News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-04-27

years I have missed but one service
through sickness. When l entered the
ministry, l was sodelicate l did not think
Iwould preach three months, but preach
ing has agreed with me, and think the
healthiest thing in all the earth is the re-
hgion of Jesus Christ. Bless the Lord,
O my soul! What ingrates we are In re-
gard to our health!
must, in gratitude to God, also men,
ton the multitudes to whom have been
permitted to preach. 1t is simply mirac-
ulous, the attendance morning by morn
ing, night by night, and year by year,
and long after it has got to be an old
story. 1 know some people are dainty
and exclusive in their tastes. AS for my
self, 1 like big crowd. would like to
see an audience large enough to scare
me! If this gospel is good, the more that
get it the better.
Many have received the gospel here,
but others have rejected it. Now, I tell
you what I am going to do with some OF
my dearest friends who have hitherto
rejected the gospel. You are not afraid
of me, and | am not afraid of you, and
some day, o brother, will clasp your
hands together, and l will turn your face
the other way, and l will take hold of
your shoulders, and while you are help
less in my grasp will give you one head
long push into the kingdom of God.
Christ says we must compel you to come
in. will compel you to come in. Can
I consent to anything else with these
men, who are as dear to me as my own
foul? will compel you to come in.
THE PAST HAS LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE.
Profting by the mistakes of the past, l
must do better work for you and better
work for God. Lest l might, through
some sudden illness or casualty, be
snatched away before have the oppor-
tunity of doing so, I take this occasion
to declare my love for you as a people.
1t is different work if a pastor is placed
in a church already built up, and he is
by established circum-
stances. There are not 10 people in this
church that have not been brought into
the church through my ministry. You
are my family. feel as much at home
here as l do in my residence on Oxford
street. You are my family-my father,
my mother my sister, my son, my
laughter. You are my joy and crowr,
the subject of my prayers.
Your present and everlasting welfare
is the object of my ambition. have no
worldly ambition. had once. 1 have
not now. / know the world about as
well as any one knows it. have heard
the handclapping of its applause, and /
have heard the hiss of its opposition, and
l declare to you that the former is not
especially to be sought for, nor is the lat
ter to be feared. The world has given
me about all the comfort and prosperity
it can give a man. and have no worldly
ambition. l have an all consuming ambi-
ton to make full proof of my ministry,
to get to heaven myself and to take a
great crowd with me. Upon your table
and cradle and armchair and pillow and
lounge and nursery and drawing room
and kitchen may the blessing of the Al
mighty God come down!
During these "a years there is hardly a
family that has not been invaded by sor-
row or death. Where are those grand
old men, those glorious Christian women,
who used to worship with US? Why, they
went away into the next world so grad
ually that they had concluded the second
stanza or the third stanza in heaven be-
fore you knew they were gone. They
had on the crown before you thought
they had dropped the staff of the earthly
pilgrimage.
And then the dear children. Oh, how
many have gone out of this church, You
could not keep them. You folded them
in your arms and said: 30 God, L can
not give them up! Take all else, take
my property, take my reputation, but
let me keep this treasure. Lord, can
not bear this"
THE LAND OF NO PARTING. g.
Oh, if we could all die togetheri If
we could keep all the sheep and the
lambs of the family fold together until
some bright spring day, the birds
a-chant, and the waters a-glitter, and
then we could altogether hear the voice
of the good Shepherd and hand in hand
pass through the foodi No, no, no, mol
Oh, if we only had notice that we are all
to depart together, and we could say to
our families: ''The time has come. The
Lord bids us away" And then we could
take our little children to their beds and
straighten out their limbs and say:
"Now, sleep the last sleep. Good night
until it is good morning." And then we
could go to our own couches and say:
'Now, altogether we are ready to go.
Our children are gone; now let us de-
part"
No, no! 1t is one by one. 1t may be
in the midnight. 1t may be in the win
ter and in the snow coming down 20
inches deep over our grave. 1t may be
in the strange hotel and our arm too
weak to pull the bell for help. 1t may
be SO suddenly we have no time even to
say goodby. Death is a bitter, crushing,
tremendous curse.
Iplay you three tunes on the gospel
harp of comfort. weeping may endure
for night, but joy cometh in the morn
ing" That is one. "All things work
together for good to those who love
God" That is the second. "And the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall lead them to living fountains of
water, and God shall wipe all tears from
their eyes" That is the third. During
these "a years have tried as far as I
could by argument, by illustration and
by caricature to fill you with disgust
with much of this modern religion which
people are trying now to substitute for
the religion of Jesus Christ and the re-
ligion of the apostles.
l have tried to persuade you that the
worst of all cant is the can't of skepti-
cism, and instead of your apologizing for
Christianity it was high time that those
who do not believe in Christianity should
apologize to you, and have tried to show
that the biggest villains in the universe
are those who would try to rob us of this
Bible, and that the grandest mission of
the church of Jesus Christ is that of
bringing souls to the Lord-a soul saving
church.
But now those years are gone. If you
have neglected your duty, if l have neg
lected my duty, it is neglected forever
Each year has it's work. If the work is
performed within the 10 months, it is
done forever. If neglected, it is neg
lected forever.
When woman was dying, she said,
"Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been disciple
of the world She said, ''Oh, call them
back" They said, "Who do you want
us to call back?" ooh" she said, "call
them back, the days, the months, the
years | have wasted. Call them backr'
But you cannot call them back; you can
not call year back, or u month back, or
a week back, or an hour back, or Il second
back. Gone once, it is gone forever.
When great battle was raging, mes
senger came up and said to the general,