St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-06-18
ST. JOIINSBURY, w. FRIDAY, JUNE 49, 1875

stain-holy in his sphere as God is holy
III His-with not Il single impure desire
hot wrong impulse-not wrong
thought the temple of God-with God
i'll His temple! This was original man
This was the beautiful Fort which God
built to guard His earthly domain
The conflict with sin began Man
was the target. The smoke of the bat
tie has risen and we stand upon the site
of the once beautiful fortress; but what
The physical world has felt the shock
of the conflict. Thorns and thistle
spring up i'll the place of the beautiful
flower and the productive plant The
earth yields her increase only by the
most diligent husbandry and toIlsome
sweat of man. Malaria floats in the
air. Old ocean lashes the shores in
fearful threatenings, the winds blow in
: destructive gales. The awful voice of
God is heard in the torrent and in the
thunder, and His wrathful glance is
caught in the forked lightning. Even
the wild beasts of the field and forest
feel the fall and gnash on their fellows.
Sickness and sorrow are made the heri-
tage of man and
Death rides every breeze,
And turks in every flower"
But not only physically, but morally
hAH m nf u
as blinded by the fall-with mind un-
able to grasp the great thoughts of God
unable to see with any degree ol
clearnesS the beauty and glory of Gods
character. Think of him now, with &
heart battered and broken by sins
cheriShimg impure desires wrong
thoughts ready to lift his hand against
his brother. Think of him now, us Il
sinner. ruined and undone by sin , Sucl
is man in his ruin. We exclaim us VT
contemplate his fallen condition: "Iow
are the mighty fallen!" DIR. Guthrie
the celebrated Scotch divine. eXrliinl,
as he views the ruins of this once beau
tiful human structure: ALAS how i,
the glory departed! Look at his body
when the light of his eve is qncnched
and the cOunteuance is changed and tn,
noble toIm is fostering in corruption
moudeling into the dust of death ol
(clange still more hidcous) look at tn,
soul The spirit of pirty dead, tn,
mind under dark eclipse. hatred t,
God ranking in that once loving heart
il retains but some vestigcS of its origi-
nal grandeur. just enough, like tn,
beautiful tracrry and noble arches of {;
ruined pile. to make us feel what glory
was once there, and now is gone"
And this is the condition in which We
see man now. We have to deal Will
him. not as he WAS made 10y God, bul
as he has made himself 10y sin. W,
= meet men struggling amid the surgine
waves of sin. We do not meet then
in their normal condition-unly us ",
have never seen them in any other than
sin. we think that is such. This thought
is too often forgotten. We meet men il
their rough and coarse exterior aud IN,
t disposed to trown upon them, forgrtfu
I of the fact that we are all of the sam,
, stock. and that we see men not in thci
| nol nal or natural conditions, but il
+ their struggles with sin. and us they ar,
contaminated by it. 1t has been the rt
fort of the race ever since the fall To Ic
cover what WAS lost then. God hai
Jesus Christ whereby the lost image -
God may he restored to fallen man
He has shaped and governed the event
of the world with reference to this sam,
end. And he has put it into the hands u
each individual to SAY whether the ours,
q shall he removed from him and the los
= image of God he restored. God has don,
+ all he could consistently with his oNi
character and the character of man aS
. free agent t" bring him back to tavo
- with Himself.
i And now we see man fighting will
e sin The battle wages hot all over tin
5 field. Every attempt to subduc th
$ with sin. Every pain and ache felt il
II the human frame is but another threa
e of sin. Every attempt to subdue sensu
= ality, intemperInce, rapine and muI
It der, is II battle with the destroyer of til
g race-sin. We stand to watch by til
, bedside of our dying friends -anxiou
days and nights are spent in the ut
tempt to battle disease. Why all this
It 1t is battle with sin.
It The insane retreat, the ear and ey
j. infirmaII, the hospital and the mOrgu
=. vast company of ministers, moral re
y formers, and Christian men and women
" is but the army of God stretched out o
n the battle field of the world in hostil
Y array against the forces of sin, maxim
If Il desperate attempt to capture the citi
: del of the enemy and restore what wa
Is lost when man fell.
l. The battle seems sometime to he IA
D.! adverse one. The victory seems to b
IA Oh the enemy's side. 1t is only nov
k and then that any perceptible advanc
1t cur lips: ..Is God on the throne? Wi
e the forces of Gods army finally ovel
le come and bring back what was lost i
n the fall 7" Weak faith says: 81 fear.
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