG now?" Eyes," And, said Pat;
1The next time I held him under long
sr, and when I held him up he was
Head" why didn't you bring him to
confession?" said the priest. Said Pat,
ITO make a good Catholic out Of him
thought I would make sure Of him
while had him. I knew him too
we'll"
And another 1rishman I read about,
hney were having a great railroad
Strike and could not supply locomo-
tive engineers, SO they were hiring
stationary engineers. Pat brought the
engine up into the round house, threw
the engine in the reverse and she
started back. He threw it again ind
she rushed ahead. He threw 1t again
to keep her from going thru the turn
table. and back she went, thru the
round house. Somebody said, "Pat,
why don't you stop her?' Said Pat:
"Why the div1l didn't you shut the
door whenI got her in there?"