Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1893-06-05


men, We are the men, The Lord
Jesus Christ calls you to his service.
do not promise you an easy time in this
world. You may have prosecutions, and
trials. and Misrepresentation. but after
ward there comes an eternal weight OF
glory, and you can bear the wounds, and
the bruises. and the nisrcp re:e.l,a atoms
if you can have the reward az erward.
Have you rot enough enthusiasm to cry
out: I'VE are the meni We are this
men,?
DANGER OF WORLDLY ELEVATION.
[ learn also from this subject the dan
ger of worldly elevation. This Eglor
was what the world called great man
There were hundreds of people who
would have considered it the greatest
honor of their life just to have him speak
to them. Yet although he is so high up
in worldly position heis not beyond the
reach of Ehud's dagger. [ see a great
many people trying to climbup in social
position, having an idea that there is a
safe place somewhere far above, not
knowing that the mountain Of fame has
a top like Mont Blanc, covered with per-
petual snow.
We laugh at the children of Shinar
for trying to build a tower that could
reach to the heavens, but l think if our
eyesight were only good enough we
could see Babel in many a dooryard
Oh, the struggle is fierce! 1t is store
against store, house against house, street
against street, nation against nation.
The goal for which men are running is
chairs and chandeliers and mirrors and
houses and lands and presidential
equipments. If they get what they an
ticipate, what have they got? Men are
not safe from calumny while they live,
and, worse than that, they are not safe
after they are dead, for I have seen
swine root up graveyards.
One day a man goes up into publicity,
and the world does him honor, and peo-
pie climb up into sycamore trees to
watch him as he passes, and as he goes
along on the shoulders of the people
there is waving Of hats and wild
huzza. Tomorrow the same man is
caught between the jaws of the print
ing press and mangled and bruised, and
the very same persons who applauded
him before cry: "Down with the traitori
Down with himr'
Belshazzar sits at the feast, the
mighty men of Babylon sitting all
around him. Wit sparkles like the wine
and the wine like the wit. Music rolls
up among the chandeliers; the chande-
Tiers flash down on the decanters. The
breath of hanging gardens floats in on
the night air; the voice of revelry floats
out Amid wreaths and tapestry and
folded banners a finger writes. The
march of host is heard on the stairs.
Laughter catches in the throat. A thou
sand hearts stop beating. The blow is
struck. The blood on the floor is richer
hued than the wine on the table. The
kingdom has departed.
Belshazzar was no worse perhaps than
hundreds of people in Babylon, but his
position slew him. Oh, be content with
just such q position as God has placed
you in! II may not be said of US, HE
was great general" or HE was an
honored chieftain,' or ''He was mighty
in worldly attainments, but this thing
may be said CT you and me, ''He was a
good citizen, a faithful Christian,
friend of Jesus" And that in the last
day will be the highest of all eulogiums.
EYES AND SEE NOT.
learn further from this subject that
death comes to the summer house. Egg
Ion did not expect to die in that fine
place. Amid all the flower leaves that
drifted like summer snow into the win
dow; in the tinkle and dash of the foun-
tains; in the sound of a thousand leaves
duttering on one tree branch; in the cool
breeze that came up to shake feverish
trouble out of the kings locks, there
was nothing that spake of death, but
there he died! In the winter, when the
snow is a shroud, and when the wind is
a dirge, it is easy to think of our mortal
ity, but when the weather is pleasant
and all our surroundings are agreeable
how difficult it is for us to appreciate
the truth that we are mortal! And yet
my text teaches that death does some
times come to the summer house.
He is blind and cannot see the leaves.
He is deaf and cannot hear the foun-
5ains Oh, if death would ask us for
we could point him to hundreds
Of people who would rejoice to have
him come. Push back the door of that
novel. Look at that little child-cold
and sick and hungry. It has never heard
The name of God but in blasphemy. Par
ents intoxicated staggering around it's
straw bed. Oh, death, there is a mark
for theel Up with it into the light! Be
fore these little feet stumble on Hfe's |
pathway give them rest.
Here is an aged man. He has done
his work. He has done it gloriously.
The companions of his youth are all
gone, his children dead. He longs to be |
at rest, and YEARLY the days and the
nights pass. He says, "Come, Lord Je-
sus, come quickly" Oh, death, there is
a mark for theel Take from him the
staff and give him the scepteri Up with |