The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1896-03-06

1878 when you got astray. You almost
became an atheist. You said, "Where is
God that honest men 60 down and
thieves prosper?" You were logged OF
creditors, you were logged Of the banks
you were logged of worldly disaster,
and some of you went into misanthropy
and some of you took to strong drink and
others of you fed out of Christian asso
citation, and you got astray. Oh, man.
that was the last time when you ought
to have forsaken God. Standing amid
the laundering of your early failures,
how could you get along without Goo
to comfort you and God to deliver yoU
and God to help you and God to save
you? You tell me you have been through
enough business trouble almost to Kill
you. / know it. I cannot understand
how the boat could live one hour in that
| chopped sea. But [ do not know by
what process you got astray; some il
one way and some in another, and il
you could really see the position some OF
you occupy before God your soul would
burst into an agony of tears and yoU
would pelt the heavens with the cry,
"God have mercy p Sinai's batteries
have been unlimbered above your soul,
and at times you have heard it thunder,
"The wages of sin is death. "All have
sinned and come short of the glory OF
God" "By one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and SC
death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned." 1.-The soul that sinneth,
it shall de- When Sevastopol was be
ing bombarded, two Russian frigates
burned all night in the harbor, throw
ing a glare upon the trembling fortress,
and some of you, from what you have
told me yourselves. some of you are
standing in the night of your souls
trouble, the cannonade, and the conf1a-
grafton, and the multiplication, and the
multitude of your SORROWS and troubles
l think must make the wings of God 8
lowering angles shiver to the tip.
Melody From Heaven.
But the last part of my text opens a
door wide enough to let us all out and
to let all heaven in. Sound it on the
organ with all the stops out Thrum it on
the harps with all the strings atune.
With all the melody possible let the
heavens sound it to the earth and let
the earth tell it to the heavens. "The
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity Of
us all " am glad that the prophet did
not stop to explain whom he meant by
"him." Him of the manger, him of the
bloody sweat, him Of the resurrection
throne, him of the crucifixion agony.
"On him the Lord hath laid the iniquity
of us all. - "Ohl |" says some man, THAT
isn't generous that ism t fair. Let ev-
cry man carry his own burden and pay
his own debts" That sounds reason
able. If have an obligation, and have
the means to meet it, and l come to you
and ask you to settle that obligation,
you rightly say, 'Pay your own debts. ="
If you and I, walking down the street
both hale, hearty and WE'LL ask
you to carry me, you say rightly, walk
on your own feetp' But suppose you
and I were in regiment, and I was
wounded in the battle, and fell uncon-
scious at your feet with gunshot frac-
lures and dislocations, what would you
do? You would call to your comrades,
saying: "Come and help; this man is
helpless. Bring the ambulance. Let us
take him to the hospital" and would
be a dead lift in your arms, and you
would lift me from the ground where
had fallen, and put me in the ambu-
lance, and take me to the hospital, and
have all kindness shown me. Would
there be anything bemeaning in my ac-
cepting that kindness? Oh, no. You
would be mean not to do it. That is
what Christ does. If we could pay our
debts, then it would be better to go up
and pay them, saying: Here, Lord,
here is my obligation. Here are the
means with which mean to settle that
obligation. Now give me a receipt.
Cross it all out. The debt is paid.
But the fact is we have fallen in the
battle, we have gone down under the
hot fire of our transgressions, we have
been wounded by the sabers of sin, we
are helpless, we are undone. Christ
comes. The loud clang heard in the
sky on that Christmas night was only
the bell, the resoundiDg bell of the am
bulance. Clear the way for the Son Of
God. He comes down to bind up the
wounds, and to scatter the darkness,
and to save the lost. Clear the way for
the Son of God Christ comes down to
us, and we are dead lift. He does not
lift us with the tips of his fingers. He
does not lift Us with one arm. He comes
down upon his knee, and then with
dead lift he raises us to honor and glory
and Immortality. 1.-THE Lord hath laid
ON him the iniquity of us ALL" Why,
then, will man carry his sinsr You
cannot carry successfully the smallest
sin you ever committed. You might as
we'll put the Apennines on one shout
der and the Alps on the other. How
much less can you carry all the sins of
your lifetime? Christ comes and looks
down in your face and says: 81 have
come through all the decorations of these
days, and through all the tempests of
these nights. / have come to bear your
burdens, and to pardon your sins, and to
pay your debts. Put them ON my shout
der, put them on my heart. " ION him
the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all 3"
Sin has almost pestered the life out of
some of you. At times it has made you
cross and unreasonable, and it has
spoiled the brightness of your days and