Connecticut western news., 1898-12-08

shall enIer as il woL.u De n d small singing school on earth if Thalberg and Gottschalk and Wagner and Beethoven and Rheinberger and Schumann should have been chanting 0,000 years before the throne will say, as they close their lbrettos, "Oh, if we could only sing like thatw But God will say to those who have never fallen and consequent ly have not been redeemed, "You must be silent now; you have not the qualifi- cation for this anthem" So they sit with closed lips and folded hands, and sinners saved by grace take up the har- mony, for the Bible says "no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were re- deemed from the earth.".
 The Recompense of Sin.
 A great prima donna, who can now do anything with her voice, told me that when she first started in music her teacher in Berlin told her she conld be good singer, but certain note she could never reach. "And then." she
 
 praotioed for years until l did reach it. ' But the song of the singer redeemed, the Bible says, the exalted harmonists who have never sinned could not reach and never will reach. Would you like to hear me in very poor way play a snatch of that tune? l can give you only one bar of the music on this gospel harp, "Unto him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and the Lamb, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen" But before leaving this inter rogatory, why God let sin come into the world, let me say that great battles seem to be nothing but suffering and outrage at the time of their occurrence, yet after they have been long while past we can see that it was better for them to have been fought, namely, Sal amis, Inkerman, Toulouse, Arbela, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Blenheim, Lex ington, Sedan. So now that the great battles against sin and suffering are going on we can see mostly that which is deplora ble, but 0,000 years from now, standing in glory, we shall appre- ciate that heaven is better of than if the battle of this worlds sin and suf fering had never been projected. But now I come nearer home and put dark saying on the gospel harp, style of question. that is asked million times every year. Interrogation the fourth: T st Ia of have it so easy, or why do I have so much difficulty in getting livelihood while others go around with full portemonnaie, or why must wear these plain clothes while others have to push hard to get their wardrobes closed, so crowded are they with brilliant attire, or why should 1 have to work so hard while others have 365 holidays every year? They are all practically one ques- tion. answer them by saying it is be- cause the Lord has his favorites, and he puts extra discipline upon you and ex- tra trial because he has for you extra glory, extra enthronement, and extra felicities.
 That is no guess of mine, but divine say so, "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." '" "Well," say some one, "I would rather have little less in heaven and little more here. Discount my heavenly robe 10 per cent and let me now put it on fur lined overcoat. Put me in a less gorgeous room of the house of many mansions and let me have house hare in better neighbor- hood" No, ms God is not going to rob posed to dispute your own Identity, ana the first time see you there I will cry out, Didn't tell you so when you sat down there in the pew and looked in- oredulous because you thought it too good to be true?" And you will an- swer, "You were right-the half was not told me-" So open your dark say ing of despondency and complaint on my gospel harp and give you just one bar of music, for I do not pretend to be much of player. "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead them to living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their. eyes," But, must confess, am little perplexed how some of you good Christians are going to get through the gate, because there will be so many there to greet you, and they will all want to shake hands at once and will all want the first kiss. They will have heard that you are coming, and they will all press around to welcome you and will want you to say whether you know them after being so long partod.
 Amid the tussle and romp of reunion I tell you whose hand of welcome you had better first clasp, and whose cheek is entitled to the first kiss. It is the hand and the cheek of him without whom you would never have got there at all, the Lord Jesus, the darling of the skies, as he cries out, 1T have loved thee with an everlasting love, and the fires could not burn it and the floods could not drown it.'' Then you, my dear people, having no more use for my poor harp, on which l used to open your dark sayings and whose chords some- times snapped, despoiling the sym phony, you will take down your own harps from the willows that grow by the eternal water courses and play to- gether those celestial airs, some of the names of which are entitled "The King In His Beauty, "The Land That Was Far Off," And as the last dark curtain of mystery is forever lifted it will be as though all the oratorios that were ever heard had been rolled into one and "Israel In Egypt" and "Jephtha' B Daughters and Beethoven's "Over- ture In O" and Ritter's first "Sonata In D Minor," and the Creation" and the Messiah" had been blown from the lips of one trumpet or been invoked by the sweep of one bow or had dropped from the vibrating chords of one harp. Adjourned to Eternity.
 But here must slow up lest in try ing to solve mysteries add to the mys- tery that we have already wondered at namely, why preachers should keep