Connecticut western news., 1897-07-15
sheep bleat and the oxen below.
 Simnlieity.

Oh, my dear friends. let us cultivate simplicity of Christian character! Jesus Christ said. Unless you become as this little child you cannot enter the king dom of God" We may play hypocrite successfully now, but the Lord God will after awhile expose our true character You must know the incident mentioned in the history of Ottacas, who was ask ed to kneel in the presence of Randol- phus l, and when before him he refused to do it, but after awhile he agreed to come in private when there was nobody in the kings tent, and then he would kneel down before him and worship, but the servants of the king had ar ranged it so that by drawing a cord the tent would suddenly drop. Ottacas aft CT awhile came in, and supposlng he was ill entire privacy knelt before Ran dolphus. The servants pulled the cord, the tent dropped, and two armies sur rounding looked down on O1tacas kneel- ing before Randolphus. If we are really kneeling to the world while we profess to be lowly subjects of Jesus Christ, the tent has already dropped and all tllU AIOSNo VI uCaNCh uPol& OuA hypocrisy. Gods universe is very public place, and you cannot hide hypoc- risy in it
 Going out into world of delusion and sham, pretend to be no more than you really are. If you have the grace of God, profess it; profess no more than you have. But I want the world to know that where there is one hypocrite in the church there are 800 outside of it, for the reason that the field is larger. There are men in all circles who will bow before you, and who are obsequi- ous in your presence and talk fiatter- ingly, but who all the while in your conversation are digging for bait and angling for imperfections. In your pres ence they imply that they are every thing friendly, but after awhile you find they have the flerceness of catamount, the slyness of a snake and the spite of a devil. God will expose such. The gun they load will burst in their own hands, the lies they tell will break their own teeth, and at the very moment they think they have been successful in de- ceiving you and deceiving the world the sheep will bleat and the oxen will bel low. ....
 Responsibility.
 learn further from this subject how natural it is to try to put off our sins on other people. Saul was charged with disobeying God. The man says it was not he; he did not save the sheep; the army did it-trying to throw it off on the shoulders of other people. Human nature is the same in all ages. Adam, confronted with his sin, said, "The woman tempted me, and I did eat. " And the woman charged it upon the serpent, and if the serpent could have spoken it would have charged 1t upon the devil. I suppose that the real state of the case was that Eve was eating the apple and that Adam saw 1t and begged and coaxed until he got piece of it. I suppose that Adam was just as much to blame as Eve was. You can not throw off the responsibility of any sin upon the shoulders of other people.
 Here is a young man who says: '1 know 1 am doing wrong, but have not had any chance. 1 had father who de- spised God and a mother who was a disciple of goddess fashion. I am not to blame for my sins; it is my bringing up." An, no; that young man has been out in the world long enough to see what Is right and to see what is wrong, and in the great day of eternity he cannot throw his sins upon his fa- ther or mother, but will have to stand for himself and answer before God. You have had a conscience, you have had Bible and the influence of the Holy Spirit. Stand for yourself or fall for yourself.
 Here is business man. He says, "1 know don't do exactly right in trade, but all the dry goods men do it and all the hardware men do this, and I am not responsible. You cannot throw off your sin upon the shoulders of other merchants. God will hold you respon- sible for what you do and them re- sponsible for what they do. I want to quote one passage of Scripture for you II think it is in Proverbs-''If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for myself, but if thou soonest thou alone shalt bear 1t.
 All None.
 I learn further from this subject what God meant by extermination. Saul was told to slay all the Amalekites and the beasts in their possession. He saves Agag, the Amalekite king, and some ot the sheep and oxen. God chastises him for it. God likes nothing done by halves. G,l in, cNt11 thof se half his and half the devils. There may be more sins in our soul than there were Amalekites. We must kill them. Woe unto us if we spare Agag. Here is e Christian. He says: 1T will drive out all the Amalekites of sin from my heart Here is jealousy-down goes that Anal ekite. Here is backbiting-down goes that Amalekite,' and what slaughter he makes among his sins, striking right and leftl What is that out yonder, lift ing up his head? It is Agag-it is world Illness. It Is an old sin he cannot bear tt strike down. It is darling transgres sion he cannot afford to sacrifice. Oh my brethren, appeal for entire conse CIdtlOD. oOIQ6 OI In6 fT6SDy teI1duS Chl 1t the higher life" The Methodists believe, call it perfection. do no care what you call it, without holi ness no man shall see the Lord"
 know men who are living with thei soul in perpetual communion witt Christ and day by day are walkin, within sight of heaven. How do know They tell me so. believe them. The, would not lie about it. Why cannot VI all have this conservation? Why sla, some of the sins in our soul and leav others to bleat and below for our ex posture and condemnation? Christ vii not stay in the same house with Agag You must give up Agag or give u] Christ. Jesus says, "All of that hear or none." Saul slew the poorest Of tn sheep and the meanest of the oxen an, kept some of the finest and the fattest and there are Christians who have slail the most unpopular of their transgres sions and saved those which are mos ctoh x.,,l1 lo