Connecticut western news., 1904-04-07


 the hills be removed. but my loving kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenants of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy Cn thee" How have Gods promises been fulfilled in your own life? Have not all your past troubles been the means, through the influence of the Holy Spirit. of working together for your good? Christ was the fulfill ment CT prophecy in tie Emmaus reve- lation. Christ is also the tultillment of prophecy in our own lives.
 Despair Changed 70 Hope.
 But again learn from these Easter afternoon lesSous that Christ only ap- peared unto Eis disciples when they felt their own helplcssness without his divine presence and sustcnance. If these mca, walking along that Elm maus road, had said to themselves, Well. Jesus is Gead; perhaps it is just as well that he is gone; we were fol lowing him too much anyhow; we can get along now perhaps better with out him than with him." Jesus would never have revealed himself unto them. But what did these two men practically say? They said: "Oh, what shall we do, what shall we do? The Christ upon whom we have leaned, the Christ whom we have followed, the Christ whose words have been our meat and strength by day and by night, is gone. What shall we do? What shall we do?' Let me read to you their very words. When this stranger ac- costed the two disciples they told to him their story. Then in a despairing tone they said, We trusted that it had been he who should have re- deemed Israel" Yes; we trusted,' but now all their hope was gone. They were hopeless without Christ. But when Christ revealed himself then their despair was changed into trium- phant hope.
 My friend, on this hillside overlook ing the little. Emmaus village do you feel helpless unless you have Christi Do you pin to him all your faith both for this world and the next? If you do Christ will reveal himself to you. If you do not he will never reveal him self. In your Easter hopes I want you to feel the absolute dependence upon the divine power which my pious an cestor did many years ago. Rev. Ma than Birdscye was among the most fa- nous New England divines of his day. He lived In Connecticut and was not only very wealthy, but lived also in the time when the people of New Eng land. owned slaves, and he also owned them. There came during his lifetime a prolonged drought in that country which threatened not only to destroy the crops, but also the cattle and the men and women of that region. Old Nathan Birdseyc one day gathered his family and servants together and made this simple yet earnest prayer: 70 God, thou knowest that without thee we can do nothing. Save me and my family and people. Save my cattle and my crops. Save us, O God, save us! Thou who didst rescue the children of Israel in the wilderness, rescue us now!'
 The Risen Christ.
 Then" so goes the letter written by this good mans granddaughter to her grandson, my grandfather stepped out of his home and stood as an old man leaning upon his staff. With his cane he gently pushed the earth at his feet. As he pushed it he saw the soil grow darker. Failing to his knees, the old man began to dig the ground with his bare fingers, at the same time call ing for help. Spades were brought, and there, at his very doorstep, was dug a well which gave precious life saving drink to his family and the peo- pie of the surrounding hills. Thus, my dear grandson, I write this that you may know that our family at that time was saved by faith and by believing prayer" Oh, my friends, Christ is refuge in every age. As the two dis ciples listened to him and found com fort in their day, as my sainted an- cestor turned to him in his trial and was delivered, so may we in every emergency of our lives find help and peace in looking to him and praying to him. Will you not feel,sas did the two disciples on the Emmaus road, that without Christ you can do nothing and that with Christ you can do every thing?
 But I cannot close without a practi- cal application to our future work in our relationship with our fellow men and fellow Christian disciples. When Jesus revealed himself to his disciples in the little Emmaus village, what did they do? Did they rejoice? Yes; they rejoiced as gladly as did the old Q father in the parable of the prodigal son, who cried out in ecstasy, Tt was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is foundp' But these two disciples did more than merely stay at home Easter evening and rejoice with each other Their happiness over the Elm maus revelation was too great to be housed within four walls. They imme- diately started back to Jerusalem. They said to each other: Come, come, come! Let us go and tell the apostles and the other disciples that we have seen the risen Christ. Come, come, come! Let us have them rejoice with
 
 with them when they wept." We can now see them running back to the Je | rusalem capital on Easter night, and Easter darkness was not made an ex- cuse for laggard feet. They ran. Aye, , they ran as fast as their limbs could carry them to tell of the risen Christ. The Glorious News.
 We are all ready to carry good news to our fellow men. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo messenger start i ed for the Russian capital to tell the , czar that his national enemy was over- | thrown. On and on he went. While the horses were being saddled at the different taverns he would sleep; then 1 into his saddle and on. When he rush. ed into the Petersburg palace the czar | was at dinner. But, undaunted, he car ried the good news into the royal ban quet hall, and then, after telling the news, he dropped at the feet of the | ear and fell into a slumber from