The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1900-01-06

stand before such story OF personal
rescue, personal transformation. per-
sonal illumination. The mighiiest and
most skillful argument against Chris
iianity collapses under the INGRAM
maiical but sincere statement. The
atheistic professor OF natural philoso-
ply goes down under the story of that
backwoods mans conversion.
The New Testament suggests the
power of the tale that is told" Christ
was the most effective story teller Of
all the ages. The parallels are only
tales well told. Maichless stories:
That OF the traveller cut up by the
thieves and the Samaritan paying his
board bill at the tavern: that OF the big
dinner. 10 which the invited guests sent
in fictitious regrets: that of the shep-
herd answering the bleat Of the lost
sheep and all the rural neighbors that
night helping him celebrate the faai
that il was safe In the barnyard; that
of the bad boy. reduced to the swines'
trough. greeted home with such ban
quoting and jewelry that II stuffed the
older son with jealousy an6 disgrunile-
ment; that Of the Phnrisee full of brng.
gadocio and the publican smiling his
breast with stroke tha, brought down
the heavens In commisera,ion; stories
about leprosy. about paralysis. about
catalepsy. about dropsy. about ophihal-
mia-stories that he so well told that
they have rolled down TO the present
apd will roll down through the entire
future.
| The most of the Old Testament is
| made up Of inspired anecdotes about
Adam and Eve, about Jacob, about
| Esau. about Ahab and Jezebel. about
| Jonah, about Daniel. about Deborah.
about Vashti, about men and women Of
| whom the story gave an accurate photo.
graph long before human photography
was born. Let all Christian workers.
| prayer meeting takers. Sunday school
teachers and preachers know the power
Of that which my text calls the tale
that is told"
| II you have had experiences Of par
| don and comfort and disenthrallment.
tell OF it. Tell it in the most pointed
and dramatic way you can manage.
Tell it soon, or you may never tell il at
all. Oh. the power of "the tale that is
told" An hours discourse about the
fact that blasphemous behavior is
sometimes punished in this world
would not impress us rs much as the
simple story that in n town Of New
York state. at the close of the last CEN
fury, SO profane men formed them
selves into q club. calling them
selves Society of the Druids." They
met regularly to deride and damage
Christianity. One night in their awful
meeting they burned Bible and adj
ministered the sacrament TO dog
Two Of them died that night. Within
three days three were drowned. In
five years all the 36 came 10 a bad end
Before justices Of the peace il was
sworn that two were starved TO death
seven were drowned. eight were shot
five committed suicide. seven died on
the gallows. one was frozen to death
and three died accidentally. incidents
| like that. sworn to, would balk any pro-
posed irreverent and blasphemous be-
havior.
In what way could the fact that in.
fidelity will not help anyone die wei
be so powerfully presented as by the
incident concerning a man falling i'll in
Paris lust after the death of Noltaire
when professional nurse was called in
and she asked: us the gentleman &
Christian?" "Why do you ask that
said the messenger. II am the nurse
who attended Vol,aire in his last i'll
ness. and for all the wealth of Europe
would never see another iniidel die
What discourse in its moral and spirit
ual effect could equal tale like that?
You might argue upon the fact that
those fallen are our brothers and Sis
tiers. but could we impress anyone
with such truth so well MS by the
scene near Victoria park, London
where men were digging Il deep drnir
and the snoring gave way and great
pile of earth fell upon the workmen
\ man stood there with his hands IN
his pockets looking at those who were
! trying to shovel away the earth from
those who were buried, but wher
some one said TO the spectator: "Bill
YOUR brother is down there" then tn,
spectator threw off his coat and went
to work with an agony Of earncstness
to fetch up his brother. What course
! Of argument could SO well us that in
cident set forth that when we toll fol
the salvation Of soul it is n brother
whom we are trying to save?
A second reading of my text re
| minds me that life is not only stor,
told. but that it is n brief story. 4
long narrative stretched out indeii
nitely loses its interest. 1t is general
~ the story that takes only n minute
| or half minute TO rehearse that ar
rests the attention. And that give:
additional interest to the story Of ON
life. 1t is short story. Subtract
from our lives all the hours Of neg
cssary sleep. all the hours OF incapac
ity through fatigue or illness. all the
hours Of childhood and youth before
we get fairly to work. and you have
abbreviated the story OF life so much
that you can appreciate the Apostle
James expression when he compares
life TO "a vapor that appeareth for d
| little season and then vanishes away
II does not take long to tell all The
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