Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-06-13

Read the Bible and it brings you into
the association of the best people thaC
ever lived. You stand beside Moses and
learn his meekness, beside Job and learn
his patience, beside Paul and catch some
thing of his enthusiasm, beside CHRIST
and you feel his love. And yet how
strange it is that great many men have
given their whole lives to the assaultlng
of that book. | cannot understand 1t.
Tom Paine worked against that book as
though he received large wages and was
inspired by the very powers OF darkness,
confessing that all the time he was writ
ing he did not have the Bible anywhere
near him. How many powerful intel
lects have endeavored to destroy It,
Hume, Bolingbroke, Voltaire have been
after it, Ten thousand men now are
warning against the truth of Gods Word.
What do you think of them? | think it
is r,san and will prove it. will prove
it is the meanest thing that has ever been
done in all the centuries.
There is ship at sea and in trouble.
The captain and the crew are at their
wits end. You are on board. You are
an old seaman You come up and give
some good counsel, which is kindly
taken. That is all right. But suppose,
instead of doing that, in the midst of all
the trouble you pick up the only compass
that is on board and pitch it over the
taffrail! Oh, you say that is dastardly.
But is it as mean as rnls? Here is the
vessel of the world going on with sixteen
hundred millions of passengers, tossed
and driven i'll the tempest, and at the
time we want help the infidel comes and
he takes hold of the only compass and
he tries to pitch it overheard. 1t is con-
temptible beyond everything that is con-
| temptible Have you any better light?
Bring it on if you have. Have you any
better comfort to give us? Bring it on
| if you have. Have you any better hope?
Bring it on if you have, and then you
may have this Bible and I shall never
want it again.
LEAN ON THE STAFF OF THE GOSPEL.
But can think of meaner thing than
that. and that is an old man going along
on the mountains with staff in one hand
and lantern in the other. Darkness
has come on suddenly. He Is very old,
lust able to pick his way out amid the
rocks and precipices, leaning on his staff
with one hand and guiding himself with
the light in the other You come up and
say: Father, you seem to be lost. You
are a long way from home" YES" he
replies. And then you take him by the
hand and lead him home. That is very
kind of you But suppose instead Of
that YOU should snatch the staff from his
hands and hurl it over the rocks, and
snatch the lantern and blow it out? That
would be dastardly, contemplate until
there is no depth of contempt beneath
it, If you have better staff, give it to
him. If you have better light, give it
to him.
When God has put the staff of the
Gospel in our bands and the lamp of
Gods Word to light our feet, are you
going to take from us our only sup
port and our only illumination? | love
the sting of the wasp and the rattlesnake
better than do the man who wants tc
clutch the Word of God from my grasp.
There are people here who have been
reading it good while. 1t is aprecious
book to their souls. 1t has been so IL
times of darkness and trouble. There
was q soldier who fell in battle, and after
he had fallen he said in a feeble voice tC
: his comrade, ''Give me drop" Hi:
: comrade replied, ''There is not a particle
of water in my canteen." ''Oh, he said
t 81 didn't mean that. Look III my KNAPP
2 sack and you will find Bible there
! Get out that old Bible and just give me
l drop out of that" And his conrad
} found the Bible and read q few passages
5 The dying soldier said, "Oh, George
/ there is nothing like that, is there. for
dying soldier"
e Cling to your Bible If this Bib
: should be destroyed, if all the Bible
f that have ever been printed should b
e DESTROYED, we could make up a Bibl
s right out of this audience. From tina
V Christian mans experience | take on
s cluster of promises, and from that oil
s Christian mans experience another,
) put them all together, and | think
n would have Bible.
/ You see, my friends, | have not tTie
d to hide the fact that have large eXpeC
e tation of you who have entered til
# Christian life. Do not be discouraged
It Press on toward the prize: God besid
= Won and heaven before you. Keep you
e courage up. Look in thirty years fro1
# now upon this church. Another man
the pulpit Other faces in the pews Al
.. other man leading the song. Others CA
3. rving around the aims boxes Of til
It church. All changed. Thirty yeal
t. have gone and look into the faces {
v the people, and | say: "Why, 1t seems
e me have seen these people somewhere
s, but I cannot exactly say where. Oh, We
A. now | begin to think. These were IL
e converts in 1892 and 1890. Why. ho
le you have changedr'
e ooh, yes," they say, ''of course W
IF have changed. Thirty years makes
t. great change" l say, How man
n wrinkles there are in your faces "Ol
De yes" they say, ''thirty years make
1T great many wrinkles" "Have you kel
the faith?" Eyes, we have kept ii