Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-12-27

cumStanCGS, Duc after awhile the wheel
Of fortune turns up, and the man gets
| his $40, coo. Now he has prayers on
Sabbath and every day of the week, but
he has dropped the catechism. The
wheel of fortune turns up again, and he
gets his $50, 900. Now he has prayers
on Sabbath morning alone. The wheel
! Of fortune keeps turning up, and he has
$780, 600, and now he has prayers on
Sabbath morning when he feels like it
and there is no company. The wheel OF
fortune keeps on turning up, and he has
his $500, 600 and no prayers at all. Four
leaf clover in pasture field is not SO
rare as family prayers in the houses of
people who have more than $500, 900.
But now the wheel of fortune turns
down, and the man loses $500, 900 out
of the $500, 900. Now on Sabbath morn
! ing he is on a stepladder looking for a
! Bible under the old newspapers on the
bookcase. He is going to have prayers.
His affairs are more and more compli-
Gated, and after awhile crash goes his
! last dollar. Now he has prayers every
morning, and he hears his grandchil-
dren the catechism. Prosperity took
him away from God; adversely drove
him back to God. Hot climate to make
the coral hot and scalding trouble to
make the jewels Of grace in the soul.
We all hate trouble, and yet it does a
| great deal for us. You have heard per-
haps of that painter who wished to get
an expression Of great distress for his
canvas and who had his servant lash
man fast and put him to great torture,
and then the artist caught the look on
the victim S face and Immediately trans
ferred it to the canvas. Then he said to
the servant, "More torture, and under
more torture there was a more thorough
expression of pain, and the artist said
"Stop there. Wait till I catch that ex-
preston There! Now I have it upon
the canvas Let loose the victim. [ have
work that will last forever" ooh,
you say, che was an inhuman painter %
No doubt about it. Trouble is cruel and
inhuman, but he is great painter, and
out of our tears and blood on his palette
he makes colors that never die. Oh,
that it might be a picture of Christian
fortitude, of shining hope!
Development.
On the day I was licensed to preach
the gospel an old Christian man took
my hand and said, my son, when you
get in tight corner on Saturday night
without any sermon send for me, and [
will preach for you" Well, it was a
great encouragement to be backed up by
such good old minister and it was not
long before I got into tight corner on
Saturday night without any sermon,
and l sent for the old minister, and he
came and preached, and it was the last
sermon he ever preached. All the tears
[ cried at his funeral could not express
my affection for that man, who was
willing to help me out of tight corner.
All, my friends, that is what we all
want-somebody to help US out of a
tight corner. You are in one now. How
do l know it? l am used to judging of
human countenances, and l see beyond
the smile and beyond the courageous
look with which you hide your feelings
from Others I know you are in tight
corner. What to do? Do as l did when
I sent for old DR.. Scott. Do better than
/ did-send for the Lord God of Daniel
and Of Joshua and of every other man
who got into tight corner. "Oh, +" says
some one, "why cannot God develop
me through prosperity instead of
through adversity?" will answer your
question by asking another. Why does
not God dye our northern and temper
ate seas with coral? You say, "The wa
ter is not hot enough" There! In an
swering my question you have answered |
your own. Hot climate for richest spec
linens of coral, hot trouble for the jew
els of the soul. The coral fishers going
out from Tore del Greece never brought |
ashore such fine specimens as are brought !
out of the scaIding surges of misfortune.
I look down into the tropical sea, and
there is something that looks like blood, |
and I say, "Has there been great bat
tie down there?' Seeming blood scat
tered all up and down the reefs 1t is
the blood of the coral and it makes me
think of those who come out of great
tribulation and have their robes washed
white in the blood of the Lamb. But
these gems Of earth are nothing to the
gems of heaven. NO mention shall be
made of coral.
Again, [ take your hand, and we walk
on through this garden of the sea and
look more particularly than we did at
the beauty of the coral. The poets have
all been fascinated with it. One of them
wrote:
There, with a broad and easy motion,
The fan coral sweeps through the clear deep
sea,
And the yellow and scarlet tufts of the ocean
Are bent like corn on the upland lea.
One specimen of coral is called the
dendrophilia, because it is like tree;
another is called the astrara, because it
is like star; another is called the
brain coral, because it is like the convo-
lutions of the human brain; another is
called fan coral, because it is like the
instrument with which you cool your