Connecticut western news., 1900-02-08

wtrt revolving wheel unt1 ar our en- rg.eS and faculties shall be brought D to bright, keen, sharp, glittering dge.
 Again. my subject teaches us on what a small allowance Philistine in- luity puts man. Yes, these Philis- ines shut up the mines, and then they
 ook the spears and the swords; then
 hey took the hlacksmiths; then they ook the grindStones, and they took 'verything but q file. Oh. that Is the way sin works, It grabs everything. It begins with robbery and ends with 'obbery. It despoils this faculty and hat faculty and keeps on until the whole nature is gone. Was the man eloquent before, 1t generally thickens lis tongue. Was he fine In personal appearance. it mars his visage. Was he affluent. 1t sends the sheriff to sell him out. Was he influential, it de- stroys his popularity. Was he placid and genial and loving. it makes him splenetic and cross. and so utterly is he changed that you can see he Is sar- castle and rasping and that the Philis- | tines have left him nothing but file. The Cheerful Life.
 Oh, the way of the transgressor is hardr' His cup is bitter. His night is dark. His bangs are deep. His end | is terrific. Philistine iniquity says to that man, "Now. surrender to me, and I will give you all you want-music for I the dance, swift steeds for the race, | imperial couch to slumber on. and you shall be refreshed with the rarest | fruits in baskets of golden filigree." | He lies The music turns out to be | groan. The fruits burst the rind with | rank poison. The filigree Is made up of twisted reptiles. The couch is grave Small allowance of rest, small | allowance of peace, small allowance of ! comfort. Cold. hard, rough-nothing | but a file. So it was with Yoltaire. the most applauded man of his day.
 The Scripture was his jestbook. whence he drew Bonmots to gall the Christian and the Jew. An infidel when well. but what when sick? Oh, then text would touch him to the quick!
 Seized with hemorrhage of the lungs | in Paris, where he had gone to be crowned as the idol of all France, he sends a messenger to get priest, that | he may be reconciled to the church be- fore he dies. A great terror falls upon him. Philistine iniquity had promised ! him all the worlds garlands, but in | the last hour of his life, when he need | ed solacing, sent tearing across his | conscience and his nerves a file, file. | So it was with Lord Byron. His un- | cleanness in England only surpassed | by his uncleanness in Venice, then go- | ing on to end his brilliant misery at l Missolonghi, fretting at his nurse | Fletcher fretting at himself, fretting at the world, fretting at God, and he | who gave the world "Childe Harold" | and "Sardanapalus'' and ''The Prison CT of Chiffon" and "The Siege of Corinth," reduced to nothing but file. Oh. sin has great facility for making | promises, but it has just as great facili- | ty for breaking them!
 | A Christian life Is the only cheerful | life, while life of wicked surrender is remorse, ruin and death. Its paint ed glee is sepulchral ghastliness. In | the brightest days of the Mexican em- | pire Montezuma said he felt gnaw wing | at his heart something like canker. | Sin, like a monster wild beast of the forest. sometimes licks all over its victim in order that the victim may be | more easily swallowed, but generally sin rasps and gals and tears and up | braids and files. Is 1t not so, Herod Is it not so, Hildebrand? Is 1t not SO Robespierre? Aye. aye! It is so, it Is ] TO-, "The way of the wicked he turneth | upside down."
 Not Enough Metal.
 History tells us that when Rome was founded on that day there were F when a transgressor dies the sky Is black with whole fiocks of them. Vul- lures, vultures! When I see sin. rob- ping so many and I see them going down day by day and week by week, l must give plain warning. l dare not keep it back, lest 1 risk the saliva ton of my own soul. Rover, the pirate, pulled down the warning bell on Inch cape rock, thinking that he would have a chance to despoil vessels that were crushed on the rocks. but one night his own ship crashed down on this very rock, and he went down with all his cargo. God declares, When I say to the wicked thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning, that same man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hands,"
 I learn from this subject what a sad thing it is when the church of God loses its metal! These Philistines saw that if they could only get all the metallic weapons out of the hands of the Israelites all would be well. and therefore they took the swords and the spears. They did not want them to have single metallic weapon. When the metal of the Israelites was gone
 their strength was gone. This is the trouble with the church of God today
 It is surrendering its courage. It has not enough metal. How seldom it is that you see man taking his position In pew or in pulpit or In religious SO ciety and holding that position against all oppression. and all trial, and all persecution, and all criticism. The church of God today wants more back bone, more defiance, more consecrated bravery, more metal. How often you see man start out in some good en- terprise, and at the first blast of oppo- sition he has collapsed and all his courage gone, forgetting the fact that If a man be right all the opposition of the earth pounding away at-him can- not do him any permanent damage. It is only when a man is wrong that he can be damaged. Why, God is go ing to vindicate his truth, and he is going to stand by you, my friends. in every effort you make for Christs cause and the salvation of men.
 Do Your Duty.
 Go forth in the service of Christ and do your whole duty. You have one sphere. l have another sphere. 'The