The Bottineau pioneer., 1894-11-10
singing church.
Lead A Higher Like. n

81 go farther. ana TeInuI = lesos lep. =. q
birds Of the air are wiser than we, "
the fact that in their migration tney
fiy very high. During the summer,
when they are In the fields, they olten
come WITHIN reach OF the gun; but Wnen
thew start for the annual fight SOUTH
ward they take their places midneaVen
and 90 straight as mark. The longest
rife that was ever brought to shoulder
can not reach them. Would to Coo
that we were as wise as the st0rk ana
crane in our fight heavenWard! we
f1y SO low that we are WITHIN easy
range of the world, the flesh ana the
devil. we are brought down by temp
tations that ought not to come Witnin
a mile Of reaching us. On Tor some oI
the faith of George Muller, OF England,
and Alfred Goodman once OF le
Church militant, now Of the Churcn
triumphant! So poor Is the type OF
piety in the Church Of Sod now tnat
men actually charicature the idea tnat
there is any such thing as u higher me
Moles never did believe in eagles. But,
nv brethern because we have not
reached these heights ourselves shaA
we deride the fact that there are any
such heights? A man was once taking
to Brunei, the famous engineer ABOUT
the length of the railroad from Lon
don to Bristol. The engineer said, 1T
is not very great. We shall have after
a while steamer running from Lon
don to New York" They laughed MIN
to scorn; but we have gone so Tar now
that we have ceased to laugh at any
thing as impossible for human achieve
ment. Then, / ask, Is anything impos-
sible for the Lord do not believe that
God exhausted an his grace In Paul,
and Latimer and Edward Payson. l
believe, there are higher points OF
Christian attainment to be reached In
the future ages of the Christian world.
You tell me that Paul went up to the
tiptop Of the Alps Of Christian attain
men. Then I tell you that the stork
ard 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 these temptations rally
themselves and attack us, and by the
grace Of Geo we defeat them again;
brt. staying all the time in the old en-
campment. We have the same old bat
ties to fight over. Why not whip out
our temptations and then forward
march, making one raid through our
enemy's country, stopp:ag not until we
break ranks after the last victory. Do,
my brethern let us have some novelty
Of combat at any rate. by changing, by
going on, by making advancement,
trading off our stale prayers abeut sins
we ought to have quit long ago, going
on toward a higher state Of Christian
character. and routing our sins that
we have never thought Of yet. The
fact is. If the Church of God-if we, as
individuals, made rapid advancement
In the Christian life, these stereotyped
prayers we have been making for ten
or fifteen years would be Inappropriate
to us as the shoes and the hats, and
the coats we wore ten or fifteen yeaN
ago. Oh for a higher flight in the
Christian life. the stork and the crane
in their migration teaching us the les
son!
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?
We start TOO late.
Again, / remark, that the birds Of the
air are wiser than we. bec,fuse they
know when to start. II you should go
out now and shout. "Stop storks and
cranes. done be in a hurry" they
would say, mo. we can not stop; last
night We heard the roaring IN the
woods bidding us away. ana the sllrill
flute of the north wind ms sounded
the retreat. We must CO. We must
60" So they gather themselves into
companies. and. turning not aside for
storm or mountain-top or shock Of mus
kerry. over land and sea, straight as an
arrow to, the mark they 10. And IL
you come out this morning With sack
Of corn and throw 1t in the fields and
try to get them to stop, they are SO far
up they would hardly see 1t. They are
on their way to the south. You coSad
not stop them. Oh. that we were as
wise about the best time to start for
God and heaven! We say, "Wait until
1t Ia little later in the season of mer-
cy. Wait until some of these green
leaves of hope are all dried up and
have been scattered. Wait until next
year." After awhile we start, and It Ia
too late, we perish In the way when
Gods wrath Is kindled but q little.
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 perished halfway between
the world and Christ. They waited un-
til the last sickness, when the mind
was gone, or they were on the express
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 seconds!
To do the work Of lifetime aad to
prepare for the vast eternity In two sec
onds! was reading OF nm entertaSn-
ment give in kings court, ami there
We're musicians there with elaborate
pieces Of music. After awhile Mozart
came and began to play, ana he had 4
blank piece Of papers before him. and
the king familiarity looked over Ills
shoulder and said. "What are Won nlav.
ing? see no music before YOU" And
M0zart put his hand on his brow. M
much as to say, II am simproyfsinp !"
Il was very well for him, but on. nv
friends, we can not extemporize for
heaven is we do not get preparai1 IN
this world, we will never take mart IN
{ne 2rchestFal hArm0nies Of the saved
VA fAat We We've as wise al the crane
ana the stork, flying away, flying away
fr0m the tempest! 3 n ~"''s
sta'a Pipchiag Froata.
Some OF you have felt the pinchine
frost OF ain. You feel 1t to-day. % Ynn
are not happy. / look dnto YOUR faces.
and ! know yon are not happy. There
are voices within your soul TINT viii
not pc silenced, telling you that You are
sinners. and that without the pardon of
God YOU are undone forever. What ara
you going to do. my friends. with tha