Connecticut western news., 1897-09-23

wayward sons will get down Oh their knees and say, "Lord, send my boy home, :" and the boy in Canton will get right up from the gaming table and go down to find out which ship starts first for America.
 None Knows How to Pray.
 Not one of us yet knows how to pray. All we have done as yet has only been pottering A boy gets hold of his fa- ther's saw and hammer and tries to make something, but it is a poor affair that he makes. The father comes and takes the same saw and hammer and builds the house or the ship. In the childhood of our Christian faith we make but poor work with these weapons of prayer, but when we come to the stature of men in Christ Jesus then, un- der these implements, the temple of God will rise and the worlds redemp- tion will be launched. God cares not for the length of our prayers, or the number of our prayers, or the beauty of our prayers, or the place of our prayers, but it is the faith in them that tells Believing prayer scars higher than the lark ever sang, plunges deeper than div ing bell ever sank, darts quicker than | lightning ever flashed. Though we have | used only the back of this weapon in- stead of the edge, what marvels have been wrought If saved, we are all the ] captives of some earnest prayer. Would | God that, in desire for the rescue of | souls, we might in prayer lay hold of | the resources of the Lord Omnipotenti We may turn many to righteousness | by Christian admonition. Do not wait until you can make formal speech. Address the one next to you. You will not go home alone today. Between this and your place of stopping you may de- eide the eternal destiny of an immortal | spirit. Just one sentence may do the l work, just one question, just one look. The formal talk that begins with sigh and ends with canting snuffle is not what is wanted, but the heart throb of | a man in dead earnest. There is not a soul on earth that you may not bring to God if you rightly go at it. They said l Gibraltar could not be taken. It is a rock 1, 600 feet high and 8 miles long, but the English and Dutch did take it. Artillery and sappers and miners and fleets pouring out volleys of death and thousands of men reckless of danger can do anything The stoutest heart of sin, though it be rock and surrounded by an ocean of transgression, under Christian bombardment may hoist the flag of re- demption.
 But is all this admonition and prayer and Christian work for nothing? My text promises to all the faithful eternal luster "They that turn many to right eoumess shall shineas the stars forever. " As stars the redeemed have 8 borrowed light. What makes Mars and Venus and Jupiter SO luminous? When the sun throws down his torch in the heavens, the stars pick up the scattered brands and hold them in procession as the queen of the night advances So all Christian workers, standing around the throne, will shine in the light borrowed from the Sun of Righteousness-Jesu in their faces, Jesus in their songs, Je- sus in their triumph.
 To Shine Forever.
 Christ left heaven once for tour of redemption on earth, yet the glorified ones knew he would come back again. But let him abdicate his throne and go away to stay forever, the music would stop, the congregation would disperse, the temples of God be darkened, the rivers of life stagnate, and ever chariot would become hearse, and every bell would toll, and there would not be room on the hillsides to bury the dead of the great metropolis, for there would be pestilence in heaven. But Jesus lives, and so all the redeemed live with him. He shall recognize them as his comrades in earthly toll and remember what they did for the honor of his name and for the spread of his kingdom. All their prayers and tears and work will rise be- fore him as he looks into their faces, and he will divide his kingdom with them-his peace, their peace; his holi- ness, their holiness; his joy, their joy. The glory of the central throne reflected from the surrounding thrones, the last spot of sin struck from the Christian orb, and the entire nature a-tremble and a-flash with light, they shall shine as the stars forever and ever.
 Again, Christian workers shall be like the stars in the fact that they have light independent of each other. Look up at the night and see each world show its distinct glory. It is not like the confagration, in which you cannot tell where one flame stops and anothe, begins. Neptune, Herschel and Mercury are as distinct as if each one of then were the only star. So our individual
 ism will not be lost in heaven. A great multitude-yet each one as observable as distinctly recognized, as greatly cele
 brated, as if in all the space, from gat, to gate and from hill to hill, he wer,
 the only inhabitant-no mixing up, nt
 mob, no indiscriminate rush, eacl
 Christian worker standing out illustri
 ous, all the story of earthly achieve
 ment adhering to each one, his self de
 nials and pains and services and vic
 tories published.
 Before men went out to the last wa the orators told them that they woul, , all be remembered by their country ant ' their names be commemorated in poetr, and in song. But go to the graveyard il
 Richmond, and you will find ther | 5000 graves, over each of which Is tn i inscription, "Unknown. '' The worl, , does not remember it's heroes, but ther will be no unrecognized Christian , worker in heaven. Each one known b, :, all-grandly known, known by accla 1 nation, all the past story of work fo i God gleaming in cheek and brow an, , foot and palm. They shall shine witt F distinct light as the stars forever am 3 ever
 Family Circles of Stars.
 Again, Christian workers shall shin 3 like the stars in clusters. In looking u l you find the worlds in family circles t Brothers and sisters, they take hold 0