Connecticut western news., 1897-03-18

down of strongholds. The world ana satan have no idea of the strength and heroism which God will yet let out against the forces of darkness AS yet they have had only one round from the first regiment The Lord of Hosts will soon appear in the field at the head of his troops. Depend upon it that when God inspires the soul with new life he puts in it the principle of "neyer give up." In all ages of the church there have been those who have had faith that was almost equal to sight, looking through persecution and reyerses with as much expectation as through palpable achievements. There have been men for Christ who have acted as did the favor ite troops of Brien, attacked by Fitzpat- rick of Ossory. The wounded soldiers begged that they might enter the fight with the others They said, "Let stakes be stuck in the ground and suffer each of us, tied to and supported by one of these stakes, to battle in the ranks by the side of a sound man" It is said that 700 or 800 men, pale and emaciated from former wounds and thus supported by the stakes, struggled through the combat. Thus has it been that multi tudes of the children of God, though feeling themselves weak and wounded perhaps in body, perhaps in estate, per haps in soul-supported by the staff of God 8 promise, have warred it up to the hilt in the subjugation of world of wickedness.
 A Mighty Cause.
 We are mighty in this cause, for we have the help of the pious dead. Mes sengers of salvation from high heaven, they visit the field. They stand behind us to keep us from ignominious retreat They go before us to encourage us in the strife. The McCheynes, and the Pay sons, and the Martyns, and the Brain erds,- an uncounted multitude of the glorifed, are our coadjutors. Have you heard the Swiss tradition? The herds men say that three great leaders of the Helvetic nation, though seemingly dead, are only lying down under the ground in their old time dress, refreshing themselves with sleep, and that if at any time the liberties of their country are in danger they will immediately spring to their feet and drive back the enemy. May I not have the thought that if ever the church of the blessed Christ shall be threatened with destruc- tion by the foes which seem too great for her strength the Lord himself will not only come to the deliverance, but those great ancients who have seemed to be sleeping among the dead shall inn mediately hear the trumpet blast of the church militant, and, full armed, spring back to their old positions in the ranks of God, with the battlecry, ''More than conquerers through him that loved us?'' Although we have already much to en- courage us in the work of the worlds evangelization, yet we must confess that much of Cur time has been consumed in planting our batteries and getting ready for the conflict. We have not yet begun to preach. We have not yet begun to pray. We have not yet begun to work. On the coist of heathendom are mission ary stations. They have scarcely yet bo- gun to accomplish what they propose. It takes some time to dig the trenches and elevate the standard and direct the great guns From what 1 hear think they are about ready now. Let but the great Captain wave the signal, and the ringing of celestial weaponry shall quake every dungeon of hell and sound up among the thrones of heaven. Pago- das and temples shall tumble under the shock and besotted nations flying from their idols and superstitions, shouting like the confounded worshipers of Baal: "The Lord, he is the Godi The Lord, he is the Godp'
 We go not alone to the field. We have invincible allies in the dumb clements of nature. AS Job said, we are in league with the very stones of the field. The sun by day and the moon by night, di- rcctly or indirectly, shall favor Chris tianity. The stars in their courses are marshaled for us, as they fought against Sisera. The winds of heaven are now as certainly acting in favor of Christ as in reformation times the invincible arma- da in its pride approached the coast of England. As that proud navy directed its guns against the friends of Christ and religious liberty, God said unto his winds, "Seize hold of them," and to the sea, Swallow them" The Lord, with his tempests, dashed their hulls together and splintered them on the rocks until the flower of Spanish pride and valor lay crushed among the waves of the seabeach. All are ours. Aye, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are our alliesl
 The Mohammedans, in their struggle to subjugate the world, had passages from the Koran inscribed on the blades of their scimiters, and we have nothing i to fear if, approaching the infdelity and malice that oppose the kingdom of Christ, we shall have glittering On our swords the words of David to the giant, 1T come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of | Israel, whom thou hast defied."
 Effect of the Conquest.
 Now the church goes forth bearing | precious seed, but after awhile it will be the sheaf binding, and reaper angels :, shall shout the harvest home. Now it Is tents and marching and exposure, but then, in the ranks of prostrate iniquity and on the very walls of heaven, "iu the name of God we will set up our ban | ners.
 The earth sends up it's long, deep groan of pain and clanks the great chains of its bondage and cries by the voice of sea and land and sky, "How long, o Lord. how long?" There was a tradition on the other side of the water that the daughter of Lir was transform ed into bird of the air and that she wandered for hundreds of years over river and lake until the arrival of Chris tianity and that at the stroke of the first cathedral bell her spirit was freed
 Uncounted millions of our race by the power of sin and satan have been trans formed into a state of wretchedness, and they wander like the poor daughter of Lir, but they shall after awhile be ! released. When the great church of Christ shall in those darkened lands