re it is said, "And the books were opened." Notice
that it is plural and not singular. There is a record in heaven kept
by the Recording Angel. If it were in the memory of God it would be an
awful thing, for while God does not remember forgiven sin, he cannot,
from the very nature of the case, forget unpardoned sin, and if that is
the record one day we shall meet it face to face.

There is also a record upon earth. We have seen it in the characters
of men who have gone astray, and in the faces of those who have been
affected by their sins.

In an eastern city where I was preaching my attention was called to a
young man of brilliant prospects. He was a member of a great wholesale
grocery firm, and young men looked at him almost with envy; but he
began to drink, and at the end of a year the senior partner called him
in to say that he must change his conduct or retire from the firm. He
made promises only to break them, and finally, going from bad to worse,
he was forced to retire. One morning we read the news in the paper
that his bloated body had been found floating in the Hudson river; and
his old father, up to a few years ago, walked up and down the streets
with bowed head, giving every evidence of an almost broken heart. Sin
is an awful thing and makes its record on whatever it touches.

II

_Two Ways_. There are just two ways in this world along which men may
walk, and they are not parallel ways. I used to have that idea, but I
am sure it is wrong. As a matter of fact, it is but one way; going in
one direction is death, and in the opposite direction is life.

First: Away from God, away from his love, every step only leads us
farther from Him--not because of anything he is, but because of what we
have done ourselves.

A father in the South sent his boy to a northern university, and for
seven years he was away from the restraints of his home. Then he came
back with his diploma but with the habit of intemperance fastened upon
him. It seemed impossible for him to break it, and his old father was
fairly crushed. His mother broke her heart and died, all because of
her boy. And yet the father loved him. One day the old father stepped
from his carriage in the town in which he lived. The son was heard to
make a request of him, and when evidently it was refused the boy turned
and struck him full in the face. The old father staggered and would
have fallen to the walk except for assistance. He entered h