The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-06-03

thunder showers meet. One cloud from
this mountain and another cloud from
that mountain, coming nearer ana Near
er together and responding TO each oVh-
er, crash to crash, thunder TO thunder'
boom, boom! And then the clouds break
and the torrents pour, and they are emp
tied perhaps into the very same stream
that comes down SO red at your feeU tllaG
it seems as if all the carnage OF the
storm battle has been emptled INTO IT,
So in this Bible | see two storms gath
er, one above Sinai, the other above Cal
vary, and they respond one to the other
flash to flash, thunder to thunder,
boom. boom! Sinai thunders, '"The soul
that sinneth, it shall die;" Calvary re-
spends, "Save them from going down
to the pit, for | have found ransom.
Sinai saws. "Woe, wool! Calvary an
rwers, "Mercy, mercyH' And then the
clouds burst and empty their treasures
into one torrent, and it comes flowing
TO OUR feet red with the carnage OF our
Lord, in which if thy soul be plunged,
like the bird in the text, 1t shall go
forth free-free! Oh, wish all people
to understand this, that when man
becomes a Christian he does not become
n slave. but that he becomes free man;
that he has larger liberty after he be-
comes a child of God than before he be-
came a child of God General Fisk said
that he once stood at a slave block where
an old Christian minister was being sold.
The auctioneer said of him: "What bid
do I hear for this man? He is q very
good kind Of a man he is minister
Somebody said twenty dollars" Che
was very old and not worth much) {;
somebody else twenty-five thirty
"thirty-fve" -" forty" The aged
Christian minister began to tremble He
had expected to be able to buy his own
freedom. and he had just $40 and ex-
pected with the $40 to get free AS the
bids ran up the old man trembled more
and more. "Forty" -" forty five" -
"fftv' "fifty-five' sixty" -" six
ty-five" The old man cried out "sev-
entv. " He was afraid they would out
hid him. The men around were trans
fixed. Nobody dared bid, and the auc-
tioneer struck him down to himself
done-dOne!
Purchased by Christ.
But by reason of sin we are poorer
than that African. We cannot buy our
own deliverance. The voices of death
are bidding for us, and they bid us III
and they bid us down. But the Lord
Jesus Christ comes and says: 81 will
buy that man. l bid for him my Bethle,
hem manager; bid for him my hunger OIL
the mountain; | bid for him my aching
head; | bid for him my fainting heart
l bid for him all my wounds. " A voice
from the throne of God says: 1T Is
enough! Jesus has bought him. .
Bought with a price. The purchase
complete. 1t is done.
The great transactions done.
am my Lords S, and he is mine.
He drew me- and l followed on,
Charmed to confess the voice divine.
WHY, is not q man free when he get
rid of his sins? The sins Of the tongue
gone; the sins of action gone; the sin
of the mind gone. All the transgression
of 80, 40, 3d. 20 years gone-no more
in the soul than the malaria that float
ed in the atmosphere 1000 years ago
for when my Lord Jesus pardons maj
he pardons him, and there is no half
way work about it.
Here 1 see a beggar going along tn
turnpike road. He is worn out with dis
ease. He is stiff in the joints. He i
ulcered all over. He has rheum in hi
ewes. He is sick and wasted. He is II
rags. Every time he puts down hi
swollen feet he cries 'Oh, the pain y
He sees a fountain by the roadside un
der a tree, and he crawls up to tina
fountain and says: 81 must wash. Her
I NAV cool my ulcers. Here l may ge
rested" He stoops down and scoops u
in the palm of his hands enough waite
to slake his thirst, and that is all gone
Then he stoops down and begins t
wash his eyes, and the rheum is al
gone Then he puts in his swollen feet
and the swelling is gone. Then, willin
no longer to be only half cured, h
plunges in, and his whole body is lave
in the stream, and he gets upon tn
bank well. Meantime the owner of tn
mansion up yonder comes down, wall
ing through the ravine with his onl
son. and he sees the bundle of rags an
asks, Whose rags are these?" A voic
from the fountain says, Those are m
, rags. " Then says the master to his sol
go up to the house and get the be-
new suit you can find and bring
down." And he brings down the clothe
, and the beggar is clothed in them an
, he looks around and says: Il was filth,
, but now l am clean. was ragged, bl
now | am ROBBED l was blind, but no
5 l see. Glory be to the owner OF th'
5 mansion, and glory be to that son WI
: brought me that new suit of clothe
and glory be to this fountain where
g have washed and where all who WI
NAV wash and be cleanP Where s.
Z abounded, grace doth much mo
abound. The bird has been dipped no
let it fly away.
The Way Indicated.
The next thing l notice about tn
bird when it was loosened-and this
the main idea-is that it flew ava
= Which way did it go? When you let
= bird loose from your grasp, which WI
% docs IL Axy2 Tin What are wings fC