Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-02-17
abounded grace may much more

I Luther to StaupItZ, MY sins, my
sins!" The fact is, that the brawny
German student had found Latin
Bible that made him quake, and moth
ing else ever did make him quake; and
when he found how, through Christ,
he was patt,oned and saved, he wrote
to a friend saying: 'Come over and
by the grace of God. You seem to be
only slender sinner, and you don't
much extOl the mercy of God; but we
that have been such very awful sin
ners praise his grace the more now
that we have been redeemed" Can it
be that you are 50 desperately egotisti-
cal that you feel yourself in first rate
spiritual trim, and that from the root
of the hair to the tip of the toe you are
scarless and immaculate? What you
need is looking glass, and here it is
in the Bible. Poor, and wretched, and
miserable, and blind, and naked from
the crown of the head to the sole of
the foot, full of wounds and putrefy-
ing sores. No health in US. And
then take the fact that Christ gathered
up all the notes against us and paid
them, and then offered US the receipt
And how much we need him in our
sorrows! We are independent of cir
cumstances if we have his grace. Why,
he made Paul sing in the dungeon,
and under that grace st. John from
desolate Patmos heard the blast of the
apOcalyptlc trumpetS. After all other
candles have been snuffed out, this is
the light that gets brighter and bright
er unto the perfect day; and after,
under the hard hOofs of calamity, all
| the pools Of worldly enjoyment have
been trampled into deep mire, at the
| foot of the eternal rock the Christian,
| from cups of granite lily trimmed and
vine covered, puts out the thirst of his
soul.
Again, remark, that Christ is above
all in dying alleviations.
have not any sympathy with the
morbidity abroad about our demise.
| The emperor OF ConstantinOple ar
ranged that on the day of his corona
ton the stone mason should come and
consult him about the tombstone that
after a while he would need. And
| there are men who Gre mOnOmanlacal
on the subject of departure from this
life by death, and the more they think
of it the less they are prepared to go.
This is an unmanliness not worthy of
you, not worthy of me-
Saladin, the greatest conqueror of
his day, while dying, ordered that the
tunic he had on him be carried after
his death on his spear at the head of
his army, and that then the soldier,
ever and anon, should stop and say
Behold, all that is left of Saladin, the
emperor and cOnquerOrl OF all the
states he conquered, of all the wealth
he accumulated, nothing did he retain
but this shroud." [ have no sympathy
with such behavior, or such absurd
| demonstration, or with much that we
| hear uttered in regard to departure
from this life to the next. There is a
! commonsensical idea on this subject
| that you and [ need to consider-that
there are only two styles of depart
ure.
CHRIsT's POWER TO MAKE DEATH EASY.
A thousand feet underground, by
light of torch toiling in a miners
shaft, ledge of rock may fall upon
us, and we may die a miners death.
Far out at sea, falling from the Slip
perry ratlines and broken on the hal
yards, we may die sailors death.
On mission of mercy in hospital, amid
broken bones and reeking leprosies
and raging fevers, we may die a phi
lanthropist's death On the field of
BATTLE serving God and our country,
slugs through the heart, the gun car
riage may roll over us, and we may
die a patriots death But, after all,
there are only two styles of departure
the death of the righteous and the
death of the wicked-and we all want
to die the former.
God grant that when that hour
comes you may be at home. You
want the hand of your kindred in
your hand. You want your children
to surround you. You want the light
on your pillow from eyes that have
long reflected your love. You want
the room still. You do not want any
curious strangers standing around
watching you. You want your kin
dred from afar to hear your last pray
en- [ think that is the wish of all of
US But is that all? Can earthly
friends hold us up when the pillows
of death come up to the girdle? Can
human voice charm open heavens
gate? Can human hand pilot us
through the narrows of death into
heavens harbor? Can any earthly
friendship shield us from the arrows
of death, and in the hour when Satan
shall practice upon us his Internal
archery? No, no, no, no! Alas! Poor
soul, if that is all Better die in the
wilderness, far from tree shadow and
from fountain, alone, vultures circling
through the air waiting for our body,
unknown to men, and to have no
burial, if only Christ could say
through the sOlitudes: II will never
leave thee, [ will never forsake thee"
From that pillow of stone ladder
would soar heavenward, angels COM
ing and going; and across the solitude
and the barrenness would come the
sweet notes of heavenly minstrelsy.
Gordon Hall, far from home, dying
in the door of heather temple, said:
''Glory to thee, O GOd!" What did
dying Wilberforce say to his wife?
Come and sit beside me, and let us
talk of heaven. never knew what
happiness was until [ found Christ"
What did dying Hannah More say?
''To 90 to heaven, think what that IS !
To go to Christ, who died that [ might
live! Oh, glorious grave! Oh, what
a glorious thing it is to diel Oh, the
What did Mr. Toplady, the great
hymnmaker, say in his last hour?
''Who can measure the depths of the
third heaven? Oh, the sunshine that
fills my soul! | shall soon be gone,
for surely no one can live in this
world after such glories as God has
manifested to my soul. "
What did the dying Janeway say?
Il can as easily die as close my eyes
or turn my head in sleep. Before a
few hours have passed [ shall stand on
Mount Zion with the one hundred and
forty and four thousand and with the
just men made perfect, and we shall
ascribe riches, and honor, and glory,
and majesty, and dominion unto Goo
and the Lamb" DR.. Taylor, con-
demned to burn at the stake, on his
way thither broke away from the
guardsmen and went bounding and
leaping and jumping toward the fire,
glad to go to Jesus and to die for him.
Sir Charles Hare, in last moment, had
such rapturous vision that he cried:
Upward, upward, upwardr' And
so great was the peace of one of
Christ's disciples that he put his
fingers upon the pulse in his wrist and
counted it and observed it; and so
great was his placidity that after a
while he said EtStODnnd p and his life