Connecticut western news., 1899-10-19
oay, would you plunge cnce morri With home so nighP

Hopes smile around us sneu,
 Heavenward, awayl
 Yes, for some people in this world
 there seems no let up. They are pur-
 sued from youth to manhood and from
 manhood into old age. Very distin-
 guished are Lord Stafford's hounds
 and the Earl of Yarborough's hounds and the Duke of Rutland's hounds, but all of them put together do not equal,
 in number or speed or power to hunt down, the great kennel of hounds of
 which Sin and Trouble are owner and master. ,....
 But what is relief for all those pur- sued of trouble and annoyance and pain and bereavement? My text gives it to you in a word of three letters, but each letter is chariot If you would triumph, or a throne if you want to be crowned, or a lake If you would slake your thirst-yea, chain of three lakes-G-o-d, the one for whom David longed and the one whom David found. You might as we'll meet a stag which, after its sixth mile of running at the topmost speed through thicket and gorge and with the breath of the. dogs on Its heels, has come in full sight of Schroon lake and try to cool its pro jecting and blistered tongue with a drop of dew from blade of grass as to attempt to satisfy an immortal soul, when flying from trouble and sin, with anything less deep and high and broad and immense and infinite and eternal than God. His comfort-why, 1t em- bosoms all distress. His arm-it wrenches off all bondage. His hand 1t wipes away all tears. His Christly atonement-it makes us all right with the past, and all right with the future, and all right with God, all right with man, and all right forever.
 Lamartine tells us that King Nim- rod said to his three sons: Here are three vases, and one Is of clay, another of amber and another of gold. Choose now which you will have" The eldest son, having the first choice. chose the vase of gold, on which was written the word Empire" and when opened it was found to contain human blood. The second son, making the next choice, chose the vase of amber, in- scribed with the word Glory" and when opened it contained the ashes of those who were once called great. The third son took the vase of clay and, 'opening 1t, found it empty, but on the bottom of 1t was inscribed the name of God. King Nimrod asked his court iers which vase they thought weighed the most. The avaricious men of his court said the vase of gold, the poets said the one of amber, but the wisest men said the empty vase, because one letter of the name of God outweighed a universe.
 For him thirst, for his grace I beg, on his promise I build my all. With out him I cannot be happy. I have tried the world, and 1t does well enough as far as 1t goes, but 1t Is too uncertain a world, too evanescent world. I am not prejudiced wit ness. I have nothing against this world. I have been one of the most fortunate or, to use more Christian word, one of the most blessed of men blessed in my parents, blessed in the place of my nativity, blessed in my health, blessed in my fields of work. blessed in my natural temperament, blessed in my family, blessed in my opportunities, blessed in a comfortable livelihood, blessed In the hope that my soul will go to heaven through the pardoning mercy of God, and my body, unless it be lost at sea or cremated In some confiagration, will lie down lr,, A,.to already gone and others to come after me. Life to many has been a disap- pointment, but to me 1t has been a pleasant surprise, and yet I declare that if I did not feel that God was now my friend and evel. present help I should be wretched and terror struck. But I want more of him. I have thought over this text and preached this sermon to myself until with all the aroused energies of my body, mind and soul I can cry out, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God"
 Through Jesus Christ make this God your God, and you can withstand any thing and everything, and that which affrights others will inspire you-as in time of earthquake, when an old Christian woman, asked, whether she was scared, answered, NO; am glad that I have a God who can shake the world," or as in financial panic, when Christian merchant, asked if he did not fear he would break, answered, "Yes, I shall break when the Fiftieth Psalm breaks in the fifteenth verse. Call upon me in the day of trouble; l will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me-" O Christian men and women, pursued of annoyances and exaspera- tions, remember that this hunt, wheth- CT still hunt or hunt in full cry, will soon be over. If ever a whelp looks ashamed and ready to sink out of sight, 1t Is when in the Adirondacks q deer-by one long, tremendous plunge into big Tupper lake gets away from him. The canine swims in a little way, but, defeated, swims out again and cringes with hur2iliating yawn at the feet of his master. And how abash- ed and ashamed will all your earthly troubles be when you have dashed into the river from under the throne of God and the heights and depths of heaven are between you and your pursuers!
 Eternal Water Brooks.
 We are told in Revelation xii, 15. "Without are dogs" by which I con- clude there is a whole kennel of hounds outside the gate of heaven, or, as when a master goes in door, his dog lies on the steps waiting for him to come out, so the troubles of this life may follow us to the shining door, but they cannot get in. Without are dogs" I have seen dogs and owned dogs that I would not be chagrined to see in the heavenly city. Some of the grand old watchdogs who are the constabulary of the homes in solitary places and for years have been the only protection of wife and child, some of the shepherd dogs that drive back the wolves and bark away the flock from going too near the precipice and some of the dogs whose neck and paw Land seer the Dainter has made immortal