Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-07-01
ment IF the church and assail these great

again. and vet the p1ety of the day is
such a namby pamby sort of thing that
you cannot even quote Scripture with
out making somebody restless. AS long
as this holy imbecility reigns in the
church of God, sin will laugh you to
scorn. I do not know but that before the
church wakes up matters will get worse
and worse. and that there will have to
be one lamb sacrificed from each of the
most carefully guarded folds, and the
wave of uncleanness dash to the spire of
the village church and the top of the
| cathedral tower.
Prophets and patriarchs and apostles
and evangelists and Christ himself have
Numbered against these sins as against
no other, and yet there are those who
| think we ought to take, when we speak
of these subjects, tone apologize. [
put my foot on all the conventional rhet-
ORIG on this subject, and I tell you
plainly that unless you give up that sin
your doom is sealed, and world without
end you will be chased by the anathemas
of an incensed God. I rally you to
besiegement Of the gates of hell We
want in this besieging host no soft SEN
timentalists, but men who are willing
| to take and give hard knocks. The gates
of GAIA We're carried off, the gates of
| Thebes were battered down, the gates
of Babylon were destroyed, and the gates
of hell are going to be FRUSTRATED.
The Christianized printing press will
be rolled up as the chief battering ram
| Then there will be long list Of aroused
pulpits, which shall be assailing for
tresses, and Gods redhot truth shall be
the flying ammunition of the contest,
and the sappers and the miners will lay
| the train under these foundations of sin,
and at just the right time God, who
leads on the fray, will cry, Down with
the gates'' and the explosion beneath
will be answered by all the trumpets of
God on high, celebrating universal VIC
tory.
But there may be one wanderer that
would like to have kind word calling
homeward. I have told you that society
has no mercy. Did I hint, at an earlier
point in this subject, that God will have
mercy upon any wanderer who would
like to come back to the heart of infinite
love?
Lost Wanderer.
A cold Christmas night in farm
knocks the snow from his shoes and sits
down by the fire. The mother sits at the
stand knitting She says to him, ''Do
you remember it is the anniversary to-
night?" The father is angered. He new
er wants any allusion to the fact that
one had gone away, and the mere sug-
gestion that it was the anniversary Of
that sad event made him quite rough,
although the tears ran down his cheeks
The old house dog that hadfplayed with
the wanderer when she was a child comes
up and puts his head Ga the old mans
knee, but he roughly repulses the dog.
He wants nothing to remind him of the
anniversary day.
A cold winter night in a city church.
It is Christmas night They have been
decorating the sanctuary. A lost wan
derer of the street, with thin shawl
about her, attracted by the warmth and
light, comes in and sits near the door.
The minister of religion is. preaching of
him who was wounded for our trans
gressions and bruised for our iniquities,
and the poor soul by the door said:
"Why, that must mean me! Mercy for
the chief of sinners; bruised for oTir in
EQUITIES; wounded for our transgres-
sions. -
The music that night in the sanctuary
brought back the old hymn which she
used to sing when, with father and
mother, she worshiped God in the vii
lage church. The service over the min
lister went down the aisle. She said to
him: ''Were those words for me?
Wounded for our transgressions. Was
that for me:'' The man of God under
stood her not. He knew not how to COM
fort shipwrecked soul, and he passed
on, and he passed out The poor wander
er followed into the street.
Return of the Lost.
''What are you doing here, Meg?''
said the police ''What are you doing
here tonight?'' "Oh,'' she replied, ct
was in to warm myself !" And then the
rafting cough came, and she held to the
railing until the paroxysm was over.
She passed on down the street, falling
from exhaustion, recovering herself
again, until after awhile she reached the
outskirts of the city, and passed OF into
the country road. 1t seemed SO familiar.
She kept on the road, and she saw in the
distance q light i'll the window. All,
that light had been cleaning there ev-
cry night since she went away. On that
country road she passed until she came
to the garden gate. She opened it and
passed up the path where she played in
childhood. She came to the steps and |
looked in at the fire on the hearth. Then
she put her fingers to the latch. Oh, if |
that door had been locked she would |
have persisted on the threshold, for she |
was near TO death! But that door had |
not been locked since the title she went |
away. She puzzled open the door. She
went in and lay down on the hearth by
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