Connecticut western news., 1901-11-14

.icss fiito niountuIn loiiage ano the glow of sapphire Into the sunseti What enchantment has lifted world of beauty and joy on his soul? He has resumed tobacco.
 The fact Is we all know In our OWE experience that habit Is O taskmaster AS long as we obey 1t 1t does not chas tise us But let us resist 1t and we llnd that We are lashed with scorpion whips and bound with ship cable and thrown into the track of bone break Ing JGggernauts.
 In Paris there Is a sculpturcd repre- scntation of .Bacchus, the god of reyel- ry. He Is riding on panther at full leap. Oh, how suggestive! Let every orc who Is speeding on bad ways un- derstand he Is not riding a docile and well broken steed, but that he Is riding a monster wild and bloodshirsty and going at death leap.
 have also to say If man wants to return from evil practices society re pulses him. TLe prodigai. wishing to return, tries to take some professor of religion by the hand. The professor of ieligion looks at him. looks at the fad cd apparel and the marks of dissipation, and instead of giving him firm grip of the hand offers him the tip end of the longer fingers of the left hand, which Is equal to striking man in the face. Oh, Low few Christian people un- Gerstand how much gospel there is In good, honest handshaking! Sometimes when you have felt tue need of encour- .sement and some Christian man has taken you heartily by the hand have you not felt thrilling through every Gber of your body, mind and soul an en- couragement that was just what you needed?
 Lift Up the Fallen.
 The prodlgal, wishing to get into good society. enters prayer meeting. Some good man without much sense greets him by saying: "Why are you heref You are about the last person that 1 expected to see in a prayer meeting.
 We'll, the dying thief wns saved, and there Is hope for you" You do not know anything about this, unless you have learned that when a man tries to return from evil courses of conduct he runs against repulsions innumerable.
 We say of some man, "He lives a block or two from the church, or half mile from the church." In all our great cities there gre men who are 5000 miles from church-vast deserts of h. difference between them and the house of God Tie fact is we must keep our responsibility though thousands perish. Christ sat with publicans and sinners, but If there come to the house of God a man with marks of dissipation upon him people are almost sure to put up their hands in horror, as much as to say, "Is 1t not shocking"
 How these dainty. fastidious Chris tlans in all our churches are going to get into heaven I do not know unless they have an especial train of cars cushioned and upholstered, each one car to himself. They cannot go with the great herd of publIcans and sin ners. o ye who curl your lip of scorn on the fallen, tell you plainly that If you had been surrounded by the same influences Instead of sitting today amid the cultured and the refined and the Christian you might have been crouching wretch in stable or ditch covered with filth and abomination! 1t Is not because we are naturally any better, but because the mercy of God has protected us. Those that are brought up In Christian circles and watched by Christian parentage should not be so hard on the fallen.
 I think also that men are often hin dered from returning by the fact that churches are anxious about their mem bership, too anxious about their de- nominations. and they rush out when they see a man about to give up sin and return to God and ask him how he Is going to be baptized. whether by sprinkling or immersion, and what kind of church he Is going to join. It is a poor time to talk about Presbyte- rian catechism and Episcopal liturgies and Methodist love feasts and Baptist immersions when a man is about to come out of the darkness of sin Into the glorious light of the gospel. Helpfulness of Religion. Why, 1t reminds me of man drown Ing In the sea and lifeboat puts out for him, and the man in the boat says to the man in the water, "Now, If you get ashore are you going to live In my street" First get him ashore and then talk to him about the nonessen- tials of religion. Who cares what church he joins If he only joins Christ | and starts for heaven7 O you, my brother of illumined face and hearty grip for every one that tries to turn from his evil way, take hold of the same hymnbook with him. though his disslpat ton shake the book. remember ing that he that "convertetn a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a | soul from death and hide a multitude | of sins"
 Now, have shown you these obsta- cles because want you to understand
 l know all the difficulties in the way. But I am now going to tell you how Hannibal may scale the Alps and how the shackles may be unriveted and how | the paths of virtue forsaken may be regained. First of all, throw yourself | on God. Go to him frankly and ear | nestly and tell him these habits you have and ask him If there is any help 1 in all the resources of omnipotent love l to give 1t to you. Do not go on with a I long rigmarole, which some people call | prayer, made up of chs and ahs and forever and forever amens. Go to God
 and cry for help.
 1 remember that in the civil war I | was at Antietam with other members | of the Christian commission to look
 after the wounded. I went into the
 hospital after the battle, and I said to
 a man, Where are you hurtT He
 made no answer, but held up his arm, swollen and splintered. I saw where
 he was hurt. The simple fact is when | 8 man has a wounded soul all he has to do Is to hold it up before a sympathetic
 Lord and get 1t healed.
 | Young man, I will stand by you.
 The mountains may depart and the
 hills be removed, but will never fail you" And then, as the soul thinks
 the news Is too good to be true and