Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-01-25

OF Ashland has been cut up into walk
ing sticks. The groves where the
poets said the gods dwelt have been
carted out for fire wood The muses.
that we used to read about have dis
appeared before the migrants ak
and the trapper's gun, and that man
who is waiting for life bewitched of
wonders will never find it. There is,
however, field for endurance and
great achievement, but it is in every
day life. There are Alps to scale,
there are Tablespoons to swim, there
are fires to brave; but they are all
around us now This is the hardest
kind of martyrdom to BEAR
1t took grace to lead Latimer and
Ridley through the fire triumphantly
when their armed enemies and their
friends were looking on; but it re-
quires more grace now to bring men
through persecution, when nobody is
looking on. could show you in this
city woman who has had rheuma-
tism for twenty years, who has en-
dured more suffering and exhausted
more grace than would have made
twenty martyrs pass triumphantly
through the fire. If you are not
faithful in an insignificant position in
life you would not be faithful in a
grand mission. IF you cannot stand
the bite of a nudge, how could you
endure the breath of basilisk?
GOD is GLORIFIED IN ALL GOOD WORK.
Do not think that any work God
gives you to do in the world is on too
small a scale for you to do. The
whole universe is not ashamed to
take care of one little flower say:
What are you doing down here in
the grass, you poor little fowers Are
you not afraid nights? You will be
neglected. you will die of thirst, you
will not be fed Poor little fower!'
mo" says star, iii watch over it
tonight No" says a cloud, LII
give it drink" NO" says the sun,
''I'll warm it in my BOSOM" Then l
see the pulleys going and the clouds
are drawing water, and l say, "What
are you doing there, O clouds?'' And
they reply. I'VE are giving drink to
that flower.
Then the wind rises, and comes
bending down the wheat and sound
ing it's psalm through the forest,
and cry, ''Whither away on
such swift wing, 0 wind?" And it
replies I'VE are going to cool the
cheek of that flower And then I
bow down and say, Twill God take
care of the grass of the field9" and a
flower at my foot responds, Eyes; he
clothes the lilies of the field, and
never yet has forgotten me, a poor
little flower" Oh, when I see the
great heavens bending themselves to
what seems insignificant ministra-
ton, when I find out that God does
not forget any blossom of the spring
or any snowflake of the winter, I
come to the conclusion that we can
afford to attend to the minute things
in life, and that what we do we
ought to do well, since there is as
much perfection in the construction
of a spiders eye as in the conforma-
ton of flaming galaxies.
Plato had a fable which l have
now nearly forgotten, but it ran
something like this: He said spirits
of the other world came back to this
world to find a body and find a sphere
of work. One spirit came and took
Another spirit came and took the
body of poet, and did his work
After awhile Ulysses came, and he
said, why. all the fine bodies are
taken, and all the grand work is
taken. There is nothing left for
me-" And some one replied, 'Ah!
the best one has been left for you"
Ulysses said. whats that9" And
the reply was, THE body of COM
mon man, doing a common work, |
and for a common reward" A good |
fable for the world, and just as good
a fable for the church. Whether we
eat OF drink, or whatsoever we do,
let us do it to the glory of God.
Again, we need to bring the reli-
giOn of Christ into our cOmmonest
trials. For severe losses, for bereave-
ment, for trouble that shocks like an
earthquake and that blasts like a
storm we prescribe religious consola-
ton; but, business man, for the small
annoyances of last week how much
of the grace Of God did you applyG
"Oh, you say, these trials are too
small for such application. My
brother, they are shaping your char
acter, they are souring your temper,
they are wearing out your patience
and they are making you less and
less of man.
I go into a sculptor's studio and
see him shaping a statue. He has
chisel in one hand and mallet in the
other, and he gives a very gentle
stroke-click. click, click! I say,