The Red Cloud chief., 1892-11-11

"ShVuiouStJ UNlOTG IHN
Lord. With God for u Father and
Christ for our Saviour and Heaven 10,
our home, and angels for future com.
panions, and eternity for a lifetime, VIC
should strike all the notes of Joy. &c
Ing through the wilderness Of this
world let us remember that we are on
the way to the summary cline of
Heaven, and from the migratory popu.
lations flying through this autumnal
air learn always TO keep singing:
Children OF the heavenly King.
As We journey, swcetly sing:
Sing your Saviour's worthy praise,
Glorious In His works and ways.
Ye are travelling home to God,
IN the way your fathers trod;
They are happy now, and we
soon their happiness shall sea
The church Of God never will be a
triumphant church until IL becomes a
singing church.
l go further and remark that the
birds Of the air are wiser than we. in
the fact that In their migration they
fly very high. During the summer,
when they are In the fields, they often
come within reach Of the gun, but when
they start for the annual fight south.
ward they take their places and 90
straight as an arrow to the mark. The
longest rino that was wei brought to
shoulder cannOt reach them. Would to
God that we were as wise as the stork
aud crane In our flight hcavenward!
We fly so low that we are in easy n
OF h world. the flesh and devil. We
are brought down by temptations that
ought not to come within a mile of
reaching us. O. for some of the faith
Of George Muller, Of England, and
Alfred Goodman, once Of the church
militant, now of the church tri-
umphant! So poor Is the type Of piety
In tho church Of God now that men
actually caricature the idea that there
Is any such thing rs q higher life. Moles
never did believe in eagles But, my
brethren, because we have not reached
these heights ourselves, shall we deride
the fact that there are any such heights?
A man was once talking to Brunei, the
famous engineer, about the length Of
the railroad from London to Bristol.
The engineer said: ut Is not very great.
We shall have, after awhile, a steamer
running from England to New York"
They laughed him to scorn; but we
have gone so far now that we have
ceased to laugh Mt anything a. impos-
stblc for human achievement Then, I
ask. IL anything impossible for the
Lord? do not believe that God ex-
hausted all his grace in Paul, and Lati-
mer, and Edward Payson. I believe
there are higher points Of Christian at
tainment to be reached in the future
ages OF the Christian world.
You tell me that Paul went up to the
tip top OF the Alps of Christian attain.
ment Then I tell you the stork and
crane have found above the Alps plenty
OF room for free flying. We 60 out and
we conquer our temptations by the
grace of God, and lie down. On the
morrow those temptations rally them.
selves and attack us, and by the grace
OF God we defeat them again; but stay
ing all the time in the old encampmcnt,
we have the sam3 old battles to fight
over. Why not whip out our tempta-
tions, and then forward march, making
one raid through the enemy's country,
stopping not until we break ranks after
the last victory? Do, my brethren, let
us have some novelty Of combat, Mt any
rate. by changing, by going on, by
making advancement, trading off our
stale prayers about sins we ought to
have quit long ago, going on toward
a higher state of Christian character,
and routing out sins that we have
never thought OF yet. The fact is, II
the church Of God-if we, rs individuals,
made rapid advancement in the Chris
tian life-these stereotypcd 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. o
for q niger fight in the Christian life,
the storlk and the crane in their migra-
ton teaching us the lessonl
Dear Lord. and shall we ever live,
At this poor dying rate
Our love 10 faint 20 cold to Thee,
And Thine to US 80 greatr
Again / remark that the birds of the
air are wiser than we, because they
know when to start II you should 60
out now and shout: "Stop. storks and
cranes. don't be in a hurry" they would
say: mo, we cannot stop. Last night
we heard the roaring in the woods bid
ding us away, and tho shrill flute of the
north wind has sounded the retreat.
We must go. We must GO" So they
gather themselves into companies and,
turning not aside for storm or mountain
top or shock of musketry, over land and
sea, straighta as an arrow to the mark they
go And II you come out this morning
with a sack Of corn and throw it in the
fields and try to get them to stop, they
are so far up they would hardly see II.
They are on their way south. You
could not stop them. o, that we were
as wise about the best time to
start for God and Heaven! We
say: "Wait until IL Is a 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" After q while
start and It Is too late. and we per-
ish In the way when Gods wrath is
kindled but little. There are, you
know, exceptional cases where birds
49, A.