The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1915-06-14
Sermon to the People
C. C. BRUCE
BY THE REV. c. c. BRUCE.

busy TO attend church on Sunday
let me show you son. pass over
Gilboa. and mark the place where
he fell a suicide. Called to be n
king find him rejected and dis
obedient. | 20 to Beth-shan and
! find his headless body nailed 10 the
wall and his armor in the houses
of the heather gods. Having pulled
the stuff OF the world over him
in life he still finds 1t there in
death
er responsibility. staggering along
the street as he puffeJ the foul
fumes OF cigarette in the face
of decenCy. Away back home Is a
father with whitened hair. a mother
with broken heart. but he has had
taste of hells broth in the under
world. His blood is lnoculated with
the virus OF vile desease and it
runs with death in his veins. To
love, sisters tears are as nothing,
Passing the rubicon of virtue he has
burned the bridges behind him.
There goes a fallen angel, once
the JOY of a happy home; vanished
from her eyes IS gentle modesty,
once her sweetest charm; present
is bold intense look like the gilt
tering glare of the snake as it coils
to strike All that was dearest to
thrown away The world knows her
only as one to avoid. Responsibility
wi;hdraws as she approaches. Gaudy
is the golden glare Of her garments
that attract now only the depraved.
Crawling in among the stuff she
has pulled the luggage of the world
over her.
1t may be that some father or
mother will read these lines. May
lions that what these protray may
never visit their home. Thank God
we have yet fathers and mothers
who are old-fashioned enough not
to get hidden among the stuff
Does someone say that Saul hid
ing among the stuff was show Of
gentle modesty? That may be- but
when it is a call to kingly position,
TO the taking up of the cares and
hardships Of life, little is the excuse
that man hide You can tell what
life will be by the way it starts.
The common things are the real
crisis. One glass may not make
a drunkard but it shows the way.
One filtration may not make liber-
tine. but it shows the way. One
Sundays Dissertation may not make
man or woman wholly bad, but it
shows the way they are going. If
they We're dealing with man it
might be different but they are
| breaking Gods laws, and they are
immutable. Sin and penalty go
through the world with their heads
tied together.
We have no way of viewing the
future than by the past, and judging
Saul by his life he was not a sue
cess. He was called to strenuous
and mighty things bristling with
4 f{i1,,l h,,f IN ~ no
world was too much for him and
he failed. The spirit that actuated
Saul is controlling many splendid
men and women, who have in them
kingly and queenly qualities. The
/ trouble is they are hiding behind
| business, politics, infidelty, impurity
whiskey kegs. beer bottles, Sunday
| baseball, and thousand tons of
stuff that ought to put to it proper
use.
! We want young men today who
are courteous and chivalrous, manly
and thoughtful who can say NO out
| loud, who love their homes better
than the holes of infamy, who re-
spect womanhood and hate sin in
every form, who love virtue more
than vice, the Bible more than bill
| iards.
We want girls who crave lofty
ideals OF womanhood, who think
more Of duty than dress, gentleness
than grossness, who study health
not hate. who will grow up to be
gentle women, loving wives and fond
| mothers. We want women who think
more of cradles than cards, who
are not afraid Of the kitchen, who
can bake good bread and serve it
who can smile on hot day at home
in calico apron as well as on the
street, who can distinguish gentle
man from rascal. who prefers a
working man for husband rather
than a parasite or a gambler.
Oft times a serious purpose is
lost in the search for pleasure. MeT
and women become mere playthings
in the hands Of society, tickled by
any new sensation, though the laugh
they give may be the index Of theil
own character. When man is
called to high duties and grea