Connecticut western news., 1894-08-16
Christ Was Tempted.

An, lnhdehty, stand up and take thy sentencel In the presence of God and angels and men, stand up, thou mon- ster, thy lip blasted with blasphemy thy cheek scared with lust, thy breath foul with the corruption of the agesi Stand up, satyr, filthy goat, buzzard of the nations, leper of the centuriesl Stand up, thou monster infdelity, part man, part panther, part reptile, part dragon, stand up and take thy sentencei Thy hand is red with the blood in which thou hast washed, thy feet crim- son with the human gore through which thou hast waded Stand up and take thy sentencel Down with thee to the pit and sup on the sobs and groans of families thou hast blasted, and roll on the bed of knives which thou hast sharpened for others, and let thy music be the everlast- ing miserere of those whom thou hast damnedl brand the forehead of infidel- ity with all the crimes of self immola- ton for the last century on the part of those who had their reason.
 My friends, if ever your life through its abrasions and its molestations should seem to be unbearable, and you are tempted to quit it by your own behest, do not consider yourselves as worse than others. Christ himself was tempted to cast himself from the roof of the tenn pie, but as he resisted so resist ye. Christ came to medicine all our wounds. In your trouble l prescribe life instead of death. People who have had it worse than you will ever have it have gone songful on their way. Remember that God keeps the chronology of your life with as much precision as he keeps the chronology of nations
 A Christians Life and Death.
 Why was it that at midnight, just at midnight, the destroying angel struck the blow that set the Israelites free from bondage? The 430 years were up at 13 o'clock that night The 430 years were not up at II, and l o'clock would have been tardy and too late. The 430 years were up at I2 o'clock, and the de- stroying angel struck the blow, and Israel was free And God knows just the hour when it is. time to lead you up from earthly bondage. By his grace make not the worst of things, but the best of them. If you must take the pills, do not chew them. Your everlasting re- wards will accord with your earthly perturbations, just as Caius gave to Agrippa a chain of gold as heavy as had been his chain of iron. For your asking you may have the same grace that was given to the Italian martyr, Algerius, who, down in the darkest of dungeons, dated his letter from "the delectable orchard of the Leonine pris- on. 1"
 There is a sorrowless world, and it is so radiant that the monday sun is only the lowest doorstep, and the aurora that lights up our northern heavens, con- founding astronomers as to what it can be, is the waving of the banners of the procession come to take the conquerors home from church militant to church triumphant. and you and have 10, 900 reasons for wanting to go there, but we will never get there either by self immolation or impenitency. All our sins slain by the Christ who came to do that thing, we want to go in at just the time divinely arranged and from a couch divinely spread, and then the clang of the sepulchral gates behind us will be overpowered by the clang of the opening of the solid pearl before us 0 God, whatever others may choose, give me Christians life, Christians s death, a Christians burial, a Chris tian's 8 immortality