The Washington weekly post., 1900-04-24

Vol sly. IL you knew What I once was, |
ana how many times l have grievousiy !
strayed. you would understand why l do |
not come out brighter Then / think you |
would call yourself the chief Of sinners |
I am glad you nit Upon that term, for l
have q promise that fits into your case as
the cogs Of one wheel between the cogs /
of another wheel, or as the key fits into
the labwinths OF a lock. A man who was
once called Saul, but afterward Paul. de-
clared: This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world TO save sinners, /
OF whom I am chief Mark that-'of whom
] an chief Put down your overcoats
and hats and I will take care Of them
wFile you kill Stephen'-sO saul said 10 the
stoners OF the first maTtyr-I do not care
10 exert myself much. but / Will guard
your surplus apparel while you do the
murder The New Testament account
says. The witnesses laid down their
clothes at young mans feet, whose
name was Saul No wonder ne said, Sin
nors. of whom am the chief
Christ is used TO climbing. He climbed
"a the TOP OF the temple he climbed 20
the top of Mount Olivet. He climbed TO
tbs top OF the cliffs about Nazareth He
climbed TO the top of Golgotha. And to
the top of the hills and the mountains of
yOur transgresSiOn he is ready TO climb
with pardon for every one OF you. The
g-Can of Calvary is mishJier than the
thunder of Sinai Full receipt Is ofered
fer al your Indebtedness. If one throw
stone at midnight into a bush where
the hedge bird rOOsts, II Immediately be
gins 10 sing: and into the midnight
hldgss Of your dependency these words l
hCr., hoping to awaken you TO anthem.
DrO0 re tunes in the minor Key ana take
the major. Do you think il pleases the
LORD TOR you TO be carrying around with
You ,Ge debris and carcasSes Of old trans
rreSs;0vs2 You make me think OF some
Ship that has had tempestuous time at
sea. ard now that It proposes anotheT
vov.er keeps on its davits the damaged
fire-Cufs and the spllnters OF a shivered
r. g. and the broken glass OF smashed
skvl-ght. My advice is: Clear the decks.
overheard with all the damaged rigging
hria hten I'D the saited smoke-stackS, open
q royv Ing-boOk. haul in the planks, lay
out a new course and set sail for heaven.
You have had the spiritual dumps long
enough. You will please the Lord more
By being happy than by being miserable.
Bondage of Gloom and Fear.
Have YOU not sometimes started out
in the rain with your umbrella, and you
we're busy thinking, and you did not no.
tice that the rain had stopped, and though
8 had cleared off you still had your UNI
hrela up. and when you discovered what
you were doing you felt silly enough?
That is what some OF you are doing in re-
ligious things. You have got so used to
sadness that though the rain has stopped
YOU still have your umbrella up. Come out
of the shadow Ascend the stairs Of Your
sepulcher. Step out into the broad light
Of MONDAY. We come around you to help
remove your grave-c othes, and a voice
from the heavens, tremulous but omnipo-
tent, commands, Loose him, and let him
go
Again, my text has good advice con-
cerning any Christian hampered and
bothered and bound by fear Of his own
dissolution. To such the Book refers
when it speaks of those who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject 10
bondage The most of US, even If we have
the Christian hope, are towards about
death. If a plank falls from a scaffold
and lust graZes our hat, how pale we
look. If the Atlantic Ocean plays with
the steamship. pitching II toward the
heavens and letting it suddenly drop, how
even the Christian passengers poster the
steward and stewardess as to whether
there is any danger and the captain, who
has been ali night on the bridge, and
chilled through, coming in for a cup Of
coffee, is assailed with a whole battery
Of questions as to what he thinks of the
weather And many of the best people
are, as Paul says. throughout their life
time in bondage by fear of death. My
brothers and sisters, II we made full use
of our religion we would soon get over
this.
The World Poor HabitatiOn.
Backed up by the teachings OF your
Bible, Just look through the telescope
some bright night and see how many
worlds there are, and reflect that all
you have seen. compared with the num-
Der of worlds in existence, are less than
the fingers of your right hand as COM
pared with all the fingers Of the human
race. How foolish then, for US to think
that ours is the only world fit for US to
stay in | think that all the stars arc
inhabited, and by beings like the human
race in feelings and sentiments and the
difference is in lung respiration, and
| heart beat and physical conformation,
their physical conformation fit for the
climate Of their world. and our physical
conformation fit for the climate OF our
world. So We shall feel at home in any
Of the stellar neishborhOOds. our physi-
cal limitations having ceased.
'One OF our first realizations in get
| ting out of this world, | think, will be
| that in this world We were very much
! pent up, and had C-amped apartments,
| and were kept on the limits. The most,
even Of our small world, is water, and
the water says to the human race, Dor t
come here or you will drown A few
| thousand feet up the atmosphere says TO
| the human race, Don't come up here or
| you cannot breathe 4 few miles down
| the earth is a furnace Of fire, and the
| fire says, Don't come here or you Till
| burn The caverns Of the mount ms
are full of poisonous gases, and the gases
{ say Don't come here or you will be
asphyXiated.' And, crossing rail track,
/ you must look out or you viii be crusaef
! And, standing by a steam boiler yo
must look out or you will be blown
4 And pneumOnias and pleurisies aid c. -
/ sumpUOns and apOpleXies 90 across uuS
/ earth in-hOcks. in dTOVes, in herds, a..
/ 1t IS a world Of equiHoxes and cyCi5Ucs
/ and graves. Yet We are under the De-
4 lusiOn that IL is the only place fit 10 stav
! ia. We want TO stick to the wet plank
:niGocean while the great ship, The City
/ of God, Of the Celestial line. goes sailing
| past, and would g.aa-y take US up in a
/ lifeboat. Ny Christian friends, let me
/ tear ofs your dependencies and frights
/ about dissolution Ny Lord commands
me, 7 sarding you, saying, Loose him,
/ and let him go
| Death Has No Panss.
| Heaven IS ninety-hve per cent. better
| than this world, a thousand per cent. bet
| ter. A million per cent. better. Take the
| giaddest, brightest, most jubilant days
| you ever had on earth, and compress them
| all into one hour, and that hour would be
a requiem, a fast-day, gloom, horror,
! as compared with the poorest hour they
! have had in heaven since It's firgt tower
I was built or its first gates swung, or It's
( first song carolled. on you say, that
| may be true. but / am so afraid OF cross
/ ing over from this world 20 the next, and
I fear the swapping Of the cord between
I so1l and body Well. all the surgeons
! and physicians and scientists declare that
/ there is no pang al the parting OF the
I body and soul, and all the restlessness AZ
! the closing hour OF life Is involuntary, and
TO distress at all. And agree with the
/ doctors, for what they say Is confirmed
/ By the fact that persons wkO were drown
| ed or were slIbrr erged until all conscious