Year: 1875

| Dack ana perlSueu. On, De not among
them. "Escape for thy life.


My text suggest that some men, hav-
ing started, lOitsr by the woy. They
tarry in the plain. They are too lazy
to get Cd. You know that men, in Or
der to get on in this world, must deny
themselves and work hard; must 60
through drudgery, that after while
they may have luxuries. But there are
some men too lazy for this life and too
lazy to win heaven. If We get to heaven
it will be by gathering up all the ener-
gies of our souls and hurting them
ahead in one grand persistent direction.
1 have seen within the past week or two
people in this church start for heaven,
but


THEY LoITERED BY THE WAY,


30 that ten thousand years would not
be long enough for them to get there.
In mid-ocean, on the China, goiug out,
at midnight, the screw stopped
"What's the ma:terl" everybody cried.
People rushed out to see why the"screw"
had stopped in mid-ocean. Something
wrong> or it would not stop in the mid
die of the Atlantic. So it is a bad sign
when men voyaging towards heaven
stop halt way. 1t is sign of infinite
peril. :,


l don't exactly know why LOT and
his wife loitered by the way. | think
Lor's wife looked back because she
thought, after all, it might he hoax
that there might be no destruction of
the city, and she said to herself:
"Wouldn't we feel silly if our property
should be coniscated and the city un-
damaged" Just so there are men now
who say it is all talk about a judgment
and long eternity; it is all hoax. L
don't wonder that man says that who
don't believe the Bible; but if a man be-
lieve the Bible don't know how he
can say that, because this Bible declares
God will turn into hell all the nations
that forget Him, and will sweep with
the hail of His vengeance the refugees
of lies In the peroratloE OF his Ser
mon on the mount, Christ told how
some houses are on the rock and stand,
aud other houses are on the sand and
fall. Oh, this modern religion of sweet
oil and sugar-plums, that would make
God a nerveless, inert being that the
world can run over and He say nothing.
NV friends, while God is so merclful
and patient that He will take-b back the
most besotted wretch that ever came to
Him for help, He has omnipotent in
dionation for those who refuse His
sway and trample upon His law. Sodom
must perish; sin must be crushed, and
the whole world acclaim the justice OF
God.


Perhaps LOT and his wife thought
there was no hurry. They have said:
''There is no sign in the heaven; there
never was a more beautiful day than
this. We suppose that when the time
comes there will be some sign OF it.
There will be a rumbling in the earth,
or there will be an ominous shadow on
the hills" They were mistaken. l
suppose it came in an eye-twinkle. One
moment mirth and song, the next vol
canic eruption and bursting cloud and
horrible obliteration. Men now tarry
in the plain of sin and say, "There is no
hurry" My dear friend, there is every
reason to hurry. What if your breath
should stop? Where would you be {?
Where would you go? l don't ask you
to take my poor words about the brew
ty and uncertainty of life. Ask any
commercial man whose kind of business
necessitates that he calculate the length
of human life ask him in his business
what he thinks of the uncertainty of
human existence. "Oh," says some
man, 81 shall repent on my sick bed.
Will YOU! The last sickness, as far as
| have observed it, is generally divided
into two parts. The first half OF that
final sickness is spent in the expectation
of getting well, in the discussion of doc
tors and different styles of medicines;
the last half in delirum. or in stupidity,
or CONSERVATION which prohibits reli-
gious thought. So that 1 take it for
granted that


TIE POOREST PLACE On EARTH


for man to repent of sin and prepare
for heaven is on his death-bed. In the
first half of that sickness he will expect
to get well, and in the last half of it he
will not be fit to think. What foolish
thing it is to tarry in the plain, when
more people perish between Sodom and
the mountains than actually perish in
side the city. A gentleman was telling
me, night or two ago, walking up the
street, of lady who said; 81 will
repent and turn to God in six months
1 have made up my mind deliberately
TO that, and when l make up my mind
l stick to it. In six months mean to
be a Christian" Three of the six
months passed along, and one evening,
at the expiration Of the three months,
she said to some one who was talking
on serious subjects, "Just three months
more and l will attend TO it." The
next morning they knocked at herdoor
She gave no answer. They went in
She had passed up to reckon with God.
Oh, man immortal woman immortal
tary not in the plain. If it were a
mere matter of temporal peril, could
not help but be interested In you. If l
saw your house kindling with flame, /
could not help but cry out, "Fire, fire!"
If l saw you smitten with some terrible
l;,oo.o I WOULD rup for ,,,o1;oo,,onf