Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-01-27


Or a man comes to you and says: II
want TO introduce myself TO you. | went
into prayer meeting in Atlanta some
years ago, sat back by the door; you arose
10 make an eIhortation; that talk changed
the course Of my life, and II ever get to
heaven under God will owe my salvation
TO you" In only ten, twenty or thirty
years the circle swept out AMI swept back
again to your own grateful heart.
But sometimes it is a wider circle and
does not return for great while. | saw
bill of expenses for burning Lltimer and
Ridley The bill OF expenses SAYS;
One load OF DIR fagos ............ ........ 9'. I'd
Carriage OF four loads OF WOOD. b.
Item, post le. %
Item, Two chains ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. is ~.
Item, two stap les es........."...........-. Ga.
Item, Tour laoore Ss So
That was cheap fire, considering ali the
circumstances, but it kindled light that
shone all around the world and aroused the
martyr spirit and out from that burning oil
Lati1ner and Ridl ey rolled the circle wider
and wider, sta 1T ing other circles, convout-
ing, overrunning. circumscribing, overarch'
ing all heav ven-a circle.
But what is true Of the good is Just a
true Of the bad You utter slander against
your neighbor. IL has gone forth from
your teeth: 1t Will never como back, yos
think. You have done the man all the mis-
chief you can. You rejoice to see him vince
You say, 'Didn't give it to him" That
word has gone out, that slanderous word, on
its poisonous and blasted way. You think
it will never do you any harm. But | am
watching that word, and | see it beginning
to curve and It curves around, and 1t Is aim
ing at your heart. You had better Dodge
it. You caunot dodge it. 1t rolls into your
bosom and after 1t rolls in a word OF an old
book, which says with what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again.
You maltreat an aged parent. You be-
grutged him the room in your house. You
are impatient Of his whimsicalities and gar
rulity. 1t makes you mad to hear him tell
the same story twics. You give him food
he cannot masticate. You wish he was
away. You wonder II he is going to live
forever. He will be gone very soon. His
steps are shorter and shorter He is going
TO stop. But Go has au account to settle
with you on that subject. After awhile
your eye will be dim, and your gait will
halt, and the sound Of the grinding will be
low, and you will tell the same story twice,
and your children will wonder IL you are
gong to live forever and wonder If you will
never be taken away.
Tney callei you father once: now they
call you the 'old man" II you live a few
years longer they will cali you the "old
ohapF What are those rough words with
which your children are accosting your
They are the echo Of the very words you
used in the ear Of your old father forty
years ago. What is that which you are
trying to chew, but find it unmas-
ticsole, and your jaws ache, ani you sur
render the attempta Perhaps it may be the
gristle which you gave to your father for
his breakfast forty years ago.
gentleman passing along the street saw
a son dragging his father into the street by
the hair OF the head. The gentleman, out
ragged at this brutal conduct, was about to
punish the offender when the old man arose
and said, Don't hurt him, its all right;
forty years ago this morning dragged out
my father BY the hair OF his head" 1t is a
circle. My father lived into the eighties,
and he had very wide experience, and he
said that maltreatment OF parents was
! always punished in this world. Other sins
may be adjourned to the next world, but
maltreatment OF parents Is punished in this
world.
The circle turns quickly, very quickly.
Oh, what stupendous thought that the
good and the evil we start come back to usi
Do you know that the Judgment Day will
| be only the points at which the circles join.
tho good and the bad we have done coming
back to us unless divine Intervention hinder
coming back TO us with welcome Of delight
or curse of condemnation.
oh, would like to see Paul, the invalid
missionary, at the moment when his inhu-
ence comes to full oro-his influence rolling
out through Antioch, through Cyprus
through Lystra, through Corinth, through
Athens, through Asis. through Europe,
through America, through the first century,
through five centuries, through twenty cen.
turies through all the succeeding centuries,
through earth through heaven, and at last,
the wave OF influence having made full cir
cult strikes his great soul. oh, then | would
like to see himl No one can tell the wide
sweep OF the circle Of his influence save the
One who is seated on the circle OF the earth.
| should not want to see the couutenancs
of Voltaire when his influence comes to full
orb. When the fatal hemorrhage seizei
him at eighty-three years of age his infu.
ence did not cease The most brilliant man
of his century, he had used all his faculties
for assaulting Christianity, his bad inhu
ence widening through France, widening ou
through Germany, widening through al
Europe, widening through America, widen
ing through the 115 years that have gone BY
since he died, widening through earth,
widening through hell, until at last the &C
cumulated influence of his bad life In fiery
surge Of omnipotent wrath will beat against
mis- destroyed spirit and at that moment II
will be enough to make the black hair ol
eternal darkness turn white with the horror
No one can tell how that bad mans iniu
ence girdled the earth save the one who i
seated on the circle OF the earth tho Lor,
Almighty.
"Weli, now," say people in this audience
s'this In some respects is very glad theor
and in others a very sad one; We would lik
to have all the good we have ever done com
back to us but the thought that all the sin
we have ever committed will come back b
us fills us with alright" My brother,
have to tell you God can break that circl
and will do 80 at your call. | can brin
twenty passages of Scripture to prove tina
when God for Christ's sake forgives q ma
the sins Of his past life never come bacx.
The wheel may roll on and ioll on, br
YOU take your position behind the eros
and the wheel strikes the cross and Is sha
tered forever The sins fly of from the ci
Gle into the perpendicular, falling at rigl
angles with complete oblivion. Forgiven
Forgiven The meansst thing that ma
can do is, after some difficulty has been SO
tied, to bring IT up again, and God will n
, be so mean as that Gods memory 10 might
enough TO hold all the events Of the az
but there is one thing that is sure TO slip h
memory, one thing He Is sure to forget, al
, that is psrdonsd transsression. How dc
, know iti / will prove 1t. Their sins al
their iniquties wilt remember no more
Come into that state this morning, my dc
, brother, my dear sister. blessed is
, one whose transgressions are forgiven"
But do not make the mistake OF thinkil
that this doctrine of the circle stops wi
| this life; it rolls on through heaven. Y
.twkt Il, ~, xuba