The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-09-22

and a chain on your tongue and a chain on
your eye and chain on your brain and a
chain on your property and chain on your
soul. some day YOU wake up and You say:
J am tired OF this, aud am going toget loose
from this shackle." You pound away with
the hammer OF good resolution but cannot
break the thmll Your friends Join YOU in
conspiracy OF help but fall exhausted In tho
unavalling attempt. Now You begin, and
with the writing Of q LAGOON, 20 try Ia
break away, and the muscles ARE distended.
and the great beads az Precipitation dot your
forehead, and the eyes stand out from the
sockets. and with all the concentrated encr-
giles Of body. mind and soul You attempt %
get Loose bat have only made the chain sink
deeper. All the devils That cncamp In the
wine flask and the rum jug and the dccanter
for each one has devil OF it, own-comc
ont and sit around you and chatter. In
some midnight YOU spring from your couch
and cry: ~ am fast. q God, let me loose
O We powers 81 darkness, let me loose Faith
or and mother and brothers and sis
sisters, help me 10 get loose" Aud you turn
your PRAYER "a blasphcmy, and then Your
blasphemy into prayer, and 10 all the din and
uproar there u PLAYED an accompaniment, not
an accompaniment ay key aud pedal hut the
accompaniment Is rattle, and the rattle l. that
~ a chain. For five years, for ten years, for
twenty years. YOU have been making a chain.
But here I take n step higher, and tell YOU
chain Of body, chain Of mind, chain of soul.
The letters that the hammer OF the Gospel
have broken of, IN piled together, would
make mountain. The captiNeS whom Christ
has ST free, II stood side by side. would make
an army. Quicker than 4 ship chambers
furnace ever melted n cable. quicker than n
key ever unlocked handeun, quicker than
the hayoncts OF revolution pricd open the
lastile, YOU NAV bc liberated and made a
free SON or free daughter Of God. You
have only 10 choose between serfdOm and
emancipation, between chain aud n cOrOnct.
between Satan and God. Make mp your
mind and make IL up quick. When the King
OF Sparta had crossed tho lIellespont and was
about % march through Ihrace, he sent
word 10 the people In the different regions
asking Thorn whether he should march
through their countries as q friend or mn en-
envy. "l}y all means a. friend" answered
most Of tho regions, but the king Of Maccdon
replied: II will take time 10 consider it,
"rhen," said the king Of Sparta, ''let him
consider IL. but meantime we march--wo
march, so Christ, Our King, gives us our
choice between bis friendship and his frown,
and many of us have long been considering
what we had better do; but meantime he
marches on, and our opportunities are march
ing bv. And we shall be the loving subjects
OF his reign, or the victims Of our own obdu-
acy. 80, | urge you 10 precipitcncy, rather
than slow deliberation, and ! will write all
scribcd on the monument Of Princess Eliza
beth in the Isle Of Wight, the words 90
which her index finger pointed In the open
Bible when she was found dead in her bed
after n lifetime 81 trouble: "Come unto me,
all We who are weary and heavy laden, and
will give YOU rest" is there a drunkard
here! You may, by tho Sayiour's grace have
thd fire OF thirst utterly cNtinguished. Is
there a dcfraudcr hcrcy You NAV be made
saint Is there "A libcrtinc hercg You may
bc made a. pure as the light. When minis
tor In m outdoor meeting In Scotland was
culogizing goodness, there were hanging
around the edge Of the audience some ~ the
most dcpraved men and women, and the
minister said nothing about prodigals. And
adcpraYcd woman cried out: "Nour rope Ia
not long enough for u.s. Blessed be- God,
our Gospel can fathom the deepest depth and
reach 10 farthcst wandcrings and here Is a
rope long enough to rescue the worst: ''Who-
socyer will"
But why take extreme cases, when we All
have been or are now the captiycs OF sin and
DEATH And we may through the great
Emancipation drop our shacklcs and take
throne. You have looked at your hand and
arm only as being useful now, and q curious
piece OF anatomy, bat there Is something
about your hand and arm that make me
think they are an undeyclopcd wing. And
II Won would know what possibilities are
suggested by that, ask the eagle that has
looked close into The eve OF the MONDAY sun:
or ask the alabatross that has struck its claw
into the black locks OF the tempest; or ask
the condor that this morning j. descending %
the highest peak ~ Chmborazo. Your right
hand and arm and your left hand and arm,
two undcyelopcd wings, better get ready for
the cmpyrcan.
Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wing,
Thy better portion trace.
There have been chains famous in the
worlds history. such rs the cham which fas-
tened the prisoner of Chiffon to the pillar,
into the staple of which | have thrust my
hand, on the isolated rock OF the Lake OF
Geneva; such as the chain which the Russian
exile clanks on his way 60 the mines Of Sc
IBERIA such ~ the chain which Zenobia, the
captive queen, wore when brought into the
presence OF Aurelian. Aye, there have been
races In chains, and nations i'm chains, and
there has been world Ia chains; but, thank
God, the last one OF them shall be broken,
and under the liberating power 81 the omnip-
otent Gospel the shacklcs shall fall from the
last neck aud the last arm and the last foot.
But these shattered letters shall all be gathered
up again from the dungeons and the work
houses and the mines and the rivers and the
fields, and they shall again be welded and
again strung link 30 link, and polished and
transformed until this world which has
wandered of and been q recrcant world and
lost world, shall by that chain be- lifted and
hung 10 The throne Of God no longer tho iron
chain Of oppression. but the golden chain 81
redccming love. There let this old rans0med
world swing forever! Roll on, ye years;
roll on, We days; roll on, ye hours, and hasten
the glorious contamination.