spring arrived those parents would take those children from the school, and lead them into those German gardens. And now a great many are reaping the consequences. I remember one mother who heard that her boy was impressed at our meeting. She said her son was a good enough boy, and he didn't need to be converted. I pleaded with that mother, but all my pleading was of no account. I tried my influence with the boy; but while I was pulling one way she was pulling the other. Her influence prevailed. Naturally it would. Well, to make a long story short, some time after I happened to be in the County Jail, and I saw him there. "How did you come here?" I asked; "does your mother know where you are?" No, don't tell her; I came here under an assumed name, and I am going to Joliet for four years. Do not let my mother know of this," he pleaded; "she thinks I am in the army.' I used to call on that mother, but I had promised her boy I would not tell her, and for four years she mourned over that boy. She thought he had died on the battle-field, or in a Southern hospital. What a blessing he might have been to that mother, if she had only helped us to bring him to Christ. But that mother is only a specimen of hundreds and thou sands of parents in Chicago. If we would have more family altars in our homes and train them to follow Christ, why the Son of God would lead them into "green pastures;" and instead of having sons who curse the mothers who gave them birth, they would bless their fathers and mothers. In the Indiana Penitentary, I was told of a Iman who had come there under an assumed name. His mother heard where he was. She was too poor to ride there, and she footed it. Upon her arrival at the prison, she at first did not recognize her son in his prison suit and short hair; but when she did see who it was, that mother threw her arms around that boy and said: "I am to blame for this; if I had only taught you to obey God and keep the Sabbath, you would not have been here." How many mothers, if they were honest, could attribute the ruination of their children to their early training. God has said, if we don't teach them those blessed commandments he will destroy us; and the law of God never changes. It does not only apply to those callous men who make no profession of religion, but to those who stand high in the church, if they make the same mistake. Look at that high priest Eli. He was a good man and a kind one, but one thing he neglected to do-to train his children for God. The Lord gave him warning, and at last destruction came upon his house. Look at that old man ninetyeight years old, with his white hair, like some of the men on the platform, sitting in the town of Shiloh, waiting to hear the result of the battle. The people of Israel came into the town and took out the ark of God, and when it came into the camp a great shout went up to heaven, for they had the ark of their God among them. They thought they were going to succeed; but they had disobeyed God.

When the battle came on they fought manfully, but no less than 30,000 of the Israelites fell by the swords of their enemies; and a messenger came running from the field through the streets of Shiloh to where Eli was, crying: "Israel is defeated, the ark is taken, and Hophni and Phineas have been slain in battle." And the old priest, when he heard it, fell backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke and he died. Oh, what a sad ending to that man; and when his daughter-in-law heard the news, there was another death in that family recorded. In that house destruction was complete. My friends, God is true; and if we do not obey him in this respect, he will punish us. It is only a question of time. Look at king David. See him waiting for the tidings of the battle. He had been driven from his throne by his own son, whom he loved; but when the news came that he was slain, see how he cried: "O my son Absalom! would to God I had died for thee!" It was worse than death to him; but God had to punish him, because he did not train his son to love the Lord. My friends, if he punished Eli and David, he will punish you and me. May God forgive us for the past, and may we commence a new record to-night. My friends, if you have not a family altar, erect one to-night. Let us labor that our children may be brought to glory. Don't say children are too young. Mothers and fathers, if you hear your children have been impressed with religion, don't stand in the way of their conversion, but encourage them all

you can.

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While I was attending a meeting in a certain city some time ago, a lady came to me and said: "I want you to go home with me; I have something to say to you." When we reached her home, there were some friends there. After they had retired, she put her arms on the table, and tears began to come into her eyes, but with an effort she repressed her emotion. After a struggle, she went on to say that she was going to tell me something which she had never told any other living person. I should not tell it now, but she has gone to another world. She said she had a son in Chicago, and she was very anxious about him. When he was young, he got interested in religion at the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. He used to go out in the street and circulate tracts. He was her only son, and she was very ambitious he should make a name in the world, and wanted to get him into the very highest circles. Oh, what a mistake people make about these highest circles. Society is false; it is a sham. She was deceived, like a good many more votaries of fashion and hunters after wealth at the present time. She thought it was beneath her son to go down and associate with those young men who hadn't much money. She tried to get him away from them, but they had more influence than she had; and, finally, to break off this old association, she packed him off to a boardingschool. He went soon to Yale College, and she supposed he got

into one of those miserable secret societies there that have ruined so many young men; and the next thing she heard was that the boy had gone astray. She began to write letters urging him to come into the kingdom of God; but she heard that he tore the letters up without reading them. She went to him, to try and regain whatever influence she possessed over him; but her efforts were useless, and she came home with a broken heart. He left New Haven, and for two years they heard nothing of him. At last they heard he was in Chicago; and his father found him, and gave him thirty thousand dollars to start in business. They thought it would change him; but it didn't. They asked me when I went back to Chicago, to try and use my influence with him. I got a friend to invite him to his house one night, where I intended to meet him; but he heard I was to be there, and did not come near. Like a good many other young men, who seem to be afraid of me, I tried many times to reach him, but could not. While I was traveling one day on the New Haven railroad, I bought a New York paper, and in it I saw a dispatch saying he had been drowned in Lake Michigan. His father came on to find his body, and after considerable searching, he discovered it. All the clothes and his body were covered with sand. The body was taken home to that broken-hearted mother. She said, "If I thought he was in heaven, I would have peace." Her disobedience of God's law came back upon her. So, my friends, if you have a boy impressed with the gospel, help him to come to Christ. Bring him in the arms of your faith, and he will unite you closer to him. Let us have faith in him, and let us pray day and night that our children may be born of the Spirit.

