News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-10-06

AID into what every door opens. Open
every jewel casket. Examine the sky
lights. Forever be asking questions.
Put to a higher use than was intended
the oriental proverb, ''Hold all the skirts
of thy mantle extended when heaven is
raining gold"
Passing from Bonn to Coblentz on
the Rhine, the scenery is comparatively
tame But from Coblentz to Mayence
it is enchanting. You sit on deck and
| f as if this last flash of beauty must
! exhaust the scene; but in d moment
| there is a turn of the river, which COW
ers up the former view with more lux
uriant vineyards, and more defiant cas-
| Ties, and holder bluffs, vine wreathed,
and grapes so ripe that if the hills be
| touched they would bleed their rich life
away into the bowls of Bingen and
Hockheimer. Here and there there are
streams of water melting into the river,
| like smaller joys swallowed in the
| bosom of great gladness.
And when night begins to throw its
| black mantle over the shoulder of the
hills, and you are approaching disem-
barkation at Mayence, the lights along
| the shore fairly bewitch the scene with
| their beauty, giving one thrill that he
feels but once, yet that lasts him for
ever. So this river of Gods Word is not
straight stream, but winding splen-
dOr-at every turn new wonders to at
tract, still ripper vintage pressing to the
brink and crowded with castles OF
strength-Stolzenfel and Johannisber-
ger as nothing compared with the strong
tower into which the righteous run and
are swaziland our Decentralization at
last in the evening amid the lights that
CLEAN from the shore of heaven. The
trouble is that the vast majority of BIZ
BILE voyagers stop at Coblentz, where the
chief glories begin.
A BOUNDLEsS SEA.
The sea of Gods Word is not like Gen
uesaret, twelve miles by six, but bound
less, and in any one direction you can
sail on forever. Why then confne your
self to short psalm or to few verses
of an epistle? The largest fish are not
near the shore. Hoist all sail to the
winds of heaven. Take hold of both
oars and pull away. Be like some of the
whalers that went out from New Bed
ford or Portsmouth to be gone for two
or three years. Yea, calculate on life
time voyage. You do not want to land
until you land in heaven. Sail away,
o We mariners, for eternityl Launch
out into the deep!
The text is appropriate to all Chris
tians of shallow experience. Doubts and
fears have in our day been almost elected
to the parliament of Christian graces.
Some consider it bad sign not to have
any doubts. Doubts and fears are not
signs of health, but testers and carbun-
Giles. You have a valuable house or
farm. 1t is suggested that the title is
not good. You employ counsel. You
have the deeds examined. You search
the record for mortgages, judgments
and liens. You are not satisfied until
you have certificate, signed by the
great seal of the state, assuring you that
the title is good. Yet how many leave
their title to heaven an undecided mat
ter! Why do you not go to the records
and find out? Give yourself no rest, day
or night, until you can read your title
clear TO mansions in the skies.
Christian character is to come up to
higher standards. We have now to
hunt through our library to find one
Robert M'Cheyne, or one Edward Pay |
son, or one Harlan Page. The time will |
come when we will find half a dozen of |
them sitting in the same seat with us.
The grace of God can make great deal |
better men than those have mentioned. |
Christians seem afraid they will get
heterodox by going too far. They do |
not believe in Christian perfection.
There is no danger of your being per-
feet for some time yet. I will keep
watch and give you notice in time, if
you get too near perfection for the safety
of your theology.
One-half of you Christians are simply
stuck in the mud. Why not cut loose
from everything but God? Give not to
him that formal petition made up of |
"O's''-'O Lord" this and go Lord" |
that. When people are cold and have |
nothing to say to God they strew their |
prayers with SOS" and Forever and |
ever, Amen" and things to fill up. Tell |
God what you want with the feeling
that he is ready to give it, and believe
that you will receive, and you shall have
it. Shed that old prayer you have been
making these ten years. 1t is high time
that you outgrew it. Throw it aside
with your old ledgers, and your old hats.
and your old shoes. Take review of
your present wants, OF your present sins
and of you present blessings. With u
sharp blade cut away your past half |
and half Christian life, and with new |
determination, and new plans, and new |
launch out into the deep.
POINTERS TO FISHERMEN.
The text is appropriate to all who are
engaged in Christian work. The church |
of God has been fishing along the
shore. We set our net in good, calm |
place, and in sight of fine chapel, and
we 60 down every Sunday to see if the
fish have been wise enough to come into
our net. We might learn something
from that boy with his hook and line.
He throws his line from the bridge-no
fish. He sits down on log-no fish.
He stands IN the sunlight and casts the |
line, but NO fish. He goes up by the |
mill dam, and stands behind the bank, |
where the fish cannot see him, and he |
has hardly dropped the hook before the
cork goes under. The fish come to him,
as fast as he can throw them ashore.
In other words, in our Christian work |
why do we not go where the fish are? 1t |
is not so easy to catch souls in church, |
for they know that we are trying to
take them. If you can throw your line
out into the world, where they are not
expecting you, they will be captured. Is
it fair to take men by such stratagem?
Yes. l would like to cheat five thousand |
souls into the kingdom.
The whole policy of the church of God
IS to be changed Instead of chiefly
looking after the few who have become
Christians our chief efforts will be for
hose outside. If after a man is con-
7erted he cannot take care of himself
I'm not going to take care of him. If he
kinks that / am going to stand and pat
lin on the back, and feed him out of an
elegant spoon, and watch him so that
ne does not get into draft of world
iness, he is much mistaken. We have
IN our churches a great mass of helpless,
name professors, who are doing nothing
for themselves or for others, who want
US to stop and nurse them. They are 10
troubled with doubt as to whether they
are Christians or not. The doubt is set
tied. They are not Christians The best
we can do with these fish is to thrc