Connecticut western news., 1893-02-02

the world is brighter than 1t is to me. It is not the advice of a dyspeptic-my di- gestion Is perfect; it is not the advice of 8 man who cannot understand joke or who prefers funeral; it is not the ad- vice of wornout man, but the advice of man who can see this world in all it's brightness, and, considering myself competent in judging what is good cheer, tell the multitudes of young men In this house this morning that there IS nothing in worldly association so grand and so beautiful and so exhilarant as in Christian society.
 I know there is great deal of talk about the self denials of the Christian. I have to tell you that where the Chris tian has one self denial the man of the world has thousand self denials. The Christian is not commanded to surrender anything that is worth keeping. But what does a man deny himself who de- nies himself the religion of Christ; He denies himself pardon of sin; he denies himself peace of conscience; he denies himself the joy of the Holy Ghost; he denies himself 8 comfortable death pill low; he denies himself the glories of heaven. Do not talk to me about the self denials of the Christian life! Where there is one in the Christian life there are 8 thousand in the life of the world. "Her ways are ways of pleasantness.
 Again, I find great deal of religious sunshine in Christian and divine expla- nation. To great many people life is an inexplicable tangle. Things turn out differently from what was supposed. There is a useless woman in perfect health. There is an industrious and consecrated woman complete invalid. Explain that. There is bad man with S3O, ,OOO of income. There is good man with $500 of income, Why is that? There is foe of society who lives on, doing all the damage he can, to seventy five years of age, and here is 8 Christian father, faithful in every department of hfo, at thirty-fve years taken away by death, his family left helpless. Explain that. Oh, there is no sentence that of tener drops from your lips than this; "I cannot understand 1t. I cannot under stand it.'
 THE JOYS OF RELIGION.
 We'll, now, religion comes in just at that point with it's illumination and it's explanation. There is 8 business man who has lost his entire fortune. The week before he lost his fortune there were twenty carriages that stopped at the door of his mansion. The week after he lost his fortune all the carriages you could count on one finger. The week be- fore financial trouble began people all took off their hats to him as he passed down the street. The week his financial prospects were under discussion people just touched their hats without anywise bending the rim. The week that he was pronounced insolvent people just jolted their heads as they passed, not tipping their hats at all, and the week the sheriff sold him out all his friends were looking in the store windows as they went down past him.
 Now, while the world goes away from a man when he is in financial distress, the religion of Christ comes to him and says: You are sick and your sickness is to be moral puriication; you are be- reaved; God wanted in some way to take your family to heaven, and he must begin somewhere, and so he took the one that was most beautiful and was most ready to go." I do not say that religion explains everything in this life, but I do say it lays down certain principles which are grandly consolatory. You know business men often telegraph in ciphers. The merchant in San Francisco tele- graphs to the merchant in New York certain information in ciphers which no other man in that line of business can understand, but the merchant in San Francisco has the key to the cipher, and the merchant in New York has the key to the cipher, and on that information transmitted there are enterprises involv- ing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 Now the providences of life sometimes seem to be senseless rigmarole, a mys- terious cipher, but God has key to that cipher, and the Christian key to that cipher, and, though he may hardly be able to spell out the meaning, he gets enough of the meaning to understand that it is for the best. Now is there not sunshine in that? Is there not pleasure in that? Far beyond laughter, it is near CT the fountain of tears than boisterous demonstration. Have you never cried for joy? There are tears which are eter- nal rapture in distillation.
 THE soRRowFUL MYSTERIES.
 There are hundreds of people in this house who are walking day by day in the sublime satisfaction that all is for the best, all things working together for good for their soul. How 8 man can get along through this life without the explanation is to me mystery. What! is that child gone forever? Are you never to get it back? Is your property gone forever? Is your soul to be bruised and to be tried forever? Have you no explanation, no Christian explanation and yet not q maniac? But when you have the religion of Jesus Christ in youl soul, it explains everything so far as il is best for you to understand. You look off in life, and your soul is full of thanks giving to God that you are so much bet ter off than you might be.
 A man passed down the street without any shoes and said: T have no shoes Isn't it hardship that have no shoes Other people have shoes; no shoes, nc shoes," until he saw man who had nc feet. Then he learned lesson. You ought to thank God for what he does instead of grumbling for what he does not. God arranges all the weather ir this world-the spiritual weather, the moral weather as well as the natural weather. "What kind of weather will | it be today" said some one to a farmer The farmer replied, "It will be sucf weather as like" "What do you mear by that?' asked the other. "Well," saic the farmer, ''it will be such weather as pleases the Lord, and what pleases tht Lord pleases me-"
 Oh, the sunshine! the sunshine o1 Christian explanation Here is some h,,a bovd;no oxoy tho o,ro1o of tho dood