Connecticut western news., 1897-10-28

some men just to damn them. A Cal whist believes no such thing. It is hard ly worth your while to ask Pedo- Bap- tist what Baptist believes He will tell you Baptist believes that immer- sion is necessary for salvation A Bap- tist does not believe any such thing It is hardly worth your while to ask man who very much hates Presbyterians what Presbyterian believes He will tell you that Presbyterian believes that there are infants in hell a span long, and that very phraseology has come down from generation to genera tion in the Christian church There never was Presbyterian who believed that. "Oh, you say. "I heard some Presbyterian minister 20 years ago say sol" You did not There never was a man who believed that there never will be man who will believe that, and yet from boyhood have heard that particular islander against Christian church going down through the com munity.
 Then how often it is that there are miEepresentations on the part of indi- vidual churches in regard to other churches-especially if church comes to great prosperity AS long as church | is in poverty, and the singing is poor, and all the surroundings are decrepit, and the congregation are so hardly bestead in life that their pastor goes with elbows out, then there will always be Christian people in churches who say, What pity, what a pityr" But let the day of prosperity come to Chris tian church, and let the music be tri- umphant and let there be vast assem- blages, and then there will be even min- isters of the gospel critical and denun- ciatory and full of misrepresentation and falsification, giving the impression to the outside world that they do not like the corn because it is not ground in their mill Oh, my friends, let us in all departments of life stand back from deception.
 But some one says, "The deception that practice is so small that it don t amount to anything" An, my friends, it does amount to a great deali You say, "When deceive, it is only about a case of needles or box of buttons or a row of pins D But the article may be so small you can put it in your vest pocket, but the sin is as big as the pyra- mids, and the echo of your dishonor will reverberate through the mountains of eternity. There is no such thing as a small sin. They are all vast and stu pendous, because they will all have to come under inspection in the day of judgment. You may boast yourself of having made fine bargain, sharp bargain. You may carry out what the Bible says in regard to that man who
 went in to make purchase and depre- ciated the value of the goods and then after he had got away boasted of the splendid bargain he had made. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer,
 but when he is gone his way. then he boasteth. It may seem to the world a sharp bargain, but the recording angel wrote down in the ponderous tonnes of eternity, "Mr. So-and so doing business on Pennsylvania avenue, or Broadway, or Chestnut street, or State street, told one lie"
 The Masquerade.
 May God extirpate from society all the ecclesiastical lies, and all the social lies, and all the mechanical lies, and all the commercial lies, and all the az
 ricultural lies, and make every man to speak the truth of his neighbor My friends, let us make our life correspond to what we are Let us banish all de- ception from our behavior Let us re- member that the time comes when God will demonstrate before an assembled universe just what we are. The secret will come out We may hide it while we live, but we cannot hide it when we die. To many life is masquerade ball AS at such entertainment gentle men and ladies appear in garb of kings or queens or mountain bandits or clowns and then at the close of the dance put off their disguise, so many all through life are in mask. The masquerade ball goes on, and gemmed hand clasps gem med hand, and dancing feeA respond to dancing feet, and gleaming brow bends to gleaming brow, and the masquerade ball goes havely on, but after awhile languor comes and blurs the sight Lights lower. Floor hollow with sepul- chral echo. Music saddens into vail Lights lower. Now the masquerade is hardly seen The fragrance is exchanged for the sickening odor of garlands that have lain long while in the damp of sepulchers. Lights lower. Mists fill the room. The scarf drops from the shoul- der of beauty, shroud- Lights lower Torn leaves and withered garlands now hardly cover up the ulcered feet Stench of lamp wicks almost quenched Chok- ing dampness. Chilliness Feet still
 Hands folded Eyes shut. Voice hushed Lights out