The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-25
LATEST FAIR HAVEN NEWS
ITEMS OF INTEREST ON BOTH
 SIDES THE RIVER.

woman of Sychar"-Sermon by n WilIi- mantio Pastor--An Experts Dangerous Work-A Deserted Boy.
 The topic ot the sermon by Rev. J. Lee Mitchell at the Grand avenue Congregational church yesterday morn- ing was "The Woman, of Sychar," In part the preacher spoke as follows
 That Jesus work is contemporary and coincident. that it overlies and un- delies geographically and temporarily this other work; that it is to be done by, in and through this other work. we do not quite see any more than the wo- man saw that she could drink deep of Jesus water of eternal life and still tread the pathway from Jacobs we'll to the fields for the present.
 "Dr. Trumbulls travelling party In the holy land had at one time their tents pitched for several days on the summit of the Mount of Olives under the very walls of the Chapel of the As tension. Inside the chapel is an inden- tation on the rock said to be the foot
 
 ascension. An almost constant stream of pilgrims was passing by and explor- ing about and they would frequently inquire of any of Dr. Trumbulrs party they happened to see If they could tell them where they could find the foot prints of Jesus. Oh, pilgrims. have ye wandered so far and never found them? Where in Christendom are they not, these footprints of the Master? Thicker and clearer almost anywhere now than in Palestine. We smile pity tngly at these pilgrims, but how much better are we? We see clearly this particular point that the footsteps of Jesus are now in clay or rock, but in the literature and institutions, the thoughts and hearts of men. We even assent to the Great Teachers final proposition that God is spirit, but we cling with an obstinacy which for all practical purposes is fatal to a denial of the reality of spiritual being, spiritu- al bread and spiritual water, and we love passionately and sacrifice all things for that which is only sensual. We would rather kiss dent in a rock than touch our business with right eousness, our social life with purity. If we really recognize spiritual truth at all we have to be surprised into 1t by death or catastrophe, or as this woman was finally, by such a search ing of her heart as compelled her to bow before it.
 .'But, dear friends, what of the hu- man hearts first desire when confront ed by the limitless power of water l~r- II. ...zA G.. ever springing up to everlasting life, this first result that it grasps at, that then it comes not here any more to draw, that it's toll is done? He is not a man of very wide experience in the strenuous and long sustained efforts which life requires of men, who has not at times been perfectly contented to let heaven be sleep, just sleep to sleep forever, to be somewhere where no bugle sounds reveille. He is man who not only has not been obliged to work very much, but who has been actually deprived of opportunity to work, to whom heaven does not seem to be a place of rest. And then the pain. Very few people know what 1t would feel like to be perfectly free from pain, to have no muscle little stiff, no nerve little petted, no vein a little clogged and running to the soul to tell about it.
 1T was at the beside of dying wo- man a little while ago. a Christian wo- man in more than name or by short ac- quaintance, a woman with mind enough to appreciate the value of eter- nal realities and power to seize and hold them and I asked her what she would like to have me pray@ for, and she replied: oh, that I may be spared pain I have thought and thought and thought about that. Doesn't it mean that people care a great deal more about their bodies than their souls? Does 1t mean that they are so at peace with regard to their souls that only their bodies need to be cared for; that there is nothing left but the body to which to apply care? Well, neither exactly. It means that the one overwhelming fact with which we stand contentedly confronted is the body. It is such an immense quanti- tive fact that quality hardly counts against it. It means that the begin ming of soul emancipation must be the promise of rest, the completion of it rest itself. That we truly come not here any more to draw.
 ''It was Christ's assurance to the wo- man that she should not thirst any more; could not, for that water should be sprnging up in her all the time to eternal life How much such promise means for those who must still draw at Jacobs well let those say who, having tasted of that water of life, approach now the sunset in Scheckem fields"
 Rev. J. B. Lemon preached morning and evening at the Grand avenue Bap- tist church and Rev. Dr. Sage officiated at MT. Lemons church in Willimantic. MT. Lemon preached two vigorous re- vival sermons. His sermon in the morning had for it's topic 'The Dia- mond Jesus Wore" It was a strong and searching discourse and was lis tened to with attentive interest. Re- vival meetings will be held each eve ming this week but Saturday, and MT. Lemon will preach a short sermon each evening.
 Warden F. W. J. Sizer and wife have gone to Brooklyn, N. T., for a stay of two or three weeks.
 In the recent work of removing the