Connecticut western news., 1900-02-22

| | or morphine that you want; it Is the gospel of Jesus Christ. With long | life will satisfy him."
 | Again, practical religion is a friend | of longevity in the fact that 1t re- moves all corroding care about fu- ture existence. Every man wants to know what Is to become of him. If you get on board a rail train, you want | to know at what depot 1t Is going to stop. If you get on board Il ship, you want to know into what harbor it is going to run. and if you should tell me | you have no interest in what Is to be | your future destiny 1 would In as po- | lite a way as l know how tell you I did not believe you. Before had this matter settled with reference to my future existence. the question almost worried me into ruined health. The l anxieties men have upon this subject | put together would make n martyr dom. This Is a state of awful un- healthiness. There are people who fret themselves to death for fear of dying. Death the Preface.
 l want to take the strain off your nerves and the depression off your soul, and l make two or three expert | ments. Experiment the first: When I you go out of this world. it does not make any difference whether you have | been good or bad or whether you be- lieved truth or error You will go straight to glory. Impossible" you say. My common sense as we'll as my l religion teaches that the bad and the l good cannot live together forever. You give me no comfort in that expert | ment." Experiment the second: When you leave this world, you will go into an intermediate state, where you can get converted and prepared for heaven. Impossible" you say. 'As the tree falleth so 1t must lie, and l cannot postpone to an intermediate state that reformation which ought to have been effected in this state." Experiment the third: There is no future world. When a man dies, that is the last of him. Do not worry about what you are to do in another state of being, you will not do anything. Impossible" you say. There is something that tells me that death Is not the appendix, but the preface. There Is something that tells me that on this side of the grave I only get started and that shall go on forever. My power to think says forever my affections say forever my capacity to enjoy or suf- fer forever" '"
 We'll, you defeat me in my three ex- periments. I have only one more to | make, and if you defeat me in that am exhausted. A mighty one on 8 knoll back of Jerusalem one day, the skies filled with forked lightnings and the earth filled with volcanic disturb ances, turned his pale and agonized face toward the heavens and said: 'I take the sins and sorrows of the ages Into my own heart. I am the expia- tion. Witness earth and heaven and hell, I am the expiation." And the hammer struck him and the spears punctured him, and heaven thundered, ''The wages of sin is deathr' ''The soul that sinneth it shall diew sI will by no means clear the guiltyw Then there was silence for half an hour, and the lightnings were drawn back into the scabbard of the sky and the earth ceased to culver and all the colors of the sky began to shift themselves into rainbow woven out of the falling tears of Jesus. and there was red as of the bloodshedding and there was blue as of the bruising and there was green as of the heavenly foliage and there was orange as of the day dawn. And along the line of the blue I saw the words, 'I was bruised for their in- iquities." And along the line of the red l saw the words, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin" And along the line of the green I saw the words, ''The leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations" And along the line of the orange saw the words. "The day spring from on high hath visited us."
 Quit Worrying.
 And then I saw the storm was over, and the rainbow rose higher and high CT until it seemed retreating to an- other heaven and planting one column of its colors on one side the eternal hill and planting the other column of its colors on the other side the eternal hill it rose upward and upward, and, be- hold, there was a rainbow about the throne
 Accept that sacrifice and quit worry ing. Take the tonic, the inspiration, the longevity of this truth. Religion is sunshine; that Is health. Religion Is fresh air and pure water; they are healthy. Religion Is warmth; that Is healthy. Ask all the doctors, and they will tell you that a quiet conscience and pleasant anticipations are hygien- ic. I offer you perfect peace now and hereafter.
 What do you want in the future world? Tell me, and you shall have it. Orchards? There are the trees with 12 manner of fruits, yielding fruit every month. Water scenery? There is the river of life from under the throne of God, clear as crystal and the sea of glass mingled with fire. Do you want music? There is the ordtorio of the Creation led on by Adam, and the ora torio of the Red sea led on by Moses, and the oratorio of the Messiah led on by St. Paul, while the archangel, with swinging baton, controls the one hun dred and fortyfour thousand who make up the orchestra.
 Do you want reunion? There are your dead children waiting to kiss you, waiting to embrace you, waiting to twist garlands in your hair. You have been accustomed to open the door on this side the sepulcher. I open the door on the other side tte sepulcher. You have been accustomed to walk in the wet grass on the top of the grave. show you the underside of the grave. The bottom has fallen out, and the long ropes with which the pallbearers let down your dead let them clear through into heaven. Glory be to God for this robust. healthy religion! It will have a tendency to make you live long in this world, and in the world to come | h lono