News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-11-03

ing, by going on, by making advance
ment, trading off our stale prayers about
sins we ought to have quit long ago,
going on toward higher state of Chris
tan character and routing out sins that
we have never thought of yet. The fact
is, if the church of God, if we, as indi-
viduals, made rapid advancement in the
Christian life, these stereotyped prayers
we have been making for ten or fifteen
years would be as inappropriate to US as
the shoes. and the hats, and the coats
we wore ten or fifteen years ago. Oh,
for higher fight in the Christian life,
the stork and the crane in their migra-
ton teaching us the lesson!
Dear Lord, and shall we ever live
At this poor dying rate
Our love so faint, SO cold to thee,
And thine to us so great?
Again, remark that the birds of the
air are wiser than we, because they
know when to start. If you should go
out now and shout, ''Stop, storks and
cranes; don't be in hurry!" they would
say: mo, we cannot stop. Last night
we heard the roaring in the woods bid
ding US away, and the shrill flute of the
north wind has sounded the retreat.
We must go. We must 60" So they
gather themselves into companies, and
turning not aside for storm or mountain
top or shock of musketry, over land and
sea, straight as an arrow to the mark,
they go.
And if you come out this morning
with a sack of corn and throw it in the
IL 1 70 Of 10
are so far up they would hardly see it.
They are on their way south. You
could not stop them. Oh, that we were
as wise about the best time to start for
God and heavenl We say: ''Wait until
it is little later in the season of mercy.
Wait until some of these green leaves of
hope are all dried up and have been
scattered. Wait until next year" And
after awhile we start, and it is too late,
and we perish in the way when Gods
wrath is kindled but little.
FATE OF THOSE WHO LINGER TOO LONG.
There are, you know, exceptional
cases where birds have started too late,
and in the morning you have found
them dead on the snow. And there are
those who have persisted half way be
tween the world and Christ. They
waited until the last sickness, when the
mind was gone, or they were on the ex-
press train going at forty miles an hour.
and they came to the bridge, and the
"draw was up" and they went down
How long to repent and pray? Two
secondsl Two seconds! To do the work
of lifetime and to prepare for the vast
eternity in two seconds!
l was reading of an entertainment
given in a kings court, and there were
musicians there with elaborate pieces of
music After awhile Mozart came and
began to play, and he had blank piece
of paper before him, and the king famil-
iarly looked over his shoulder and said:
"What are you playing? l see no music
before you" And Mozart put his hand
on his brow, as much as to say, II am
improvising." 1t was very well for him,
but, oh, my friends, we cannot extern
porize heaven! If we do not get pre-
pared in this world we will never take
part in the orchestral harmonies of the
saved. Oh, that we were as wise as the
crane and the stork, flying away, flying
away from the tempestl
Some of you have felt the pinching
frost of sin. You feel it today You
are not happy. | look into your faces
and l know you are not happy. There
are voices within your soul that will not
be silenced, telling you that you are sin
ners and that without the pardon of God
you are undone forever. What are you
going to do, my friends, with the &C
cumulated transgressions of this life
time? Will you stand still and let the
avalanche tumble over you? Oh, that
you would go away into the warm heart
of Gods mercyi The southern grove,
redolent with magnolia and cactus,
never waited for northern focks as God
has waited for you, saying: 81 have loved
thee with an everlasting love? Come
unto me, all ye who are weary and
heavy laden, and will give you rest"
SORROW WARNS US TO PREPARE.
Another frost is bidding you away
it is the frost of sorrow. Where do you
live now? "Oh," you say, Il have
moved" Why did you move? You say.
81 don't want as large a house now as
formerly" Why do you not want as
large house? You say, my family is
not so large" Where have they gomez
''To eternity" Your mind goes back
through that last sickness, and through
the almost supernatural effort to save
life, and through those prayers that
seemed unayailing, and through that kiss
which received no response because the
lips were lifeless, and L hear the bells
tolling and hear the hearts breaking
while | speak | hear them break. A
heart! Another hearth Alone, alone,
alonei
This world, which in your girlhood
and boyhood was sunshine, is cold now,
and, oh, weary dove, you fly around this
world as though you would like to stay,
when the wind, and the frost, and the
blackening clouds would bid you away
into the heart of an all comforting
God! Oh, | have noticed again and
again what a botch this world makes
of it when it tries to comfort a
soul in trouble! 1t says, "Don't cryr'
How can we help crying when the
hearts treasures are scattered, and IA
Their is gone, and mother is gone, and
companions are gone, and the child is
gone, and everything seems gone?
1t is no comfort to tell man not to
cry The world comes up and says,
"Oh, it is only the body of your loved
me that you have put in the groundw
But there is no comfort in that That
body is precious. Shall we never put
our hand in that hand again, and shall