ADDRESS TO YOUNG MEN.

"And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions! If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word." 1 KINGS 13:21.

I want to call your attention to-night to a text which you will find in the 18th chapter of 1st Kings, 21st verse: "And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word." We find in this portion of the Word of God that Elijah was calling the people of Israel back, or he

was calling them to a decision as to whether they were for God or Baal, and a great many were wavering, just halting between two opinions, like the people of Chicago at the present time.

During the last eight weeks, a great deal has been said upon the subject of religion. Men have talked about it all over the city. A great many are talking, a great many are taking their stand for, and a great many against him. Now, what will you do to-night? I will just divide this audience into two portions-one against and one for him. It seems to me a practical question to ask an audience like this: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." A man who is undecided about any question of any magnitude never has any comfort, never has any peace. Not only that, but we don't like a man who cannot decide upon a question. I like men of decision, and firmly believe that more men are lost by indecision than by anything else. It is a question whether I am not talking to many men to-night who intend some day to settle this question. Probably every one here intends to make heaven his home; but Satan is trying to get you to put off the settlement of the question till it will be too late. If he can only get men to put off till the to-morrow, which never comes, he has accomplished all he wants. How many in this audience has promised some friend, years ago, that they would settle this question. May be you said you would do it when you came of age. That time has gone with some of you, and it has not been settled yet. Some have reached thirty, some forty, and others have reached fifty years; their eyes are growing dim, and they are hastening toward eternity, and this is not settled with them yet. Some of you have promised dying brothers that you would meet them in that world; some have promised dying wives that you would see them in that land of light; and again, others have given your word to dying children that you would meet them in heaven. Years have rolled away, and still you have not decided. You have kept putting it off, week by week and year by year. My friends, why not decide to-night? How long halt ye between two opinions?" If the Lord be God, serve him; if not, turn your back upon him. It seems to me a question every man can settle, if he will. You like those grand old characters in the Bible, who have made a decisive stand. Look at Moses! The turning point in his life was when he decided to give up the gilded court of Pharaoh and cast his lot with God's people. You will find that every man who has left a record in the Bible has been a man of decision. What made Daniel so great? It was because he was a man of decision. What saved the prodigal? It was not that he got into his father's arms; it was not his coming home. The turning point was when he decided the question: "I will arise and go to my father." It was the decision of the young man that saved him. Many a man has been lost because of indecision. Tock at Felix; look at Agrippa

Felix said: "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee." See what Agrippa said: "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Look at Pilate-all lost; lost because of his indecision. His mind was thoroughly convinced that Jesus was the true Christ. He said, "I find no fault in him;" but he hadn't the courage to take his stand for him. Thousands have gone down to the caverns of death for want of courage.

My friends, let us look this question in the face. If there is anything at all in the religion of Christ, give everything for it. If there is nothing in it; if it is myth; if our mothers, who have prayed over us, have been deceived; if the praying people of the last 1,800 years have been deluded, let us find it out. The quicker, the better. If there is nothing in the religion of Christ, let us throw it over, and eat, drink, and be merry, for time will soon be gone. If there is no devil to deceive us, no hell to receive us; if Christianity is a sham, let us come out like men and say so. I hope to live to see the time when there only be two classes in this world-Christians and infidels; those who take their stand bravely for him, and those who take their stand against him. This idea of men standing still and saying: "Well, I don't know, but I think there must be something in it," is absurd. If there is anything in it, there is everything in it. If the Bible of our mothers is not true, let us burn it. Is there one in this audience willing to say and do this? If it is a myth, why spend so much money in publishing it? Why send out millions of Bibles to the nations of the earth? Let us destroy it, if it is false, and all those institutions giving the gospel to the world. What is the use of all this waste of money? Are we mad, are we lunatics who have been deluded? Let us burn the book, and send up a shout over its ashes: "There is no God; there is no hell; there is no heaven; there is no hereafter. When men die, they die like dogs in the street!" But, my friends, if it is true-if heaven, if the hereafter in the Bible, is true, let us come out boldly, like men, for Christ. Let us take our stand, and not be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why, it seems to me a question that ought to be settled in this nineteenth century easy enough, whether you are for or against him, or not. Why, if Baal be God, follow him; but if the Lord be God, follow him. If there is no truth in the religion of Jesus Christ, you may as well tear down all your churches, destroy your hospitals, your blind asylums. It's a waste of money to build them. Baalites don't build blind asylums; they don't build hospitals or orphan asylums. If there hadn't been any Christians in the world, there would have been no charitable institutions. If it hadn't been for Christianity, you would have had no praying mothers. Is it true that their prayers have exercised a pernicious influence? Is it true that a boy who had a praying father and mother, or a good teacher, is no better off than a boy who has been brought up amid blasphemy