Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-11-08
&eligions department.
GIANTS.

A very old dictionary proverb
translates the word giant in Greek to
mean monster, terrible man. Co
Hath was a good illustration, as he
was ten feet seven inches IN height,
and Moses speaks of the bed of Og,
king of Bashan, as fifteen feet four
inches long. Homer in the Odyssey
tells of Otus and Ephialtes, who were
nine cubits about and thirty-siX in
height. A man named Gabharus, at
Rome, in the reign of Claudius, was
nine feet nine inches high. And in
England human skeleton was found
which was nine feet four inches
long.
And we all remember the giants
Pope and Pagan who lived in cave
by the side of the road on which
Bunyan's Pilgrim was travelling to
the Eternal City. Of them Bunyan
says: "But by this place Christian
went without much danger" To
which he adds that Pagan had long
been dead, and all the harm that
Pope could do was to sit in the cave
and grin and bite his nails because
he could not reach Pilgrim to do him
harm.
When the children of Israel came
to the land of promise, and were
afraid to enter it, they sent spies
who saw the giants who were de-
scended from the sons of Anak, be-
fore whom they felt as grasshoppers.
They did not seem to have any idea
that they could overcome these big
men; instead of striving to do so
they lifted up their voices and wept.
1t does seem indeed strange that
they should so soon have forgotten
all the goodness of God to them
while they were in the wilderness,
the way in which they had been led,
the meat that was rained from heav-
en- to satisfy their hunger; the open
ing up of springs in the desert to
quench their thirst the cloud that
led them by day the pillar of fire by
night; yet, when danger came, when
among all the inhabitants of the
promised land they saw few giants,
when with the remembrance of all
the delights that had been promised
to them, they were so alarmed by
the few big men that without an at
tempt to conquer them they wept.
Is it any wonder that God was dis
pleased with them?
Is your land of promise before
you? have you come all the way
through days and nights of weary
striving after its delights to the edge
of the Beulah Land, only to see your
courage vanish now? Are you
afraid of the giants, just the few big
things that remain to you to conquer
before your feet touch the glory
shore?
How weak your heart is How
you forget that the dear Saviour
walks with you by your side, nay
more, with your hand clasped in the
one that was pierced by the Roman
soldier.
What are your giants? Despair
comes along with fear, and unbelief
10 friend of doubt; do you harhor
them? Are they more welcome at
your fireslde than the love, Joy,
peace that Jesus sends to you? How
much you lose when your trust in the
Lord is gone How great harm you
do to your soul when you forget the
daily bread that is sent to you, the
step by step that is marked out, the
gentle voice that is saying in such
loving tones: "This is the way,
walk we in it; ''Take my yoke upon
you, for 1t is light" We do not half
realize that only one yoke can be
worn at one time, there is only suf-
ficient room about the neck and over
the shoulders for one yoke-if you
take the one that Christ offers what
becomes of the other? where are the
weary weights that you have beer
carrying? what has become of YOU
heavily laden heart! Jesus answers
that question for us: "Ye shall fine
rest unto your souls" Rest is no
the very thought a delightful one
A tired soldier, a wayworn traveller
child come to a Fathers house,
Christian weary of toillng up the hill
gladiator exhausted and breathles!
after the race, finding rest
No strivings within, no fears with
out, no giants to conquer, onl y
rest in the new Jerusalem, doing tn
Fathers will with no WEAKNESS, see
ing the face Of the Lamb, having tn
mark on their foreheads, reignin,
with him for ever and ever Chris
tidl ut Work.
SIN ALL THINGS L HAVE