Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-10-24

sorbed in paying honors to Christopher
Columbus that we have forgotten To
anathematize the prominent men of the
present. No man in this country is fully
honored until he is dead. Whatever be
the reason, this nation has escaped many
of the horrors that ordinarily accompany
the presidential contest. But let us not
pause too long in hilarity about the pres
ent and forget the fact that there are
not only temporal possibilities far great
er than those attained, but higher moral
and religious possibilities. The God of
our fathers is the God of their children,
and his finger points us to a higher ma
tional career than many have yet sJ1s
pected. For our churches, our schools,
our colleges our institutions of mercy,
the best days are yet to come.
ONWARD THE WATCHwoRD.
But notice that this finger of God al
most always and in almost everything
points forward and not backward. All
the way through the Bible the lamb and
pigeon on the altar, the pillar of fire
poised above the wilderness, peace offer
ing, sin offering, trespass offering, fin
gers Of Joseph and Isaac and Joshua and
David and Isaiah and Micah and Ezekiel,
all together made the one finger of God
pointing to the human, the divine, the
gracious, the glorious, the omnipotent,
the gentle, the pardoning and suffering
and atoning Christ. And now the same
finger of God is pointing the world up
ward to the same Redeemer and for
ward to the time of his universal domi-
nation. My hearers, get out of the habit
of looking back and looking down, and
look up and look forward. 1t is useful
once in awhile to look back, but you had
better for the most part of your time
stop "reminiscences and begin anticipa-
ton. We have none Of us hardly be-
gun yet. If we love the Lord and trust
him-and you may all love him and trust
him from this moment on-we no more
understand the good things ahead of us
than child at school studying his A
& can understand what that has to do
with his reading John Ruskin's ''Seven
Lamps of Architecture" or Dante's ''Di-
VIVA Commedia The satisfactions and
joys we have as yet had are like the
music a boy makes with his first lesson
on the violin compared with what was
evoked from his great orchestra by my
dear and illustrious and transcendent
but now departed friend, Patrick Gill
more, when he lifted his baton and all
the strings vibrated, and all the trum-
pets pealed forth, and all the flutes car
DIED. and all the drums rolled, and all
the hoofs of the cavalry charge which
he initiated were in full beat. Look
ahead! The finger of God points for
ward.
''Oh, but, says some one, 81 am get
ting old, and 1 have touch of rheuma-
tism in that foot, and I believe something
is the matter with my heart, and l ca.
not stand as much as l used to- Well,
congratulate you, for that shows you
are getting nearer to the time when you
are going to enter immortal youth and
be strong enough to hurl off the BATH
ments of heaven any bandit who by uu.
heard of burglary might break into the
Golden City. But" says some one, Il
feel so lonely. The most of my friends
are gone, and the bereavements of life
have multiplied until this world that
was once so bright to me has lost its
charm" | congratulate you, for when
you go there will be fewer here to hold
you back and more there to pull you in.
Look ahead! The finger of God is point
ing forward. We sit here in church
and by hymn and prayer and sermon,
and Christian association we try to get
into frame of mind that will be accept
able to God and pleasant to ourselves.
But what q stupid thing it all is com
pared with what it will be when we have
gone beyond psalmbook and sermon and
Bible, and we stand, our last Imperfect
ton some, in the presence Of that charm
of the univerSe-the blessed Christ-und
have him look in our face and say: Il
have been watching you and sylnpathiz-
ing with you and helping you all these
years, and now you are here. Go where
you please and never know q sorrow and
never shed tear. There is your mother
now-she is coming to greet you-and
there is your father, and there are your
children. Sit down under this tree of
life, and on the banks of this river tall
it all over" | tell you there will be
more Joy in one minute of that than in
fifty years Of earthly exultation. Look
ahead! Look at the finest house on earth
and know that you will have u finer one
in heaven. Look up the healthiest pei
son you can find and know you will yet
be healthier. Look up the one who has
the best eyesight of any one you have ever