Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-11-20

tue A+ftAAAN aA'aAaNaA- Altll aAala'F
par-l % eternity, like the drop ui thc nishi
dvW shaken from the top ~ a grass blade ty
the cus's ho0i GA is way aleld this morn
Ing, a. comparud with Mediterranean anu
Arabian ami Atlantic and Paeinc watery do
miniuus.
A stranger desired o. purchase farm, but
the owner would not sell ii-gOuid only lrt
h.. The stranger hired u by lease i1r only
Z one crop, but be- s0wrI arlras. ami 20 ma
ture that crop 3ol year. were Necessary. That
was a practicel deccp;ip N, but deceive YOU
not when tell You that the crop Of the soul
Z takes hold Of uaeniins ares.
/ sec the author Of my text seated IN the
. house Of Gaius, who entertained him NJ
/ Conuih, not far from the oyeraaugiug Tor
. tress OF Acro-Corinthus. and me'liia'ing on
E the longevity % the soul aud getting more
I and more agitHted about It's value and tue
awful risk some Of his kindred were running
+ concerning il, aud he writes this letter con-
F tainiuc the text, which ChrysnstOm admired
F 50 much he had II read 10 him twice week.
b and among other things he says those dar-
Ing aud startling words Of my text, II could
wish that myself were .a,cursed from Christ
! for my brethren, my Hnsmen, according to
the flesh"
Another way to get something OF the
Pauline longing for redeemed immOrta.ities
Is BY examining the vast machinery ar
ranged to save this inner and spiritual ma
+ ture That machinery started to reyolye on
/ the edge OF the garden of Eden, just after
I the cyclone OF sin Frustrated its sycamOres
ant tamRrisks and willows and will not cease
/ To reyOlye until the last soul Of earth shall
get rid Of its last sin and enter the heavenly
| Eden. On that stupendOus machinery for
soul saving the patriarch put his hand, and
I prophet MS hand, and evangelist his hand,
and apostle his hand, and Christ His hand,
and almost every hand that touched it be-
came a crushed hand. 1t was the most eX-
/ pensive machinery ever constructed. II cost
more to start 1t aud has cost and will cost
more to keep il running than all the wheels
that ever made revolution on this planet
! That machinery turned not by ordinary
motive power, but by force OF tears and
blood. To connect its bands Of influence
made out OF human and Christly nerves with
all parts Of the earth millions OF good men
/ and women are now at work and will be ut
work until every wilderness shall become a
garden, and every tear OF grief shall be
tear of JOY, and the sword of divine victory
shall give the wound to the old dragon that
shall send him bowling to the pit, the iron
! gate changing against him, never again 10
/ open. All that and infinitely more to save
the soul! Why, It must be tremendous
| tremendous for good or tremendous
for evil, tremendous for happiness or tre-
mendous for woe.
Put on the left side OF the largest sheet Of
| paper that ever came from paper mill a sin
| gle unit, the figure /. and how many ciphers
would you have to add to the right of that
tigureto express the souls value, each cipher
adding tenfold? Working into that scheme
| OF the souls redemption, how many angels
Of God descending and ascending! How
many storms swoOplng on Lake Galilee! How
many earthquakes opening dungeons and
/ striking cataclysms through mountains, from
top to base! What MONDAY sun was put on
retreat. What omnipOtence lifted and what
Godhead was put to torture! All that for
the soul. No wonder that Paul, though pos
seSSing great equipOise OF temperament when
he thought what his friends and kindred
We're risking concerning their souls, flung
aside all his ordinary modes OF speech, argu-
ment and apt smile, and bold metaphor. and
learned allusion, as unfit to express how he
felt, and Selling upon the appalling hyper
boIism of my text cries cut, Il could wish
myself accursed" that is, struck Of the
thunderbolts OF the omnipotent God, sunk
to untathomed depths, chained into seryi-
tude to Abaddon and thrust into furnaces
whose fires shall never burn out If only
those whom love might now and forever be
saved. Mind you, Paul does not say, II do
wish" He says. 81 could wish Even in
the agony he felt for others he did not lose
his balance. II could wish myself accursed. ~
l could, but do not Only ono being that
ever lived was literally willing TO give W
heaven for perditiOn, and that was the III.
vine peasant whom | mentioned few mo.
ments ago. He was not only willing 10 cX.
change dominions Of bliss for dominions o
wretcheduess, but He did 80, for, that He
forsook heaven, witness the stopping star
and all those who saw His miracles OF mercy
and that He actually entered the gates OF the
wOrld OF perpetual contiagratiOn the Bible
distinctly declares. He did not say, with
Paul, 81 could" but He said, II will, do,
and for the souls Of men He descended into
hell"
In this last half OF the last decade OF tn,
nineteenth century the temperature in the
churches is very low, and most OF the pietS
would spoil il it were not kept on ice. And
, taking things as they are, ordinary CHRIS
tians will never reach the point where the
cutlery OF Paul in the text will not seem like
extravaganza The prOprletieS in most OF tn,
churches are so fixed that all Christian il
expected to do on Sunday is to get up litl,
later in the morning than usual, put on tina
which is next to his best Rttire-nOt the very
| best, for that has to be reserved for the leve,
, --enter the church with stately step, bow
! his head, or at any rate shut his eyes II
/ prayer time, or close them enough to lOOl
, | sleepy, turn toward the pulpit with HOLY
i, | dizziness while the preacher speaks, put
, cent pece--or, IL the times be hard, a l cen
, ! piece--on the collection platter kind of shov
might be, for all that tine usher knows, !,
, gold piece, and then, after the benedctiou, q
, quietly home to the biggest repast of all thu
: week. That is all the majority Of Christian
are doing for the rectihcation of this planet
: and they will do that until, at the close o
=, life, the pastor opens black book at thu
head Of their casket and reads. BLESSED ar
the dead who die in the Lord. They rest iron
their labors and their works do follow them.
The sense of the ludicous is so thoroughly
= developed in me that when | hear thes,
Scripture words read at the obsequies of on,
OF the religious do n0hings in the churches
II is too much for my gravity. Ether work
l do follow them" What work? And in wha
direction do they follow them-up or down
: And do they follow on foot or on the wing
u And how long will they follow before the,
" catch up? More appropriate funeral tex
y for all such religious dead beats would b.
II the words in Matthew XIV, s: "0ur lamp
> are gone out" One would think that sucl
y Christians would show at least under who's,
e banner they are enlisted. In ono of tn,
u Napoleonic wars a woman-Jeannette b,
; name--took her position with the troops am
. shouldered a broomstick. The colonel said
. "Jeannette, why do you take such usees
= weapon into the ranks?" We'll" she said
), ~ can show, at least. which side | am on.