Connecticut western news., 1890-07-02
You cannot trade off your attractive

abodes here for house of many man. sions on high, and your elegant shade groves here will not warrant you seat under the tree of life. When God drove Adam and Eve out of Eden he showed that merely living in a garden of delights and comforts will never save a man or a woman. By giving you so much earthly luxury and refine ment he intimated that he would have you enjoy yourselves, but he would not have you wrap yourself up in them as cloak to hide your sins. God now walks in your garden as he did in Eden, even in the cool of the day, and he stands by your well as he did by a well in Samaria, and he would make your comfort on earth type of your rapture in heaven.
 SOUND HEADS AND ROTTEN HEARTS.
 Furthermore, mere soundness of re- igious belief will not hide our iniqui- ties. There are men whose heads are as sound as Johnathan Edwards or John Wesley's, whose hearts are as rot ten as Tom Paine's or Charles Gui-
 
 oretical Christians. It is utter folly in this day for man to have no prefer ence for any one form of faith, when 1t is so easy to become conversant with the faith of the different sects. An in- toxicated man staggered into my house one night begging for lodging. He made great pretentions to religion. l asked where he went to church. He said: Nowhere; I belong to liberal Christianity" But there are those who never become Christians because their obstinacy prevents them from ever talk ing a fair view of what religion is. They are like brute beast in the fact that their greatest strength lies in their horns. They are combatant, and all they are ever willing to do for their souls is to enter an ecclesiastical fight.
 have met men who would talk all day upon the ninth chapter of Romans who were thoroughly helpless before the fourteenth chapter of John. But there are those who having escaped from this condition, are now depending entirely upon their soundness of re- igious theory. The doctrines of mans depravity and Christ's atonement and Gods sovereignty are theoretically re- stop. It is only the shell of Christiani- ty, containing no evangelical life. They stand looking over into heaven and admire it's beauty and it's song, and are so pleased with the looks from the outside that they cannot be induced to enter. They could make a better argu- ment for the truth than ten thousand Christians who have in their hearts re- ceived it.. If syllogisms and dilemmas and sound propositions and logical de- ductions could save their souls they would be among the best of Christians. They could correctly de- fine repentance and faith and the atonement, while they have never felt one sorrow for sin nor ex- ercised moments confidence in the great sacrifice. They are almost immovable in their position. We can not present anything about the religion of Christ that they do not know. The
  one in his parable: 'And that servant which knew his Lords will, and pre- pared not himself, neither did accord ing to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes" Theories in religion have a beauty of their own, but if they result in no warmth of Christian life it 1 is the beauty of hornblende and field spar. Do not call such coldness and | hardness religion. The river of life never freezes over. Icicles never hang on the caves of heaven. Soundness ot intellectual belief is beautiful cloak, well woven and we'll cut, but in the hour when God shall demand our souls ! it will not of itself be sufficient to hide our iniquities.
 BETTER THAN CLOAK.
 My friends, can it be thatI have been unkind, and torn from you some hope | upon which you were resting for time ! and eternity? Verify, would be un- kind if, having taken away your cloak, l I did not offer you something better. This is cold world and you want l something to wrap around your spirit. Christ offers you a robe today. He wove it himself, and he will now with his own hand prepare it just to fit your 1 soul. The righteousness he offers is like the coat he used to wear about Judea, without seam from top to bot tom. There is day of doom Cow ard would I be if did not dare tell you this. It shall be day of unutter- able disappointment to those who have trusted in their official dignity, in their elegant manners, in their outward morality, in their soundness of intellect ual belief.
 l But see soul standing before God who once was thoroughly deflled. Yet look at him and you cannot find sin gle transgression anywhere about him How is this9 you ask. Was he not once Sabbath breaker, blasphemer a robber, a perjurer, a thief, mur derer2 Yes, but Christ hath cleanseG him. Christ hath lifted him up. Chris hath rent off his rags. Christ hatf clothed him in a spotless robe O 1 righteousness. That is the reason why you cannot see his former degradation This glorious hope in Christ's name ii proffered today. Wandering and way ward soul, is not this salvation wortl coming for, worth striving for2 D. you wonder that so many with bitte
 weeping have besought it, and with , very enthusiasm of sorrow cried fo divine compassiona Do you wonde
 at the earnestness of those who stand [ in pulpits beseeching men to be recon ciled to Goda Nay, do you wonder a the importantly of the Holy Ghos who now striveth with thy soul9