Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-11-24

commlngIe, ana Jnen the two process
sions become one, and march toward
the bridegroom's house and meet
third procession which is made up of
the friends of both bride and bride
groom. Then all enter the house and
the dance begins and the door is shut.
And all this Christ uses to illustrate
the joy with which the ransomed of
earth shall meet him when he comes
garlanded with clouds and robed in
the morning and trumpeted by the
thunders of the last day Look
There he comes down off the hills of
heaven, the bridegroom And let us
start out to hail him, for l hear the
goices of the judgment day sounding,
ssBehold the bridegroom cometh Go
We out to meet him!" And the disaN-
pointment of those who have declined
the invitation to the gospel wedding is
presented under the figure of door
heavily closed You hear it slam. Too
late The door is shut
WE MUST HASTEN.
But we must hasten on, for do not
mean to close my eyes tonight till | see
from a mountain top Lake Galilee, on
whose banks next Sabbath we will
worship and on whose waters the fol
lowing morning we will take a sail. On
and up we go in the severest climb of all
Palestine, the ascent of the Mount of
Beatitudes, on the top of which Christ
preached that famous sermon on the
blesseds- blessed this and blessed that
Up to their knees the horses plunge in
molehills and a surface that gives way
at the first touch of the hoof, and again
and again the tired beasts halt, as
much as to say to the riders, ut is un-
just for you to make us climb these
steps," On and up over mountain
sides, where in the later season hya-
cinths and daisies and phloxes and ano-
mones kindle their beauty. On and
up until on the rocks of black basait
we dismount, and, climbing to the
highest peak, look out on an enchant-
Inent of scenery that seems to be the
beatitudes themselves arched into skies
and rounded into valleys and silvered
into waves
The view is like that of Tennessee
and North Carolina from the top of
Lookout mountain, or like that of Yer
mont and New Hampshire from the
| top of Mount Washington. Hail hills
| of GaIileel Hail Lake Gennesaret,
| only four miles away! Yonder clear up
| and most conspicuous is Safed, the
very city to which Christ pointed for
| Illustration in the sermon preached
here, saying, "A city set on hill can
not b. hid" There are rocks around
me on this Mount of Beatitudes enough
to build the highest pulpit the world
ever saw. And it is the highest pulpit.
| 1t overlooks all time and all eternity.
The valley of Hattin between here and
| Lake Galilee is an amphitheatre, as
| though the natural contour of the
earth had invited all nations to come
| and sit down and hear Christ preach
sermon, in which there were more
startling novelties than were ever an
| nounced in all the sermons that were
| ever preached.
| To those who heard him on this very
| spot, his word must have seemed the
contradiction of everything that they
| had ever heard or read or experienced.
| The worlds theory had been: Blessed
are the arrogant; blessed are the SUI
| percilious; blessed are the fearless;
| blessed are they that have everything
| their own way; blessed are the war
| eagles; blessed are the prosecutors;
blessed are the popular; blessed are
the Herods and the Caesars and the
| Ahabs mol no! nol' says Christ,
with voice that rings over these
rocks, and through yonder valley of
| Hattin and down to the opaline lake
on one side, and the sapphire Med
iterranean on the other, and across
Europe in one way, and across Asia in
the other way, and around the earth
both ways, till the globe shall yet be
girdled with the nine beatitudes :;
Blessed are the poor, blessed are the
mournful, blessed are the meek, blessed
are the hungry, blessed are the merci-
full, blessed are the pure, blessed are
the peacemakers, blessed are the perse-
cuted, blessed are the falsely reviled.
THE LAND AND THE BOOK FIT.
Do you see how the Holy Land and
the Holy Book fit each other2 God
with his left hand built Palestine, and
with his right wrote the Scriptures, the
two hands of the same being; and in
| proportion as Palestine is brought UNI
| der close inspection the Bible will lie
found more glorious and more true.
Mightiest book of the past Mightiest
book of the future! Monarch of all
| literaturel
| The proudest works of genius shall decay,
| And reasons brightest luster fade away.
| The sophist's art, the poets boldeSt flight
| Shall sink in darkness and conclude in night.
| But faith triumphant over time shall stand,
| Shall grasp the sacred volume in her hand,
| Back to its source the heavenly gift convey,
Then in the flood of glory melt away.