Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-06-15

will may wash and be cIean!' Where sin
abounded, grace doth much more abound.
The bird has been dipped, now let it fly
| away.
The next thing I notice about this bird,
when it was loosened (nnd this is the main
idea), is, that it flew AWAY. Which way
did 1t go? When you let a bird loose from
your grasp, which way does it fly? Up.
What are wings for? To fly with. Is there
ANYTHING in the suggestion OF the direc-
tion taken by that bird to indicate which
way we ought to go?
"fsise 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 l know that we
have a great many drawbacks. You had
them this morning, perhaps. You had
them yesterday, or the day before, and
although you want to be going heaven
ward, you are constantly discouraged. But
l suppose when that bird went out of the
priests hands 1t went by iniections-some-
times STOPPING. bird does not shoot di-
rectly up, but this is the motion of a bird.
So the soul soars toward God, rising up
in love, and sometimes depressed by trial.
1t does not always 60 in the direction Il
would like to go. But the main course is
right. There is one passage In the Bible
which quote oftener to myself than any
other: "He knoweth our frame, and He
rememDereth that we are dust.
! There is IA legend in Iceland which says
| that when Jesus was a 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
wings and went singing heaven ward. OF
course, 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.
l wish, my friends, that we could live in
higher atmosphere. If n mans whole
life object is to make dollars, he will be
running against those who are making dol
lars. II his whole object Is to get applause,
he will run against those who are seeking
applause. But II he rises higher than that,
he will not be interrupted in 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
above all obstruction. So we would not
have so often to change our Christian
course if We lived in "A higher atmosphere,
nearer Christ, nearer the throne of God.
oh ye who have been washed in the.blood
of Christ-ye who have been loosed from
the hyssop-branch-start heavenward. 1t
may be to some of you a long flight.
Temptations may dispute your way; storms
VI bereavement may Slrlho
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 a pershing world. Its
ilowers fade. Its fountains dry up. Its
promises cheat. Set your affections upon
Christ and heaven. 1 rejoice, my dear
brethren and sisters In Christ, that the
light will, after while, be ended. Not
always beaten of the storm. Not always
going on weary wings. There is a warm
1ovecot of eternal dust where We shall find
1 place of comfort, to the everlasting joy
Of our souls. Oh, they are going up all the
:ime-going up from this church-going up
from all the families and from all the
churches of the land-the weary doves
seeking rest in dovecot.
oh, that in that good land we may all
meet when our trials are over We can
not get into the glorious presence of our
departed ones unless we have been cleansed
IN the same blood tnat washed their sins
away. l know this is true of all who have
gone in, that they were plunged in the
blood, that they were unloosed from the
nyssop-branch. Then they went singing
INTO glory. See that ye refuse not Him
hat speaketh, for II they escaped not who
refused Him that spake on earth, how
much more shall not we escape II we turn
lway from Him that speaketh from heaven?