Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-09-28

call on me, and will help. Here is my
hand in pledge Of omnipotcnt deliver
ance." How much should that man
worry? Not much What lion will dare
to put his paw on that Daniel? Is there
not rest in this? Is there not an eternal
vacation in this? ooh" you say, there
Is man who asked God for Il blessing in
Il certain enterprise, and he lost $1,000 in
it. Explain that"
| will. Yonder is a factory, and one
wheel is going north, and the other wheel
is going SOUTH and one wheel plays lat
orally. and the other plays vertically. |
go to the manufacturer, and ! say: 80
manufactures, your machinery is con
tradiction! Why do you not max" all the
wheels go one way?" well" he says,
~ made them to go in opposite directions
on purpose. and they produce the right
result. You go down stairs and examine
the carpets we are turning out in this
establishment, and you will see" | go
down on the other floor and | see the
carpets, and | am obliged to confess that,
though the wheels in that factory go in
opposite directions, they turn out beau
tful result. and while l am standing
there looking at the exquisite fabric an
old Scripture passage comes into my
mind, "All things work together for good
to them who love God" Is there not
tonic in that? Is there not longevity in
that?
Suppose n man is all the time worried
about his reputation One man says he
lies another says he is stupid, another
says he is dishonest, and half dozen
printing establishments attack him, and
he is in n great state of excitement and
worry and fumc and cannot sleep, but
religion comes to him and says: Man,
God is on your side. He will take care
of your reputation If God be for you,
who can be against you?' How much
should that man worry about his reputa-
ton? Not much. If that broker who
some years ago in Wall street, after he
had lost money, sat down and wyte
farewell letter to his wife before he blew
his brains out-if. instead of taking out
of his pocket pistol, he had taken out
we'll read New Testament, there would
have been one less suicide.
o nervous and feverish people of the
world. try this almighty sedative! You
will live % years longer under its sooth-
ing power. 1t is not choral that you
want or morphine that YOU want. 1t is
the gospel of Jesus Christ. with long
life will satisfy him."
Again, practical religion is n friend of
longevity in the fact that it removes all
corrodng care about a future existence.
Every man wants to know what is to be-
come of him. If you get on board a rail
train, you want to know at what depot it
is going to stop. If you get on board a
ship. you want to know int what har-
Dor it is going to run. And if you should
tell me you have no interest in what is
To no f1ti | in A.
polite way as | know how, tell you |
did not believe you. Before l had this
matter settled with reference to my fu.
ture existence the question almost wor.
ried me into ruined health. The ankle.
ties men have upon this subject put to.
Eether would make a martyrdom. This
is state of awful unhealthincss. There
are people who fret themselves to death
for fear of dying. | want to take the
strain Off your nerves and the depression
off your soul, and | make two or three
experiments. Experiment first: When
you 60 ont of this world, it does not make
any difference whether yOu have been
good or bad, whether you believed truth
or error, you will go aight to glory.
impossible" you say. MY common
sense as well as my religion teaches that
the bad and the good cannot live together
forever. You give me no comfort in that
experiment" Experiment the second
When you leave this world. you will go
into an intermediate state, where you can
get converted and prepared for heaven.
"Impossible," you say. "As the tree fall.
eth, so must it lie. and cannot post pone
to an Intermediate state reformation
which ought to have been effected in this
state" Experiment the third: There is
no future world. When a man dies, that
is the last of him. DO not worry about
what you are to do in another state Of
being. You will not do anything. I'm
possible" you say. There is something
that tells me that death is not the appen.
dix, hut the preface, to life. There is
something that tells me that on this side
of the grave l only get started and that
l shall go on forever. My power TO think
says forever my affections say 'forev.
en- my capacity to enjoy or suffer, for.
ever"
Pence Now and Hereafter.
Well, you defeat me in my three exper-
iments. | have only one more to make,
and II you defeat me in that am ex-
hausted. A mighty One on u knoll back
of Jerusalem one day, the skies filed
with forked lghtnings and the earth fill
ed with volcanic disturbances, turned his
pale and agonized face toward the heav-
Ems and said: Il take the sins and sor-
rows of the ages into my own heart.
am the expiation. Witness earth and
heaven and hell, l am the expiration"
And the hammer struck him, and the
| spears punctured him, and heaven thun-
dered: THE wages of sin is death" 1.-The
soul that sinneth, it shall die.' Il will by
no means clear the guilty." Then there
was silence for half an hour, and the
lightnings were drawn back into the
| ace bbnrd of the sky, and the earth ceased
70 culver, and all the colors of the sky
began to shift into rainbow woven out Of
the falling tears of Jesus, and there was
red as of the bloodshedding, and there
was blue as of the bruising, and there
was green as of the heavenly foliage, and
there was orange as of the day dawn,
and along the line of the blue | saw the
words, Il was bruised for their iniqui-
ties" and along the line of red saw the
words, THE blood of Jesus Christ cleans
eth from all SIM" and along the line Of
the green / saw the words, THE leaves
of the Tree of Life for the healing of the
nations" and along the line of the or
ange | saw the words, The day spring
from on high hath visited us." and then |
saw the storm was over, and the rainbow
rose higher and higher until it seemed
retreating to another heaven, and, plant
ing one column Of it's colors on one side