next step they take may take
them into eternity: the next day they may die without God and without
hope.

A Defaulter's Confession.

One week ago I preached on the text, "Christ came to heal the
broken-hearted." I told you just before I came down that I had received
a letter from a broken-hearted wife. Her husband one night came in, to
her surprise, and said he was a defaulter and must flee, and he went,
she knew not where. He forsook her and two children. It was a pitiful
letter, and the wail of that poor woman seems to ring in my ears yet.
That night up in that gallery was a man whose heart began to beat when I
told the story, thinking it was him I meant, till I came to the two
children. When I got through I found that he had taken money which did
not belong to him, intending to replace it, but he failed to do so, and
fled. He said: "I have a beautiful wife and three children, but I had to
leave her and come to Chicago, where I have been hiding. The Governor of
the State has offered a reward for me." My friends, a week ago this poor
fellow found out the truth of this text. He was in great agony. He felt
as if he could not carry the burden, and he said, "Mr. Moody, I want you
to pray with me. Ask God for mercy for me." And down we went on our
knees. I don't know as I ever felt so bad for a man in my life. He asked
me if I thought he should go back. I told him to ask the Lord, and we
prayed over it. That was Sunday evening, and I asked him to meet me on
the Monday evening. He told how hard it was to go back to that town and
give himself up and disgrace his wife and children. They would give him
ten years. Monday came and he met me and said, "Mr. Moody, I have prayed
over this matter, and I think that Christ has forgiven me, but I don't
belong to myself. I must go back and give myself up. I expect to be sent
to the penitentiary; but I must go." He asked me to pray for his wife
and children, and he went off. He will be there to-day in the hands of
justice. My friends, don't say the way of the transgressor is not hard.

Divided We Fall.

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, and of course her influence prevailed.
Naturally it would. Well, t