Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-11-17


Tennysons "six hundredn when
s'some one had Numbered" were
eclipsed by these one hundred and
thirty fighting for the holy cross They
took hold of the lances which had pierced
them with death wounds, and pulling
them out of their own breasts and sides
hurled them back again at the enemy.
On went the fight until all but one
Christian had fallen, and he, mounted
on the last horse, welded his szocss4ez ~
right and left till his horse fell under
the plunge of the javelin, and the rider,
making the sign of the cross toward
the sky, gave up his life on the point
of a score of spears. But soon after
the last battle came. History portrays
it, poetry chants it, painting colors it,
and all ages admire that last struggle
to keep in possession the wooden cross
on which Jesus was said to have ex-
PRED. 1t was a battle in which min
gled the fury of devils and the grand
eur of angels. Thousands of dead Chris
tians on this side. Thousands of dead
Mohammedans on the other side.
The battle was hottest close around
the wooden cross upheld by the bishop
of Ptolemais himself wounded and dy-
ing. And when the bishop of Ptolemais
dropped dead the bishop of LYDIA
seized the cross and again lifted it, car
rying it onward into wilder and fiercer
fight, and sword against javelin, and
battle ak upon helmet, and piercing
spear against splintering shield. Horses
and men tumbled into heterogeneous
death. Now the wooden cross on which
the armies of Christians had kept their
eye begins to waiver, begins to descend.
1t fallsi and the wailing of the Chris
tian host at its disappearance browns
the huzza of the victorious Moslems.
THE ARMIES OF GOD.
But that standard of the cross only
seemed to fall. 1t rides the sky today
in triumph. Five hundred million souls,
the mightiest army of the ages, are fol-
lowing it, and where that goes they
will go, across the earth and up the
mighty sleeps of the heavens. In the
Twelfth century it seemed to go down.
but in the Nineteenth century it is the
mightiest symbol of glory and triumph,
and means more than any other stand
ard, whether inscribed with eagle, or
lion, or bear, or star, or crescent. That
which Saladin trampled on the plain
of Esdraelon | lift today for your
marshaling. The cross! The cross!
The foot of it planted in the earth it
saves, the top of it pointing to the
heavens to which it viii take you, and
the outspread beam of it like out
stretched arms of invitation to all ma
tons. Kneel at its foot. Lift your
eye to its victim. Swear eternal allie
glance to its power. And as that mighty
symbol of pain and triumph is kept be-
fore us we will realize how insignificant
are the little crosses we are called to
bear, and will more cheerfully carry
them
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go freeg
No. there's q cross for every one
And there's cross for me-
As fall asleep tonight on my pillow
in the tent on the plain of Esdraelon,
reaching from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan, the waters of the river Kishon
oOObAAAu5 A1lC clo ny c1 A0IedOy, near lll6
gathering of the hosts for the last bat
tie of all the earth. And by their rep
resentatives America is here and Europe
is here and Asia is here and Africa is
here and all heaven is here and all hell
is here, and Apollyon on the black
horse leads the armies of darkness, and
Jesus on the white horse leads the ar
mics of light, and hear the roll of the
drums, and the clear call of the clari-
ons, and the thunder of the cannon
AIDES. And then / hear the wild rush
as of millions of troops in retreat, and
then the shout of victory as from four
teen hundred million Threats, and then
a song as though all the armies of earth
and heaven were joining it, clapping
cymbals beating the time-'"rhe king
doms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ, and he shall reign for ever and
ever"