Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-10-25

eyes, and she died in great anguish of
mind She wanted to see you SO very
much. She had something very impor
tant to disclose to you In her last hour,
and she sent three times today, but
found you absent every time. Then
this woman bethought herself that she
had had a bargain with her nelghbor
that when the long protracted sickness
was about to come to an end she would
appear at her bedside and take the Sc
cret that was to be disclosed. And she
had said she was mot at home. .
Social life is struck through with
insincerity. They apologize for the fact
that the furnace is out; they have not
had any fire in it all winter. They apol-
ogize for the fare on their table; they
never live any better They decry their
most luxuriant entertainment to win q
shower of approval from you. They
point at a picture on the wall as a
work of one of the old masters. They
say it is an heirloom in the family. It
hung on the wall of castle. A duke
gave it to their grandfather! People
that will lie about nothing else will lie
about a picture. On small income we
want the world to believe we are affiu-
ent, and society today is struck through
with cheat and counterfeit and sham.
How few people are naturall Frigid
ity sails around, iceberg grinding
against iceberg You INST not laugh
outright; that is vulgar. You must
smile You must not dash quickly
across the room; that is vulgar. You
must glide Much of society is round
of bows and grins and grimaces and
obs and abs and he, he, hes and sim
perings and namby pambyism, whole
world of which is not worth one good
honest round of laughter. From such a
hollow scene the tortured guest retires
at the close Of the evening, assuring the
host that he has enjoyed himself. So
ciety is become so contorted and deform-
ed in this respect that a mountain cabin
where the rustics gather at quilting
or an apple pairing has in it more good
cheer than all the frescoed refrigerators
of the metropolis.
The Church Lie.
pass on to speak Of ecclesiastical
lies those which are told for the adj
vancement or retarding of a church or
sect. It is hardly worth your while to
ask an extreme Calvinist what an Ar
minian believes. He will tell you that
an Arminian believes that man can
save himself. An Arminian believes no
such thing. 1t is hardly worth your
while to ask an extreme Arminian what
Calvinist believes. He will tell you
that Calvinist believes that God made
some men just to damn them. A Cal
whist believes no such thing. It is hard
ly worth your while to ask Pedo-Bap-
fist what a Baptist believes He will
tell you Baptist believes that INNER
sion is necessary for salvation A Bap-
fist does not believe any such thing. 1t
is hardly worth your while to ask man
who very much hates Presbyterians
what a Presbyterian believes He will
tell you that a Presbyterian believes
that there are infants in hell a span
long, and that very phraseology has
come down from generation to genera
ton in the Christian church There
never was a Presbyterian who believed
that "Oh, you say, 81 heard some
Presbyterian minister 20 years ago say
so!' You did not There never was a
man who believed that, there never
will be man who will believe that,
and yet from boyhood have heard that
particular SANDER against a Christian
church going down through the COM
munity.
Then how often it is that there are
misrepresentation on the part of indi-
vidual churches in regard to other
to great prosperity. AS long as church
is in poverty, and the singing is poor,
and all the surroundings are decrepit,
and the congregation are so hardly
bestead in life that their pastor goes with
elbows out, then there will always be
Christian people in churches who say,
''What a pity, what a pityp' But let
the day of prosperity come to a Chris
tian church, and let the music be tri-
umphant and let there be vast assem-
blages, and then there will be even min
listers Of the gospel critical and deDun-
ciatory and full of misrepresentation
and Justification, giving the impression
to the outside world that they do not
like the corn because it is not ground
in their mill. Oh, my friends, let us in
all departments of life stand back from
deception.
But some one says, ''The deception
that practice is so small that it don't
amount to anything All, my friends,
it does amount to great dealt You
say, ''When deceive, it is only about
a case of needles or box of buttons or
a row Of pins. But the article may be
SO small you can put it in your vest
pocket, but the sin is as big as the pyra-
mids and the echo of your dishonor
will reverberate through the mountains
of eternity. There is no such thing as
small sin. They are all vast and stu
pendous, because they will all have to
come under inspection in the day OF
Judgment You may boast yourself of