Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-03-04

)ur day, or else 2Ce must learn UnaC meek
less, gentleness, and forbearance were
1ot the only virtues embodied in Christ,
ind which his followers are to initiate
Ind exhibit to the world Meekness in
some cases, becomes tameness and SER
Witty, but Christ's disciples were to de-
velop true manhood. While some in
our day who are attempting to improve
upon his teachings, tell us we must
Judge not lest we be judged - claiming
that this expression is to be understood
literally, and that we have no right to
doubt that any are other than what they
profess to be. But must not such rem
dering strike every thinking person as
an absurdity that scarcely deserves a
thought? {? Is it not virtually saying to
us "close your eyes and ears to evidence
reject that part of scripture that furnish
es us tokens by which we may judge
ourselves and others? Does it not
proffer encouragement to the designing
and hypocritical, to 60 on in their own
chosen ways, trampling on the rights of
others, destroying all that makes life
dear, if only the smiling face, the sane
timonious demeanor is retained? And
the victims of these evil workers, are
consoled with the advice to submit to
it all without one indignant remon-
STRANGE, or attempt to secure your rights,
love your malicious prosecutors the bet
ter for their abuse" &c. ''if you are
not the means of their salvation you will
be held responsible for their souls " We
would be glad to think the advocates of
such ideas sincere, but if so it must be
at the expense of their wisdom, they
must have read the bible to little pur-
pose, and rejected all that did not ac-
cord with their theories. We wonder
Christ did not tell us, as Such persons
do to love others better than ourselves,
and according with such ideas, was not
our Saviour responsible for the loss of
satan. and his followers responsible for
the loss of their prosecutors But an
examination of all of this class of passa-
ges forbidding us to judge others, will
convince us that the class addressed,
consisted of those who were unwilling to
be measured by the same standard they
applied to others, who were guilty of the
same sins, for which they condemned
others, who had beam in their own
eye while undertaking to remove the
mote from another's eye. But does this
language apply to those who with clear
moral perceptions conscious of integrity
in their intentions, obey the command
to 'judge righteous Judgment" who
heed the words of our Saviour ''by their
fruits ye shall know them" &C., and of
John who says, ''little children let no
man deceive you; he that doeth right
eousness, is righteous, even as he is right
eous," the contrary being also true. But
some insist that we mast allow ourselves
to be deceived, and that the church it
self must continue victim of deception,
Notwithstanding the many exhortations
to the contrary, that we find scattered
throughout the bible. Consequently
Judas Iscariot has been greatly DETAINED
and he must have been friend of Je.
sus, for did he not greet him with kiss
when just ready to betray him? We
are further told that christians have nc
rights which their fellow-b beings are
bound to respect that they have nc
right to seek redress for wrongs; conse
quently all the machinery of law anc
government, avails not for them, anc
lawmakers are no longer to be terror
to evI doers, who may have wronget
them, though the laws have been framed
upon christian principles, and may per
haps be administered by christian men
though the scriptures recognize the mai
esty of law and the fact of its necessity
According to such ideas, when person
becomes child of God, perpetual mir
acle must be wrought for his preserva
tion; and though God has given hin
the instinct of self defense, it is use
less gift; and when his rights or repu
tation are assailed, he is to smile sueet
ly upon his assailant and if he has no
attained to that heighth, that he ca
thank HIM for his kind efforts in aidin
him in the discovery of some hidden evi
in his own heart, he must do more tha
plead with him to desist, though h
may realize that in so doing, he onl
provokes the derision of his enemy an,
is casting his pearls before swine. y
But is it not true that while ''there
but one God, that God is one'' One i
the harmony of his matchless perfet
tions And while he has adapted ma
for the world in which he lives, and fc
the necessities of his existence, will b
not hold him responsible for the use {
his capacities and leave him to reap tb
results of their neglect? Will the idle
in the spring time who neglects to SO
! the seed. find a harvest ready for h
sickle, in the autumn? Just so surel
as those who pursue an irrational cour'
! will have the special protection of Pro
! idence in so doing. 1t seems perfect
! evident that some of Christs instru
tions applied in an exceptional mann,
to the peculiarities of the times and Il
: circumstances of those he addressed, al
, that those instructions are still to
e needed when the same conditions exis
. as they do, when christians carry Il
gospel to heather and barbarous nation
; when they are truly as sheep amor
a0olves, when resistance or appeal to a
3 thority would only serve to make the
:, banishment or destruction more speed
= and when meekness, and the patient e
/ durance of persecution, and of those i
that are unavoidable, must strike vivi
n ly, those benighted souls whose only Ii
. had been hatred and retaliation, even
+ in our Saviour's time when life for Iii
a an eye for an eye, and a tooth for
= tooth, were demanded. Who but C
+ see that different developments are {
+ manded for different states of socie1
/, , and that the law Of love is consiste
), with regard for justice. Not that Q
e should ever cherish anger, hatred or
If venge for injuries, nor desire that e