Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-08-18
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bodies, rose aloft and renewed the conflict
there, midway between earth and heaven.
Every body feels every feature in the
aerial battle to be aHe-iIspiring, and every
one IN the aerial mimicry to be mirthmoy-
ing. The reason is that the fighting souls.
though shadows, betoken something in
earnest, while the grimaces and gesticula-
tions of the monkey were all sham.
All mere forms strike us as ludicrous
When a boy, with merely trifle of down
on his upper lip is, unawares, shaved with
the back of razor; when Moslem, lack
ing water, goes through the form of ablu-
tion by washing his face In dirt; when
monks who never get up themselvs to
vigils, let the bell ring for the edlfication
of the people; when hired mourners howl;
when the pope washes the feet Of the
modern apostles; when queen Bess was
jealous for a ritual which turned all
churches into theaters for acting religious
farces, who could keep from laughing at
such shams2
The hollowness of these and thousand
other " believes" is excellently eX-
posed by the monkeys routine, "full Of
fury, and signifying nothing"
But the monkey mocking his minister
teaches another set of lessons specially
suited to readers of The SABBATH SCHOOL
SCHOLAR. 1t shows, to the life, the c0uls-
ter currents which pervade all the depart
ments of life, and those none the less
powerful because they are long hidden
| from those whose influence they neutralize,
! as well as from those who, uncOnsclously,
put them in motion. How little the
| monkey understood what a combustion be
was stirring up! As little did the preacher
suspect what a power far above him was
acting on his audience, as at the end OF
Longer lever than his, and hence more po-
tenny. The monkey seemed Insignificant,
and the preacher had always viewed him
with contempt or pity, yet that besplsed
imp proved to WELD a weapon irresistible
by any foorce the minister could oppose TO
lit. How often, elsewhere, week things
are chosen to confound the mighty. Pan
tomime is more than preaching. The
truth Is that the Word of God is made of
none effect by mary monkey not mere
Ily above the head of Father Cassabon,
but every where. Behold such monkey
in every commentator who is torpedo TO
the sacred sense; ike him who held
| Christ's saying to Mary, "One thing Is
!, needfull," to mean that one dish OF food
} only is needful.
Once more, when a preacher, every
week, puts the apostles on trial for the
crime of forgery, and delights TO render
certain things doubtful rather than doubt
full things certain, see there, again, is a
neutraizng monkey hid above his pulpit,
and soon to be revealed.
L here are many French monkeys hover
ling over Sabbath schools. All forms may
be observed by their members as exactly
as they were by Father Cassabon, yet
secret, subtle influence may be all the
while nullifying their utility.
Let each one, superintendent, teacher !,
scholar watch, pray, examine himself,
lest he prove, unawares, such a mOcklng-
monkey. SUne sinner destroyeth much
good"
The, -Ereneh monkey was, newt ably,
soon detected, and 1t is unlikely that he
ever found a second opportunity to thwart
the labors of the preacher. But tie mon
r keys he represents in society, and in sab
bath-schools, are not easily found out. and
they are impossible TO be cast out-all of
our guard. Had the French pastor been
more careful in shutting up his pet, he
would never have been so bafiled and
mortified by him. So it is with the fgur-
ative monkeys. Prevention is easier than
cure. We can keep them out easier than
we can cast them out.
You may, then, forget many homily.
but q rpTnenn her the rnoOkev of Fotbor
Cassabon.
Had the apparition of the monkey been
seen above a Puritan pulpit IN the height
and agony of the witchcraft delusion,
have sometimes thought it would have
had no ludicrous associations whatever.
On the other hand, it might have passed
for visible incarnation of Satan, or the
A" diabolical abomination of desolation,
standing where it ought not" Some
would have fallen to the floor senseless
with fear, but holy horror would have
nerved others to climb, like monkeys,
and expel the protane intruder from the
sacred place.
If witches were hanged, the poor brute,
as an imp of Satan, would have been con-
signed to congenial flames.
But no structures of French, in shutting
up, and no rigors of puritRns in burning
up, monkeys, can be greater than our
vigilance and our seventies ought to be,
against the spiritual and Sabbath school
monkeys, who are always in danger of
being too strong or too cunning for US.
Let each and all, then, "Remember the
monkey of Father Cassabon."