Connecticut western news., 1900-06-21

snap the nanucuH or DFedR tlle uOpple then he finds the power of the Iron. And there are men who have been for 10 and 20 and 30 years bound hand and foot by evil habits who have never felt the power of the chain because they have never tried to break 1t. It Is very easy to go on down with the stream and with the wind lying on your oars, but just turn around and try to go against the wind and the tide, and you will find 1t Is a different matter. AS long as we go down the current of our evil habit we seem to get along quite smoothly, but If after awhile we turn around and head the other way, to- ward Christ and pardon and heaven, oh, then how we have to lay to the oars! You will have your temptation. | You have one kind, you another, you | another, not one person escaping.
 | It is all folly for you to say to some | one "I could not be tempted as you are." The lion thinks it is so strange | that the fish should be caught with hook; the fish thinks 1t is so strange that the lion should be caught with | trap. You see some man with a cold, l phlegmatic temperament, and you say, II suppose that man has not any temp l tation." Yes; as much as you have. In his phlegmatic nature he has a | temptation to, incidence and censorious- ness and over eating and drinking, a l temptation to ignore the great work of | life, temptation to lay down an obsta- | cle in the way of all good enterprises. | The temperament decides the styles of | temptation; but sanguine or lymphat- ic, you will have temptation. Satan has a grappling hook just fitted for l your soul. A man never lives beyond the reach of temptation. You sayt | when a. man gets to be TO or 80 years l of age he Is safe from all satanic as- | sault You are very much. mistaken. | A man at S5 years of age has as many | temptations as man at 25 They are | only different styles of temptation. l Ask the aged Christian whether he is I never assaulted of the powers of dark 1 ness. If you think you have conquer ed the power of temptation, you are | very much mistaken.
 The Lord win Sustain.
 l A man who wanted throne pretend | cd he was very weak and sickly and, | if he was elected, he would soon be | gone. He crawled upon his crutches to the throne, and, having attained 1t, | he was strong again. He said, Tt was l we'll for me, while I was looking for the scepter of another, that I should stoop; but, now that have found 1t, why should stoop any longer?" And he threw away his crutches and was
 
 power of temptation! You think 1t is a weak and crippled influence, but give It chance, and 1t will be a tyrant in your soul; 1t will grind you to atoms. No man has finally and forever over come temptation until he has left the world. But what are you to do with these temptations--tel everybody about | them? An, what silly man you would be! AS well might a commander in fort send word to the enemy which gate of the castle Is least barred as for | you to go and tell what all your frail- ties are and what your temptations are. The world will only caricature 1 you, will only scoff at you. What, then, must man do? When the wave strikes him with terrific dash, shall he have nothing to hold on to? In this contest | with ''the world, the flesh and the dew IF shall man have no help, no coun- sel? Our text intimates something diff ferent. In those eyes that wept with | the Bethany sisters l see shining hope. In that voice which spake until the l grave broke and the widow of Main | had back her lost son and the sea slept and sorrow stupendous woke up in the arms of rapture-in that voice I hear the command and the promise, Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will sustain thee" Why should you carry your burdens any longer? Oh, you weary soul, Christ has been in this con- fict. He says: My grace shall be suf- ficient for you. You shall not be tempt cd above that you are able to bear" Therefore with all your temptations go
 as these disciples did, and tell Jesus.
 The World Challenged.
 | Again, I commend the behavior of the disciples to all those who are abus- ed and to the slandered and persecut- ed. When Herod put John to death, the disciples knew that their own
 heads were not safe. And do you | d
 There are persons in life who do not
 wish you very we'll. Your misfortunes
 are honeycombs to them. Through
 their teeth they hiss at you, misinter- I pret your motives and would be glad
 to see you upset. No man gets through life without having pommeling. Some islander comes after you horned and
 husked and hoofed to gore and trample
 you, and what are you to do? I tell you plainly that all who serve Christ must suffer persecution. It Is the worst sign in the world for you to be able to
 say, 'I have not an enemy in the
 world" woe Is pronounced in the
 Bible against the one of whom every body speaks well. If you are at peace
 with all the world and everybody likes you and approves your work, 1t is be- cause you are an idler In the Lords
 vineyard and are not doing your duty.
 All those who have served Christ, how ever eminent, all have been maltreated at some stage of their experience. You know 1t was so in the time of George l Whitefeld when he stood and invited
 men into the kingdom of God. What | did the learned Dr. Johnson say of him? He pronounced him a miserable
 mountebank. How was 1t when Robert
 Hall stood and spoke as scarcely any
 uninspired man ever did speak of the glories of heaven? And as he stood Sab
 bath after Sabbath preaching on these themes his face kindled with the glory.
 John Foster, a Christian man, said of this man, Robert Hall Is only acting, and the smile on his face Is a reflection
 of his own vanity" John Wesley turn ed all England upside down with Chris
 tian reform, and yet the punsters were
 after him, and the meanest jokes in
 England were perpetrated about John l Wacla1r Lhat i, Al L..