St. Landry democrat., 1885-09-19

nature is utterly ruineds Sin has broken
in at every part of our castle. One would
think that we got enough of it from our
parents, whether they were pious or not;
but we have taken the capital of sin with
which our fathers and mothers started US,
and we have by accumulation, as by in=
fernal compound interest, made it enough
to swamp US forever. The heart a battles
ground, across which armed battalious
sweep right and left. The ivory palace of
the soul polluted with the filthy feet of all
uncleanliness. The Lord Jesus Christ
comes to bring us back to holiness. he
comes not to destroy us, but to take the
consequences of our guilt. He breaks
through lacerating thorns, and He dies to
offer us cleanliness. Here is man who a
few weeks ago said: "All is right with me.
I am not willing to confess I am sinner"
Now, the spirit comes to his soul, and he
feels himself to be so great sinner that
there is no mercy for him. When did he
make the most accurate estimate? Now.
''The heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked,n But, says some
one in the audience: 81 have sinned so
much I do not believe Christ will take me-. /"
A great commander thought of going over
into Italy. His friends laughed at him and
said: 'FYou can never getover the Alps. If
you know anything about the Alps, you
know you can never get over there" The
commander waved his hand, and said:
''There shall be no Alps" Then the road
was built through the Simplon Pass-the
wonder of following ages. We stand and
see the mountain of. our guilt. The OBJ
stacles seem so great that it is impossible
for US to find way into the peace and life
of the Gospel; but Christ comes, and He
waves His wounded hand, and cries:
''There shall be no obstacles. will come
over the mountain of thy sin and the hills
Of thine iniquity." o We who have sinned,
instead of flying away from Christ, if you
only knew who it is that comes to save
you, you would fly no farther, but turn
around, and while Christ seeks you you
would seek Christ, and this house would
| be scene Of penitent sinner and par
doning Saviour, throwing each others
arms around each others necks; while
Heaven could afford to stop half an hour
and hang over the battlements gazing.
| What is that flutter among the angels?
Who is that horseman rushing through
the city with quick dispatch? What is
that announcement on the bulletins of
Heaven? ] know what it is. Christ has
found that which was lost.
Nor angels can their JOY contain,
But hndle with new fire;
The sinner lost is found, they sing,
And strike the sounding Tyre
Iremark again, we are lost to happiness,
and Christ comes to find us. A caIiph
said: II have been fifty years caliph,
and have had all honors and all wealth,
| and yet, in the fifty years can count up
only fourteen days of happiness" How
many there are in this audience that can
not count fourteen days in all their life in
which they had no vexations or annoy
ances. We all feel capacity for happi-
ness that has never been tested. There
are interludes of bliss, but whose entire
life has been continuous satisfaction?
Why is it that the most of the fine poems
of the world are somehow descriptive of
grief? 1t is because men know more about
sorrow than they do about Joy. John Mil
ton succeeds when he writes paradise
Lost" but fails when he comes to write
paradise Regained." Dante's Inferno"
is chime of horrors. Bryant's 'sThana-
topsis" is poem of tears. Take the
pathos out of the writings of Tennyson
and Longfellow,, and you have taken three
fourths their power. john Ruskin writes
his most effective passages about the ruin
Of Venice. 1t is because men know more
about sorrow than about joy that they are
more effective in describing the former
The dog of bad news runs faster than the
carrier pigeon flies with good tidings
There are Pushes of satisfaction in the
heart; but whose life has been prolonged
delight? The soul has four ranks of KEYS,
and the world does not know how to play
on such an elaborate instrument; but reli-
gion comes, and with her right hand she
touches the higher keys Of the soul, and
then sweeps them with the symphonies of
Heaven. Christ comes to find those who
have been lost to happiness. He soothes
them. He inspirits them. He lifts them.
He opens the door of the lost Eden, and
invites them to come in again to peace.
Oh, how many in this house have been
goaded, and stung, and plagued! Had it
not been for risking your eternal interests,
some of you would have put an end to the
scene of earthly suffering with your own
hand. A deep undertone of sadness rolls
through the soul. You would be willing
now to give up your money and your So
cial position and all you have achieved for
one day of the peace which the good old
slave expressed when he said, with broken
Language: I'm owning Christ I seem to
own everything. The air is mine, for /
can breathe it; the sunshine is mine, for
can sit in it; the earth is mine, for can
lie down in it" To have something of the
complete satisfaction which belongs to the
humblest of Gods children, you would
give almost anything. Oh, We who are
struck through with unrest, Christ comes