Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-04-22

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laughing ut his jokes, applauding his
eloquence and plunging him into sin?
They have left. Why? His money is
gone, his reputation is gone. his wit is
gone, his clothes are gone-everyt thing
is gone. Why should they stay any
/ longer? They have completed their
work. They have stripped the slain.
There is another way, however, Of
doing that same work Here is man
who, through his sin, is PROSTATE. He
/ acknowledges that he has done wrong.
Now is the time for you to go to that
man and say. Thousands Of people
| have been as far astray as you are and
| got back. :" Now is the time for you
to go to that man and tell him of the
| omnipotont grace of God, that is suffi-
cient for any poor soul. Now is the
time to go and tell how swearing John
Bunyan, through the grace Of God, aft
erward came to the Celestial City. Now
is the time to go to that man and tell
him how profiigate Newton came,
through conversion, to be a world re-
nowned preacher of righteousness. Now
is the time to tell that man that multi
tudes who have been pounded with all
the fails of sin and dragged through all
the sewers of pollution at last have risen
to positive dominion Of moral power.
You do not tell him that, do you? No.
You say to him: "Loan you money? No.
You are down. You will have to go to
the dogs. Lend you dollar? I would
not lend you cents to keep you from
the gallows. You are debauched! Get
out Of my sight nowi Down! You will
have to stay doWnP' And thus those
bruised and battered men are some
times accosted by those who ought to
lift them up. Thus the last vestige of
hope is taken from them. Thus those
who ought to go and lift and save them
are guilty Of stripping the slain.
The point want to make is this: Sin
is hard, cruel and merciless. Instead Of
helping man up, it helps him down,
and when, like Saul and his comrades,
you lie on the field il Will come and
steal your sword anu helmet and shield,
leaving you to the jackal and the crow.
Deceived.
But the world and satan do not do all
their work with the outcast and aban-
doned. A respectable impenitent man
comes to die He is fat on his back. He
could not get up if the house was on
fire. Adroitest medical skill and gen.
t1est nursing have been a failure. He
has come to his last hour. What does
satan do for such a man? Why, he
fetches up all the inapt, disagreeable
and narrowing things in his life. He
says: ''Do you remember those chances
you had for heaven and missed them?
Do you remember all those Iapses in
conduct? Do you remember all those op-
probrious words and thoughts and ac-
tions? Don't remember them, eh? III
make you remember them. - And then
he takes all the past and empties it on
that deathbed, as the mailbags are emp
tied on the postoffice floor. The man is
sick. He cannot get away from them.
Then the man says to satan: 'tYou
have deceived me. You told me that all
would be we'll. You said there would
be no trouble at the last. You told me
if I did so and SO you would do so and
So Now you corner me and hedge me
up and submerge me in everything evil. "
"Ha, hal" says satan. II was only fool
ing you. 1t is mirth for me to see you
suffer. l have been for 30 years plotting
to get you just where you are 1t is hard
for you now; it Will be worse for you
after awhile. It pleases me. Lie still,
sir. Don't finch or shudder. Come,
now, [ will tear off from you the last
rag of expectation. I will rend away
from your soul the last hope. I will
leave you bare for the beating of the
storm. It is my business to strip the
slain. ,:
While men are in robust health and
+boir &c
are strong they think their physical
strength will get them safely through
the last exigency. They say it is only
cowardly women who are afraid at the
last and cry out for God. "Wait till I
come to die. I will show you. You
won't hear me pray, nor call for a min
lister, nor want a chapter read me from
the Bible. - But after the man has been
three weeks in sickroom his nerves
are not so steady, and his worldly COM
panions are not anywhere near to cheer
him up, and he is persuaded that he
must quit life. His physical courage is
all gone.
He jumps at the fall of a teaspoon in
saucer He shivers at the idea of 60
ing away. He says: "Wife, I don't
think my infdelity is going to take me
through. For Gods sake don't bring
up the children to do as I have done. If
you feel like it, I wish you would read
a verse or two out of Fannies Sabbath
school hymnbook or New Testament y
But satan breaks in and says: "You
have always thought religion trash and
lie. Don't give up at the last. Besides
that, you cannot, in the hour you have
to live, get off on that track. Die as you
lived. With my great black wings I
shut out that light. Die in darkness. I
rend away from you that last vestige
of hone IT is my hnsiness TO strin tha