Connecticut western news., 1894-12-06

have more confidence Tn the profession of religion of the one 10 years of age than the one 40 years of age. Whyi The one who professes at 40 years of age has 40 years of impulse in the wrong direction to correct, the child has only 10 years in the wrong direction to correct. Four times 10 are 40. Four times the religious prospect for the lad that comes into the kingdom of God, and into the church at 10 years of age than the man at 40.
 am very apt to look upon revivals as connected with certain mon who fos- tered them. People who in this day do not like revivals nevertheless have not words to express their admiration for the revivalists of the past, for they were revivalists-Jonatha Edwards, John Wesley, George Whitefeld, Fletoh- CT, Griffin, Davies, Osborn, Knapp, Nettleton md many others whose names come to my mind. The strength of their intellect and the holiness of their lives make me think they would not have anything to do with that which was ephemeral. Oh, it is easy to talk against revivals.
 A man said to MT. Dawson: 'I like your sermons very much, but the after meetings I despise. When the prayer meeting begins, always go up into the gallery and look down, and I am dis. gusted. !" Well" said Mir. Dawson, "the reason IS you go on the top of your neighbours house and look down his chimney to examine his fire, and of course you only get smoke in your eyes. Why don't you come in the door and sit down and warm7''
 Oh, I am afraid to say anything against revivals of religion, or against anything that looks like them, because I think it may be sin against the Holy Ghost, and you know the Bible says that sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven. neither in this world nor the world to come. Now, if you are a painter, and speak against your pic. lures, do not speak against you? If you are an architect, and speak against 8 building you put up, do not speak against your If revival be the work of the Holy Ghcsts and srnak against that revival, do Inos spSARaeainststhe Holy Ghost. Andtwhosdsverf fspeaheth agxahstt the Holy Chest. says the sBi- ble, he shaaI never bS forgiven. neither in this world nor in the world to come. I think sometimes people have made a fatal mistake in this direction.
 The Beginning of Sin.
 Many of you know the history of Aaron Burr. He was one of the most brilliant men of his day. suppose this country never produced @ stronger in telleot. He was capable of doing any thing good and great for his country. or for the church of God had he been right ly disposed, but his name is associated with treason against the United States government, which he tried to over- throw, and with Hbertinism and public immortality.
 Do you know where Aaron Burr start. cd on the downward roadf It was when he was in college, and he became anxs ious about his soul and was about to put himself under the influences of revival, and minister of religion said. Don't go there, Aaron; don't go there, that's place of wildfire and great exi citement; no religion about that; don't go there" He tarried away. His seril ous impressions departed. He started on the downward road. And who Is re- sponsible for his ruin? Was it the min ister who warned him against that re- vival?
 When am speaking of excitement in revivals, of course do not mean temporary Arrangement of the nerves. I do not mean the absurd things of which we have read as transpiring sometimes in the church of Christ, but I mean an intelligent. intense, all absorbing agi-i tation of body, mind and soul In the. work of spiritual escape and spiritual rescue.
 Now come to the real, genuine cause of objection to revivals. That is the coldness of the objector. It is the secret and hidden but unmistakable cause in every case-a low state of reli- zion in the heart. Wide awake, conse- crated, useful Christians are never afraid of revivals. It is the spiritually dead who are afraid of having their sep ulcher molested. The chief agents of the devil during great awakening are always unconverted professors of reli- zion. As soon as Christ's work begins they begin to gossip against it. and take Q pail of water and try to put out this spark of religious influence, and they try to put out another spark. Do they succeed? As we'll when Chicago was on fire might some one have gone out with a garden water pot trying to extinguish it.
 A Pail of Cold Water.
 The difficulty Is that when a revival begins in church it begins at SO many points that while you have doused one anxious soul with pail of cold water there are 500 other anxious souls on fire. Oh, how much better it would be to lay hold of tho chariot of Christ's gospel and help pull it on rather than to fling ourselves in front of the wheels, trying to block their progressl We will not stop the chariot, but we ourselves will be ground to powder.
 Did you ever hear that there was a convention once held among the ice. bergs in the arctici It seems that the summer was coming on, and the sun was getting hotter and hotter, and there was danger that the whole icefield would break up and flow away, so the tallest and the coidest and the broadest of all the icebergs, the very king of the arctics, stood at the head of the conven. tion, and with a gayel of foe smoss ons table of ice, Acaliing the convention to order. But the sun kept growing in in- tensity of heat, and the south wind blew stronger and stronger. and soon all the ioefield began to grind up, ice berg against iceberg, and to flow away. The first resolution passed by the con- vention was, Resolved, that we abol- ish the sum-
 But the sun would not be abolished. The heat of the sun grew greater and greater until after awhile the very king of the icebergs began to perspire under the glow, and the smaller icebergs fell over, and the cry was: ''Too much ex-