Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-08-03

Iemptation-Tendency to BorrGW Irou-
ble-Sweetenins the Cup-The BIotting
Out OF a Life-Bereayements Lifted.
mage's subject today lights up the sor-
rows of this life and sounds the gospel
of good cheer for all who will receive
it. His text was Luke xiv, 20, abide
with Us, for it is toward evening"
Two villagers, having concluded their
errand in Jerusalem, have started out
at the city gate and are ON their way to
Emmaus, the place of their residence.
They go with sad heart. Jesus, who
had been their admiration and their
joy, had been basely massacred and en-
tombed As, with sad face and broken
heart, they pass on their way a stranger
accosts them. They tell him their anx-
ieties and bitterness of soul. He in turn
talks TO them, nightly expounding the
Scriptures. He throws over them the
fascination of intelligent conversation.
They forget the time and notice not the
objects they pass, and before they are
aware have come up in front of their
house. They pause before the entrance
and attempt to persuade the stranger to
tarry with them. They press upon him
their inequalities. Night is coimng on.
and he may meet prowling wild beast
or be obliged to lie unsheltered from the
dew. He cannot go much farther now.
Why not stop there and continue their
pleasant conversation? They take him
by the arm, and they insist upon his
coming in, addressing him in the words,
''Abide with US, for it is toward even
ing
Toward Evening.
The candles are lighted; the table is
spread pleasant socialties are enlzindled.
They rejoice in the presence of the
stranger guest. He asks a blessing upon
the bread they eat and he hands piece
of it to each. Suddenly and with over
whelming power the thought flashes
upon the astonished people-it is the
Lordl And as they sit in breathless
wonder, looking upon the resurrected
body of Jesus, he vanished. The inter
view ended. He was gone.
With many of Us it is a bright, sun
shiny day of prosperity. There is not a
cloud in the sky; not leaf rustling in
the forest; no chill in the air. But we
cannot expect all this to last. He is not
an intelligent man who expects perpet-
ual daylight of joy. The sun will after
awhile near the horizon. The shadows
will lengthen. While I speak many of
Us stand in the very hour described in
the text, for it is toward evening""
The request of the text is appropriate
for some before me, for with them it
is toward the evening of old age They !
have passed the meridian of life. They |
are sometimes startled to think how old /
they are. They do not, however, like to
have others remark upon it. If others
suggest their approximation toward |
venerable appearance, they say, why, |
I'm not so old, after all. - They do in
deed, notice that they cannot lift quite
SO much as once. They cannot walk I
quite SO fast. They cannot read quite SO
well without spectacles. They cannot SO
easily recover from cough or any occa-
sional ailment. They have lost their
taste for merriment. They are surprised
at the quick passage of the year. They
say that it only seems little while ago
that they were boys. They are going a
little down hill There is something in
their health, something in their vision,
something in their walk, something in |
their changing associations, something
above, something beneath, something
ward evening.
The great want Of all such is to have
Jesus abide with them. It is dismal
thing to be getting old without the re-
juvenating influence of religion. When
we step on the down grade of life and
see that it dips to the verge of the cold
river, we want to behold some one near
who will help us across it. When the
70 ~.lox
gather up, we need the faith that can
illumine. When we feel the failure of
the ear, we need the clear tones of that
voice which in olden times broke up the
silence Of the deaf with cadences of
mercy. When the axmen of death hew
down whole forests of strength and
beauty around US and we are left in sol
ituile, we need the dove of divine mercy
TO sing in our branches. When the
shadows begin to fall and we feel that
the day is far spent, we need most of
all to supplicate the strong, benefcent
Jesus in the prayer of the villagers,
t@Abide with us, for it is toward even
ing
Temptation.
The request of the text is an appro-
pirate exclamation for all those who are
approached in the gloomy hour of
temptation. There is nothing easier
than to be good natured when every
thing pleases, OF to be humble when
there is nothing to oppose us, or forgiv
ing when we have not been assailed, or
honest when we have no inducement to
fraud. But you have felt the grapple of
some temptation. Your nature at some
time quaked and groaned under the in
fernal force. You felt that the devil was
after you. You saw your Christian
graces retreating. You feared that you