Connecticut western news., 1898-06-02

am my Lord s, and he is mine.
 He drew me, and followed on,
 Charmed to confess the voice divine.
 Why, is not man free when he gets rid of his sins? The sins of the tongue gone; the sins of action gone; the sins of the mind gone All the transgressions of 80, 40, 50, 70 years gone-no more in the soul than the malaria that float ed ill the atmosphere 1000 years ago; for when my Lord Jesus pardons man he pardons him, and there is no half way work about 1t.
 Here I see beggar going along the turnpike road. He is worn out with dis ease. He is stiff in the joints. He is ulcered all over He has rheum i'll his eyes He is sick and wasted. He is ill rags. Every time he puts down his swollen feet he cries "Oh, the pain" He sees fountain by the roadside un- der a tree, and he crawls up to that fountain and says: II must wash. Here I may cool my ulcers Here l may get rested" He stoops down and scoops up in the palm of his hands enough water to slake his thirst, and that is all gone. Then he stoops down and begins to
 
 gone. Then he puts in his swollen feet, and the swelling is gone. Then, willing no longer to be only half cured, he plunges in, and his whole body is laved in the stream, and he gets upon the bank we'll Meantime the owner of the mansion up wonder comes down, walk ing through the ravine with his only son, and he sees the bundle of rags and asks, Whose rags are these?' A voice from the fountain says, Those are my rags" Then says the master to his son, "Go up to the house and get the best new suit you can find and bring 1t down" And he brings down the clothes, and the beggar is clothed ill them and he looks around and says: II was filthy, but now 1 am clean was ragged, but now I am robed wasE1ind. but now see. Glory be to the owner of that mansion, md glory be to that son who brought me that new suit of clothes, and glory be to this fountain where 1 have washed and where all who will may wash and be cleanl" Where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound The bird has been dipped now let it fly away.
 The Way Indicated.
 The next thing I notice about this bird when it was loosened-and this is the main idea-is that it flew away. Which way did it go? When you let bird loose from your grasp, which way does it fly? Up. What are wings for? To fly with. Is there anything i'll the suggestion of the direction taken by that bird to indicate which way we ought to go?
 Rise, my soul and stretch thy wings.
 Thy better portion trace.
 Rise from transitory things
 To heaven. thy native place
 We should be going heavenward That is the suggestion. But know that we have a great many draw backs You had them this morning perhaps You had them yesterday or the day before, and. although you want to be going heuvenward. you are constantly discour- aged But I suppose when that bird went out of the priests hands 1t went by nflections-sometimes stopping. A bird does not shoot directly up, but this is the motion of bird. So the soul scars toward Cod, rising up in love and some times depressed by trial It does not al- ways go ill the direction it would like to go, but the main course is right There is one passage in the Bible which quote oftener to myself than any oth- CT, "He knoweth our frame and he re- membereth that we are dust" There is legend ill Iceland which says that when Jesus was boy, playing with his comrades one Sabbath day, he made birds of clay, and as these birds of clay were standing upon the ground an old Sadducee came along and he was disgusted at the sport and dashed the birds to pieces But the legend says that Jesus waved his hand above the broken birds and they took wing and went sing ing heavenward- Of eoIrse that is a fable among the Icelanders. But it is not fable that we are dust, and that, the hand of divine grace waved over us once, we go singing toward the skies I wish, my friends. that we could live in higher atmosphere. If mans whole life object is to make dollars, he will be running against those who are making dollars. If his whole object is to get applause, he will run against those who are seeking applause. But if he rises higher than that he will not be interrupted ill his flight heavenward | Why does that flock of birds floating up against the blue sky so high that you can hardly see them, not change its course for spire or tower? They are | above all Instructions. So we would not have so often to change our Chris tian course if we lived in a higher at mosphere nearer Christ, nearer the | throne of God
 Refuse Not.
 Oh, ye who have been washed in the blood of Christ ye who have been loos- ed from the hyssop branch, start heav- onward It may be to some of you | long flight. Temptations may dispute | your way, storms of bereavement and trouble may strike your soul, but God will see you through. Build not on the earth. Set your affections on things in heaven, not on things on earth. This is perishing world Its flowers fade Its fountains dry up Its promises cheat.