Connecticut western news., 1902-05-01
TALMAGE SERMON
e E
 ' By Rev.
By Rev. FRANK DE WITT TAL.AlAGE. D.D.

that mutual heIpfulness Is a duty of our common humanity and especially q duty incumbent upon Christian people; text, Galatians vi, 2, Bear ye one an- others burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ"
 Paul was the noblest Christian mar tyr who ever lived. He could well quote himself as an example for all his contemporaries. From the very moment when his blinded eyes were opened by the good Ananias on the Damascus street called Straight" he never ceased to sacrifice himself for his fellow men. But so important Is the lesson of vicarious burden bearing Paul would not have his friends look to any human guide He seems to come to the members of the Galatian church in the same way that stan officer of the commander of great army deliv- CTS his orders to a captain, a major, a colonel or brigadier general. and they are orders of bene6cent import, as were those that the representatives of Gen. eral Grant delivered when they rode through the Federal lines telling Sheri- dan and Meade and Humphreys and Ord and Warren and Wright and Hart ranft to cease firing because the two national leaders. Grant and Lee, were meeting under a flag of truce at Appo- mattox.
 A Law For the Common Good.
 Paul seems to say, 'The duty of bear ing one another's burdens is not my own command, nor is it given to us by the command of Peter or John or Apol- los, but by the command of the great Divine Chieftaih himself" Read the words as they were written to the rug ged mountaineers who constituted the Galatian church. Hear ye the command as 1t Is spoken for us to hear. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ" The law of Christ ia the law with which every Christian should be in harmony. It is the law which ought to inspire us all. Like all Christ's laws, 1t Is reasonable and ia devised for the common good.
 John B. Cough was able to picture the misery of the inebriate in the black ct and the reddest colors because he himself had writhed in the lowest depths of . living inferno. He had drunk the cup of horrors to the bitter dregR He signed the pledge and broke 1t again and again. One day. weak and helpless with delirium, he stood in the foundry working upon piece of iron. Suddenly that bar of iron began to twist and move in his hand like a writhing serpent. In horror the delir- ious man dropped It. and as it lay there he seemed to see 1t writhing and twisting upon the floor of the foundry. John B. Coughs crazed brain knew it was only a bar of iron, and yet there he saw 1t a living. hideous. hissing snake. His courage broke down. He thought 1t was useless to struggle lon ger. Just then a Christian gentleman who had the spirit of true burden bearer came in and said: Hello, G0ughl saw you up at the temper ance meeting last week. saw you aign the pledge. We have missed you for four days. thought would come around and find out how you are get ting along. God bless you. Keep up the struggle. Christ will help you through"
 Those few words saved John B. Cough for time and eternity. He never touched drop of fatal intoxicant after that Those words were the helping hand that drew him out of the ruts and pushed him over the up grade. Those few words made John B. Cough free man--free for time, free for eternity.
 EAeo1rage the Hopeless-
 To bear one another's burdens will often inspire hopeless, helpless, pur- poseless sinner to put forth his own energies until after awhile he gathers strength enough to help himself. Have you ever seen team of horses hitched to . heavy laden wagon that is stuck in the ruts? The horses struggle and pull until they become absolutely helpless and can pull no more. Then have you ever seen a cou- pie of men come with some long, stout barg4 They place those bars under heath the hind axle and begin to heave The wagon moves. Then after the ruts have been passed have you ever seen the team of horses, which were help less when the wheels were stuck in the ruts, easily pull the wagon along the broad highwayf Have you ever seen a great engine. fastened to the end of a long train, pufing and blowing, with lts wheels whirhng around and around and yet not moving one inch ahead ? That train Is stalled upon an up grade. Then have you ever seen another en- zine, being fastened to that first en- zine, by the addition of its power draw the train up? Then after the up grade has been passed have you seen that second engine uncoupled, because the frst engine was then able to do all the workf
 The great trouble of this world is some men are too heavily burdened. They have too big a pack upon their backs To use the figure of the wagon or the engine, they are stalled upon the up grade They are stuck in the mud. When they first came to a stand st1ll, they pulled and tugged and strue- gled. and the more they pulled the more exhausted they became. The re sult was in1tead of getting ahead they OOGG0A0~ U1DCOUK0SS0. 4Acy yucS BofS up all hope and lay down to die. If you would go to that wearied and stumbling man and help him carry the load up the crossing, help him out of She ruts, you would not only do good Do the extent to which you relieved him of his superincumbent weight, but
 you would stimulate him to exert his
 own energies until after awhile he though weakly, would be strengthened
 and encouraged to take care of him
 self.
 Advantages of CombinafAon. !. This is an age for the specialization of talents. Instead of one man making a shoe, as in olden times a single cob.
 bier did, 1t now takes fifty men to
 make the same shoe. Instead of one
 woman spinning her own thread and
 weaving her own cotton and sewing
 her own garments each woman con. centrates her power of mind upon one distinct part of an industry. Civiliza ton has developed It's cotton mills, its