He was a wild, reckless dissipated youth. His father, thinking
that if he could get him away from his associates, a reform would be
worked, procured a commission in the army for him. And this is a mistake
a great many Christian people fall into in dealing with their sons. It
is not a change of place they require, it is a change of heart, A change
of place will not take them away from the tempter. Well, off to the army
this young man went, and, instead of reforming, he gambled and borrowed,
and took to drinking as vigorously as ever. At length he had borrowed
all the money he could, and, as we say he "had come to the end of his
rope." A certain sum of money had to be paid the next day, and he did
not see how it could be done without selling his commission, and if he
did that he would be compelled to leave the army and go home to his
father disgraced. The laws were very rigid in Russia upon the matter of
debt, and if he couldn't pay he knew he would have to go to prison.
That night as he sat in his barracks, heart-broken at the prospect
before him, he thought he would take up a paper and figure up his debts,
and see how he stood. And here, let me say, it would be well if the
sinner would pause occasionally, and try and figure up his sins, and see
where he stood with God.
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