Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-01-02
8eligiuns department.
Heavenly Mindedness.

No candid reader of the words OF
Jesus can fail to observe the streets
He puts upon things to come-first
upon the things here which are &c
abide forever, and then upon the
things which are to be known and
realized only as the soul enters into
the broader experiences of existence
beyond the grave.
Jesus never overlooks the present
nor the privileges and obligations
of the present. In His estimation
the most immediate and commanding
duty of every human soul is to he
right with God-just here and now,
right with God. Seek We first His
kingdom and His righteousness. -
But there is to be no slackness in
meeting the demands of this present
life. Love is to flow out in full
tides. Head and hand and heart
are to spend and to be spent in SER
vice. Whoever else may be slow in
helping, the disciples of the divine
Master must be quick.
At the same time, Jesus is at I'M
renting pains to impress all who
sit at His feet and learn of Him
with the surprising Importance of
the unseen and eternal. ''Be not
afraid of them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul; but
rather fear him which is able to de-
strov both body and soul in hell"
The body is of little consequence
the soul is of consequence. In
certain comparative sense this earth
lv life is of small account; but the
future is of measureless significance,
and the future stretches a hand back
to write large every thing which has
any bearing on the souls final con-
dition. 81 go to prepare place for
YOU" The Son of God came into
the world to prepare souls to dwell
in an exalted state of blessedness.
He went out of the world to prepare
an exalted state for purified souls to
dwell in. This is exactly what heav
en- has been defined to be: A pre-
pared place for prepared souls.
The great apostle, as was natural,
fell into the same way of thinking
and speaking. ''If then We were
raised together with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ
is. seated on the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things that are
above, not on the things that are
upon the EARTH 1t was supreme
endeavor with Paul, as with all the
apostles, to get men to realize the
power of an endless life, and to
move forward under the inspiration
of the glory and blessedness of the
heavenly inheritance. The Book is
a voice saying to us: "You are only
pilgrims and strangers here; heaven
is your home
A good many people seem to fan
CIV it is old-fashioned to think and to
say much about heaven; and the
call is for the influence of motives
more robust than anticipations of the
rest and joy to be found beyond the
Valley of the Shadow. But is not this
a great mistake? Would it not both
purify and invigOrate our souls t"
keep the great realities, which lie out
beyond the horizon of the present,
steadily in mind as forces divinelN
suited to give wise control to
thought and action? We should
surely be stronger inwardly If the
things of the invisible realms were
more in our contemplation. 1t il
not simply as a poet or as wise
philosopher of life that Wardsworth
sings:
The world is too much with us; late
and soon,
Getting and spending. we lay waste
our powers"
The prevailing type of piety needs
> the infusion of somewhat more of
the temper of Observation-Disclosures
into it. There is too much of the
clatter of the world in the religious
activity of the period, and not enough
of the sweet music which Is waited
in from the sacred spheres where
saints and angels strike their harps
in the open presence of the Son of
God.-IHe AdUdnce.