The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-30

] why IS nO- a man IFee WDen ne gets
/ rid of his sins2 The sins of the tongue
gone; the sins of action gone; the sins OF
the mind gone. All the transgressions Of
| thirty, forty, fifty, seventy years gone-no
/ more in the soul than the malaria tnat
! fioated in the atmosphere thousand years
ago; for when my Lord Jesus pardons a
man he pardons him, and there is no half-
| way work about it.
Here ! see a beggar gong along the
/ turnpike road. lie is worn out with dis
ease. He is stiff in the joints. He is ucered
/ all over. lie has rheum in his eyes. He
IS sick and wasted. He is in rags. Every
time he puts down his swollen feet, he
/ cries, "Oh the painH lie sees a foun-
/ tain by the roadside under a tree, and he
1 crawls up to that fountain and says, 81
must wash. Eere I may cool my ulcers.
/ here ] may get rested" He Stops down,
! and scoops up in the palm of his hands
| enough water 20 Stake his thirst; and that
! IS all gone. Then he stoops down, and
/ begins to wash his eyes; and the rheum
/ is all gone. Then he puts in his swollen
! feet, and the swelling is gone. Then, will
/ ing no longer to he only half cured, ne
| plunges in. and his whole body is laved in
! the stream, and he gets upon the bank
I well. Meantime the owner Of the mansion
! up yonder comes down, walking through
/ the ravine with his only son, and he sees
| the bundle of rags, and asks, Whose
| rags are these?" A voice from the foun-
| tain 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 it down" And he brings
down the clothes and the beggar is clothed
| in them, and ne looks around and says,
81 was filthy, but now I am clean. I was
| ragged but now am robed. l was blind,
| but now ! see. Glory be to the owner OF
| chat mansion; and glory be to that son
! who brought me that new suit of clothes;
! and glory be TO this fountain, where !
I p all vnnx m Il
| wash and be clean! Where sin abounded
| grace doth much more abound. The bird
has been dipped, now let it fly away.
The next think l notice about this bird,
| when 1t was loosened (and this is the main
| idea), is that il flew away. Which way
did 1t go? When you let a bird loose
| from your grasp which way does il fly?
| Up. What are wings for? To fly with.
! Is there anything in the suggestion of the
( direction taken by that bird to indicate
which way We ought 10 50?
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 drawbacks. You had them
! this morning, perhaps. You had them
| yesterday, or the day before; and al
! though you want to be going heavenward,
! you are constantly discourage But 1
suppose when that bird went out of the
! priests hands 1t went by infiections-some-
! times STOPPING. A bird does not shoot di-
| rectly up, but this is the motion of a bird.
! SO the soul scars toward God, rising up in
! love, and some times depressed by trial. 1t
! does not always go in the direction it
would like to go. But the main course is
right. There IS one passage in the Bible
| which I quote oftener to myself than any
| other: "He knoweth our frame aud he re-
membereth that we are dust"
There as 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 dis
| gusted at the sport, and dashed the birds
! TO pieces; but the legend says that Jesus
| waved mis- hand above the broken birds
and they took wing and went singing
! heavenward OF course, that is a fable
I among the Icelanders; but it is not a ia BILE
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
a higher atmosphere. If a 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 ap
plause, he will run against those who are
/ SGtkluB applause. but II ne rises nISner
than that, he win 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 are above all Instructions. Sc we
would not have so often 10 change our
Christian course If we lived in a higher at
mosphere nearer Christ, nearer the throne
of God.
Oh We who have oeen washed in the
blood of Christ-ye who have been loosed
from the hyssop- branch start heaven
ward. 1t may be to some of you a long
fight Temptation may dispute your way,
storms of bereavement and trouble may
strike your soul; but God win see YOU
through Build not on the earth. Set
your affections on things in heaven. net
on things on earth This is a pershing
world. Its flowers fade. It's fountains dry
up. Its promises cheat. Set your affec-
lions upon Christ and heaven. / rejoice,
my dear brethren and sisters in Christ,
that the flight will, after a while, be end
! ed Not always beaten of the storm Not
| always going on weary wings. There is a
warm doVecOt of eternal rest where we
shall find a place of comfort, to the ever
lasting joy of our souls. Oh they are 60
ing up all the tme-gong up from this
church-going up from all the families
and from all the churches of the land
, the weary doves seeking rest in a dove
cot.
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 cleans
ed in the same blood that 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 Embossed from
the hyssop-branch. Then they went sing
: ing into glory. See that We refuse not him
that speaketh, for If they escaped not who
refused him that spake on earth how
much more shall not we escape if we turn
2 away from him that speaketh from heav-
1 en-