Connecticut western news., 1879-03-05
The Sunday Sermons.
AT THE CONGREGATIONAL oHuRol

AT THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
 My sin is ever before me, "was the text at East Canaan, found in the 5lst Psalm, which was the Sunday school lesson. How sin should not be be fore us, and how 1t should be before us. It should not be be- fore us as mountain, hiding the cross and | the mercy of God, nor should It be before us as debt which we have to pay. instead | of wrong of which we have to be for given, nor should it be before us to inter fere with our usefulness and happiness. It l should be before us in a way to make ue humble. The story is told of father who drove nail into post every time his little | boy did wrong, and drew one out every time he did right. At length the nails were all gone. and now calling the attention of hls boy to the fact. and expecting from him some expression of gladness, he saw that tine child only shed tears. Inquiring the reason, the child replied, "The nails are gone, but the marks are there." Sin will leave it's mark even though forgiven. Again, sin should be before us in a way to restrain from further sin. Next, "My sin before me" means not another mans; and that should make us charitable toward the sin of others. Further, sin before us should incite to devotedness in Gods service. Finally, sin before us should make us pa tient under crosses. The poor mans grace at table is ''All this, and heaven"
 AT CHRIST CHURCH. The text was the Lxix Psalm, 10th verse, "When wept and chastened my soul with
 fasting. that was to my reproach." The sermon was prefaced by few remarks on the attitude of practical men towards re- ligious ordinances. Such persons are al-
 ways ready to meet everything with the question, What IS the use of 1t ?" These men are valuable and to be commended if their questions are meant to draw out truth and not as bar against truth. There is no objection to the question if they are ready and anxious to seek out true answer. The trouble IS, we are too often half heart ed in being practical, only getting as far az the question. These remarks apply espec- ially to the keeping of Lent, because SO many members of the church neglect IL. | They seem to have asked, "What is the use ?" but never really to have found out the benefits to be derived from course of self denial. The sulj"ct was then resolved | into the form of answers to a series of questoEs. Why do we fact? Because we are impeled so to do, not only by the ex- ample, but tbe command of our Lord, He lasted forty days and forty nights, and in the sermon on the Mount taught His disci- ples, "When ye fast be uot as the hyp- ocrites," and again He declared of His dis | ciples. "Wheu the bride groom shall be l The Acts of the apostles and the Epist es of St. Paul show the apostles were ''In fast ,ngs otten " The Old Testament is like
 wise clear in it's teaching, both by precept and example. What beptf fit do Y ou expect from fasting? For the present, the weak ening of the f1eshy hosts which war against the soul. We stsrve out the enemy which is intrenched within the fesb. For the past, we not only show, but increase sorrow I Miaa krl. .aA ! soul and spirit in mourning for past of-
 fences. Feasting is sign and source of 1oy; fasting, of sorrow. For the future, we are disciplininp, training ourselves to resist the enemy, to quench the flame of temptation. Is your fasting pleasing to God? Not as an end in itself. Mere fast ing is nothing worth. But as means of learning to deny self, end as an evidence of a desire to obey the law of the Spirit, not the flesh, fasting is acceptable to the AL
 mighty. If men will but consider these things, there will no longer be cause for us to complain. ''When 1 wept and chasten- ed my soul with fasting, that was to my re-
 proach." They who now neglect fasting | and the other ordinances of religion, are at
 least silent reproach to their more faith full brethren. l THE METHODIST CHURCH
 The morning sermon was from the 6lst Psalm. The speaker said the great sin of D .vid's life to which reference is made In this Psalm, and where we have an account | of hls sincere repentance, was commit ted hy him when he was about AS years old, and in the 18th year of his ign. The de- tails Of his crime cannot be re hearsed here, but there is one fact that all 8 hould remem-
 Der, as it shows us the danger of the first
 act of sin. When DavId comEai,ted this sin, he had DO thought of the other crimes linto which he would he drawn. This
 shows the influence of sin upon the mind
 and conscience, how men are led on, step
 by step from one degree of crime to anoth- CT, until they can commit crimes, at the
 simple thought of which their souls would
 to the visit of Nathan, the kings confession of bis crime. II have sinped against Jeho-
 yah, his general plea to God for mercy. his specific requests for forgivness, for clean
 heart, have the joys of salvation restored to him. and his restoration to tie divine
 fsvnr. From this the preacher deduced the nature of true repentance-such repent ence as secures the remission of sin. It is not simply remorse of conscience. It does not consist in penar ce-aff1icting and tor , turing the hOdy, but in Cody sorrow for , sin, confession of sin. and forsaking sins. , From the whole subject the speaker de
 duce6. lst. The possibility of falling from . grace, 2d, The need of constant watchful- I ness, 3d. Encouragement to those who
 have backslidden, to return to God, 4th, All were asked to remember that while God in
 his mercy msy forgive us and our souls be saved, yet many of the temporal results of
 sin cannot he avoided. Illustrated by the
 disasters to D,vid's family and kingdom.
 A man may become drunkard, waste his
 substance an rum his health he may re-
 pent aud be forgiven, but his substance is
 gone. his health is lost, and repeDtence and
 forgivness do not restore them. Every sin
 pays its price. The young mar sows his
 wild oats and he thinks they will never
 come up, hut they will. aud he must reap
 ,he harvest The Inquisition house at Madrid once contained the image of beau tiful virgin, Every feature was lovely, but
 this beautiful image was an instrun ent of
 tort ure. The victim was made to 20 and place his bosom against hers, fo press his
 lips to the cold lips of the marble, and ID doing SO a spring was touched, an internal
 machine was set in motion, the arms filled
 with sharp daggers arose and encircled the | VIC tim cutting into his flesh. and crushing out his life. Escape was impossible, but if
 he had escaped he would have carried the scars during life So the ways of sin may seem 10 be very beautiful, tut if persisted in. the end Is death. and if we escape aud
 are saved, we shall carry the scars forever. EVERY FARMER
 fp-I y,o