The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-02-08


ii now, wear il forever, son Of God,
daughter of the Lord God Almighty.
Oh, the joy of the new convert! Oh,
the gladness of the Christian service
THE JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
You have seen sometimes man in q
religious assembly get up and give his
experience. Well, Paul gave his ex-
perience. He arose in the presence
of two churches, the church on
earth and the church in heaven, and
he said. Now, this is my experience
'Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing
poor, yet making many rich-having
nothing, yet possessing all things
If the people in this house this morn
ing knew the joys of the Christian re-
ligion, they would all pass over into
the kingdom of God the next mo-
ment. When Daniel Sandman was
dying of cholera his attendant
said: Have you much pain9'
"Oh," he replied, "since I found the
Lord have never had any pain ex-
cept sim" Then they said to him:
"Would you like to send message to
your friends9" eyes, / would; tell
them that only last night the love Of
Jesus came rushing into my soul like
the surges of the sea, and had to cry
out: Stop, Lord, it is enough; stop,
Lord, enough r" Oh, the joys Of this
Christian religion!
Just pass over from those tame joys
in which you are indulging-joys Of
this world-into the raptures. Of the
Gospel The world cannot satisfy
you; you have found that out-Alex-
ander longing for other worlds to
conquer, and yet drowned in his own
bottle; Byron whipped by Dispute
tudes around the world; Voltaire
cursing his own soul while all the
streets of Paris were applauding him;
Henry II consuming with hatred
against poor Thomas Becket-all il
Illustrations of the fact that this world
cannot make man happy. The very
man who poisoned the pommel of the
saddle on which Queen Elizabeth rode,
shouted in the street: "God save the
queen" One moment the world ap-
plauds and the next moment the
world mathematics. Oh, come over
into this greater JOY, this sublime
solace, this magnificent beatitude. The
night after the battle of Shiloh, and
there were thousands of wounded on
the field, and the ambulances had not
come, on Christian soldier lying there
a-dying under the starlight began to
sing:
There is land of pure delight
and when he came to the next line
there were scores Of voices uniting:
Where saints immortal reign.
The song was caught up all through
the fields among the wounded until it
was said there were at least ten thou
sand wounded men reuniting their
voices as they came to the verse:
There everlasting spring abides.
And never whitening flowers;
Death like a narrow stream divides
That heavenly land Of ours
Oh, it is a great religion to live by,
and it is great religion to die by.
There is only one heart throb between
you and that religion this morning.
Just look into the face of your par
doning God, and surrender yourself
for time and for eternity, and he is
yours, and heaven is yours, and all
is yours. Some Of you, like the
young. man of the text, have ,
gone far astray.S know not the his
.ory, but you know it, you know it.
When a young man went forth into
life, the legend says, his guardian
angel went forth with him, and get
ing him into field the guardian angel
swept circle clear around where the
young man stood. It was circle of
virtue and honor, and he must not
step beyond that circle. Armed foes
came down, but were obliged to halt
1t the circle-they could not pass.
But one day temptress with dia-
nonded hand stretched forth and
crossed that circle with the hand,
md the tempted soul took it, and
oy that one fell grip was brought
Beyond the circle and died. Some
If you have stepped beyond that circle.
Would you not like this day by the
grace of God to step back9 This, I say
% you, is your hour of salvation.
There was in the closing hours of
Queen Anne what is called the clock
scene. Flat down on the pillow in
helpless sickness, she could not move
ler head or move her hand. She was
waiting for the hour when the minis
ers of state should gather in angry con-
est, and, worried and worn out by the
coming hour, and in momentary alb
'ence Of the nurse, in the power, the
strange power which delirium some
lines gives one, she arose and stood in
'ront of the clock, and stood there
the clock when the nurse
The nurse said: "Do
you see anything peculiar about that
,lock?" She made no answer, but
;oon died. There is clock scene in
,very history. If some of you would
Use from the bed of lethargy and come
,ut from your delirium of sin and
ook on the clock of your destiny this
morning, you would see and hear
you have not seen or heard
,efore, and every tick of the minute,
md every stroke of the hour, and
,very swing of the pendulum would
'ay: "Now, now, now, now!" Oh, come
home to your Fathers house. Come
home, oh, prodigal, from the wilder
less. Come home, come home!
THE RETURNED PRoDIGAL rs NEVER
COLDLY GREETED.
II. But notice that when the prodi-