News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-02-25

police station. He has been in the
penitentiary three times. He is Gov
cred and soaked with loathesomeness
| and abomination. Accusing from his
debauch he cries out, 80 God, have
mercy on me- Thou who didst par
don the penitent thief, hear me cry
for mercy"
THE LORD LISTENS AND PARDONS.
And the Lord listens and pardons,
and no sooner is the poor wretch
pardoned than three of the great
towers of heaven strike up silvery
chime. But here is a waif of the
street. She passes under the gas
light and your soul shudders with a
great horror. No pity for her. Nc
commiseration for her.
AS she passes down the street she
hears a song in a midnight mission,
and as she listens to that song she
hears:
All may come, whoever will,
This Man receives poor sinners still.
She puts into that harbor, she
kneels by the rough bench near the
door, she says: 80 Lord Thou who
didst have mercy ON Mary Magdalen,
take my blistered feet off the red hot
pavement of hell" God says, My
daughter, thy sins are forgiven thee
go in peace" Now, all the four
towers of heaven strike a silvery
chime, and they who pass through
the celestial streets say: Whats
that? why, the worst sinner must
have been saved. Hear all the four
towers ring and ring and ring.
'And there is joy in heaven among
the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth.
My subject impresses you, think,
with the thought that it is possible
for us to augment the happiness of
heaven. People think that souls be-
fore the throne are as happy as they
can be. | deny it. Look at that
mother before the throne of God.
When she died she left her son in
this world vagabond That son re-
pented of his iniquities and came to
God. The report of that salvation
has reached heaven. Do you tell me
that mother before the throne of
God has not her joy richly aug
mented?
There is many a man in this house
today who could go out with torch
and lzindle a new bonfire of victory
on the hills of heaven. If you would
this day repent and come to God
the news Of your salvation would
reach heaven, and then bark! to
the shout of the ransomed. Your
little child went away from you into
the good land While she was here
you brought her all kinds of beauti-
full presents.
Sometimes you came home at night
fall with your pockets full of gifts for
her, and no sooner did you put your
night key into the latch than she be
gan at you, saying, Father, what
have you brought me?' She is now
before the throne Of God. Can you
bring her a gift today? You may.
Coming to Christ and repeating of
sin, the tidings will go up to the
throne of God, and your child will
hear of it. Oh, what a gift for her
soul todayl She will skip with new
gladness on the everlasting hills when
she hears of it.
ANGELS OF GOD.
I was at Sharpsburg during the
war, and one day saw a sergeant
dash past Ola a lathered horse, the
blood dripping from the spurs. l
said, THAT sergeant must be going
on a very important message; he
must be carrying q very important
dispatch, or he wouldn't ride like
that" Here are two angels of God
fitting through the house, fitting
toward the throne on quick dispatch.
What is the news? Carrying up the
story of souls repentant and forgiven,
carrying the news to the throne of
God, carrying the news to your kin
dred who are forever saved. Oh,
there is joy in heaven among the
angels of God over one sinner that
And suppose this whole audience
should turn to the LqlrI2 Heaven
would be filled with doxologies. Of
heaven, beat with all thy hammers
that the rock may break. o Heaven,
strike with all thy cleaning swords
that our souls may be free.
was reading of a king who, after
gaining a great victory, said to his
army, mo, no shouting; let every
thing be in quiet; no shouting" But |
if this hour your soul should come to
God nothing could stop the shouting
Of the armies of God before the |
throne; for there is joy in heaven
the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth."
In some families they keep a vacant
chair and a vacant plate for the de- |
parted, but if in some of your house
holds you kept a vacant chair and |
vacant plate for those who have gone
away from you into the next world,
the vacant chairs and vacant plates
would outnumber those which are
occupied. l once said to you there
are no vacant chairs in heaven, but
recall that Right beside your loved |
0ne in that good land there is va
can't chair, not made vacant by death,
for death never enters there; it is
4 vacant chair for you. VIII you
take it,
HEAVEN AND EARTH IN CLOSE SYMPATHY |
My subject also impresses me with I
the idea that heaven and earth are
N close sympathy. People talk of
heaven as though it were a great way
off. They say it is hundreds of thou
sands of miles before you reach the
first star, and then you go hundreds
Of thousands of miles before you get
to the second star, and then it is mil |
lions of miles before you reach heav-
en-. They say heaven is the center
Of the universe and we are on the
rim of the universe. That is not the
idea of my text l think the heart
of heaven beats very close to our
world. We measure distances by
the time taken to traverse those dis
tances.
1t used to be long distance to San
Francisco. Many weeks and months
were passed before you could reach
that city. Now it is six or seven
lays. 1t used to be six weeks before
you could voyage from here to Liv-
erpool. Now you can go that dis
lance in six or seven days And so /
measure the distance between earth
and heaven and l find it is only O
Hash. 1t is one instant here, and an
other instant there 1t is very near
today Do you not feel the breath