Milford chronicle., 1905-08-11

Oh' lhe hODie sacrlnceS Tor justice ant
honor and truth and Christ and coun
try and home and loved ones we cal
see on every hand! Do not these in
Spire you and me to answer "The Cal
Of the GOOd?" Do they not bid you
say, Il will; yes, in Gods name, l will
live the higher sacrinclal life for 9th
ersY
Changed and Purified.
But after all, 1 believe the greatest
"Call of the Good" comes from She tes-
timOny of men and women who were
once, as wild beasts Of passion, roam
ing over the mountains Of sin, carrying
death and terror everywhere, but who,
by the grace OF God, have been COM
pletely changed. Their voice was once
the voice Of hate; now it is the voice Of
love. Their eyes were once bloOdshOt
and their hands sharp clawed and their
teeth as cruel as the crooked beak Of
hawk, ready to make its fatal plunge
| into the heart Of dove or lamb or fawn.
Now their eyes are eyes of gentle
ness; their feet are like the great paws I
of the noble st. Bernard dogs of st. |
GOthard pass which the monks send |
forth and which climb over the Alps to
hunt for the lost and the dying travel
ers. These men and women, once cor
rupt, are now purified. Once wild
beasts Of passion, now gentle as lambs,
they follow at the feet of the Good
Shepherd, and they come to us and say,
IF the grace of God could change US
and save us the grace Of God can spir-
itually change you il you will let it."
Not from the jungle Of sin to the jun
gle Of sin did they go, but from the far
country Of sin they came back as re-
deemed sons and daughters to their
fathers house Not from man to beast. ,
but from evil monsters to Gods saint r
ship, has been their redemption, trans
transmigratioD and spiritu- /
llizatiOn.
If some of us could not feel that God n
iaves the vilest and the lowest and the =
.hief of sinners, we could not feel that n
The Call Of the Good" was for us.
There is a natural law that water A
annot rise higher than its source. m
o down into the valley and find the =,
rocks leaping over the rocks. / see [,
he creeks and the rivers, with their n
reat serpentine coils. bending and =,
'inding through the meadow lands. =.
.e waters tumbling over miller's y
heel and, like circus rider from the -,
p Of Bushkill or Minnehaha, falls. =
aping thrOughs their hoops OF gold. -
hich the sunbeams in the forms Of
inbOws have lifted for them to play
ith. l know the water in the valley
n do all this because the source Of Fe
ut water is higher than meadow
lds. Those waters come from reser-
irs of clouds which have emptied lat
upon yOnder mountain side wa
1t in our own strength we have no ros
ghlands. If left to ourselves we are wi
thing but bare, bleak Sahara des- fer
!, filled not with life, but with death. HO
It if the spiritual waters can rush wa
wn from the mountain sides and tw,
anse and purify, and turn into spir- mo
al Oases the bleak, bare, sinful des- Ge,
lives Of some of the men and wom- lin,
we have known, the spiritual waters n
hing down from Gods heights can Ooo
lily purify and cleanse and change A.
into spiritual cases. Yes, our bleak. -.
e, sinful lives-bleak and bare as =,
most repulsive Of all Sahara des- ..r,
,-can be completely changed. Truly -
le Call Of the Good" comes nightly 0
overwhelmingly to us from the I,r
eemed lives Of the Davids, and the
ers, and the Magdalenes. and the Brio
chaeuses we see about us on every
d. p
Call TO sinners. liar
Che Call Of the Good" in its high at
development means "The Call to wor
ne to Christ" I am not now ex- gati
ling this invitation to the saints tbo
to the sinners; not to the angels the
lg in the white mansions OF the IiD,.
= Jerusalem or singing in the celes- sbor
choir lofts, but to the wild beasts II,
be human race-to those who have .ha
idered farther and farther away Nc.
they think that even Christ him. liter
has ceased to love them or to care mike
them. l offer ii not so much In bricl
homes Of purity as upon the wild one
ntain sides Of sin, in the thickets gers
vi and in the cold blizzards Of de-
-' NSmOhDeii CuFisL comes TO us .
so much as judge, but as a WI
our, rescuer a redeemer. VIII the
listen to the Divine Call Of the guar,
|" VIII you be pursed with cider
op until you are cleanl VIII you of or
-ashed in the atOning blood until genel
garments become whittier than the cauti
N snow? go bt
list would save even the lowest tain
the vilest. He would save Paul. cost
hlef Of sinners, even as he would this
the gentle John. He would do for a vas
a spiritual way what that Indian be tn
er in physical sense tried to do yard,
er little daughter many years ago are n
one Of the ice foes Of Lake HUI
This mother was an Indian Fathe
' Of ManitOulin island. of the Die
'ay tribe. She was standing up Thom
2 ice near to the shore one even shall.