Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-05-12

parched sky break IN showers, or
perplexity disentangled, or the incon-
solable take solace, or the hayward
reform at the call CT prayer? [ have
seen it; multitudes have seen it. You
have, if you have been willing to see
it. Deride not the faith cure. Be
cause impostors attempt it, is moth
ing against good men whom God hath
honored with marvellous restorations.
| Pronounce nothing impossible to
prayer and trust. Because you and 1
cannot effect it is no reason why others
may not.
By the same argument [ could prove
that Raphael never painted a Madonna,
and that Mendelssohn never wrote an
oratorio, and that Phidias never CHS
| eled a statue Because we cannot
accomplish it ourselves, we are not to
| conclude that others may not. There
are in immensely great ranges of mists
which have proved, under closer tele
| scopic scrutiny, to be the storehOuse
of worlds. and l do not know but from
that passage in James, which, to some
| of us is yet misty and dim, there may
| roll out a new heaven and a new
earth, THE prayer of faith shall save
| the sick" The faith curists may, in
this war against disease, be only Skin
mishing before general engagement
| in which all the maladies of earth
shall be routed. Surely. allopathy
and homeopathy and hydropathy and
eclecticism need reinforcement from
somewhere Why not from the faith
| and prayer of the consecrated?
The mightiest school of medicine
NAV vet be the school of Christ. [ do
not know but that disease, now by all
schools pronounced incurable, may
give way under gospel bombardment.
| I do not know but that the day may
come when faith and prayer shall raise
| the dead Strauss and WoOlston and
Spinoza and Hume and Schleiermacher
rejected the miracles of our past. do
not propose to be like them, and reject
the miracles of the far future This l
know, the Christ of Ascension day is
mightier than any natural laws, for
on the day of which l speak he
trampled down the strongest of them
all. Law is mighty, but he who made
| 1t Is L11DuGlCI DIINO OOO AoC1AASAAA
from your theology and giys grace
the throne.
CHRIsT'S LAST BLESSING.
Standing today on the ascension
peak of Mount Olivet I am also glad
dened at the closing gesture, the last
gesture Christ ever made. He lifted
up his hands and blessed Them" says
the inspired account Of our Lords de-
parture. I am so glad he lifted up his
hands. Gestures are often more sig
nificant than words, attitudes than
arguments. Christ had made a gest-
ure of contempt when with his finger
he wrote on the ground; gesture of
repulsion when he said, ''Get thee be-
hind me, Satan;" gesture of condem-
nation when he said, ''Woe unto you,
Pharisees and hypocrites." But his
last gesture, his Olivetio gesture, is
gesture of benediction. He lifted up
his hands and blessed them. His arms
are extended, and the palms of his
hands turned downward, and SO he
dropped benediction upon Olivet, bene-
diction upon Palestine, benediction
upon all the earth.
The cruel world took him in at the
start on a cradle of straw, and at last
thrust him out with the point of the
spear; but benediction! Ascending
until beneath he saw on one side the
Bethlehem where they put him among
the cattle, and Calvary on the other
side, where they put him among the
thieves. As far as the excited and in
tensifed vision of the group on Olivet
could see him. and after he was so far
up they could no longer hear his words,
they saw the gesture of the outstretched
hands. the benediction. And that is
his attitude today. His benediction
upon the worlds climates, and they
are changing, and will keep on chang
ing until the atmosphere shall be a
commingling of October and June.
Benediction upon the deserts till they
whiten with lily, and blush with rose,
and yellow with cowslip, and emerald
with grass BenedictiOn upon govern
ments till they become more just and
humane BenedictiOn upon nations till
they kneel in prayer. Benediction upon
the whole earth until every mountain
is an Olivet of conservation, and every
lake a Galilee on whose mosaic OF
crystal, and opal, and sapphire divine
spendors shall walk. Oh, take the
benediction of his pardon, sinners
Young, and sinners old, sinners mod
crate, and sinners abandoned. Take
the benediction of his comfort, all ye
broken hearted under bereavement
and privation, and myriad woes
Take his benediction, all We sick beds
whether under acute spasms of pain
or in long protracted invalidism. Fol-
orphanage, and childlessness, anC
widowhood benediction. For cradles
and trundle beds and rocking chairs
of octogenarians, benediction. Fol-
life and for death, for time and fol
eternity, for earth and for heaven, {
benediction. Sublimest gesture ever
made, the last gesture of our ascend
ing Lord. "And he lifted up hi.
hands and blessed them"
GOD GIVE Us GRACE!
Is our attitude the same2 Is it the
clinched fist or the open palma Is i
wrath or is it kindness? Is it diabol
ism or Christism? God give us the
grace of the open palm, open upward
to get the benediction, open downward
to pronounce a benediction. A lady
was passing along street and sudden
ly ran against ragged boy, and sh'
said: II beg your pardon, my boy,
did not mean to run against you; l an
very sorry" And the boy took of
his piece of cap he had upon hi
head and said: ''You have my pard
ing, lady, and you may run agin M
. and knock me clear down. won
, care" And turning to comrade h.
said: ''That nearly took me off ny
feet. Nobody ever asked my pardin&
before" Kindness! Kindness Fill
the world with it. There has Away
been too much of disregard of others
Illustrated in 1880, in England, whel
ninety-fve thousand acres of marshe
, were drained for health and for cro]
: raising, and the sportsmen destroyed
the drainage works because the,
, wanted to keep the marshes for hunt