Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-03-15


no mean ensign lift this hour. It is a
time honorod flag. Tt has been in ter
rife battle Dragged in the dust of a
Saviour's humiliation from Bethlehem
to Calvary. Rent by hell's onslaught,
the spears of a maddened soldiery and
the hands of men who saiA ssLet him
be crucified . With this ensign in his
bleeding hand the Saviour scaled the
heights of our sin. With this he mount
ed the walls of perdition, and amid it's
very smoke and flame and blasphemy he
waved his triumph, while demons howl
ed with defeat and heaven
ThSonged his chariot wheels
End bore him to his throne,
Then swept their golden harps and sung.
The glorious work is done
/ A Victory Signal.
Again, when grand victory has
been won, it is customary to announce
| it by flags floating from public build
ings and from trees and from the masts
| Of ships. They are the signal for c.llogy
and rejoicing and festivity. So the en-
sign which the church hoists is banner
| of victory. There was a time when the
religion of Christ was not considered
respectable. Men of learning and posi-
ton frOwned upon it. Governments
mathematical it's supporters. To be a
Christian was to be an under1ing. But
mark the difference. Religion has COM
PEELED the world s respect. Infidelity, in
the tremendous effort it has made to
crush it, has complimented it's power.
And there is not now single civilized
nation but in it's constitution or laws or
proclamations pays homage to the reli-
gion of the cross. In the war in India,
when Sir Archibald Campbell found in
an hour of danger that the men he or
dered to the field were intoxicated and
asked for the pious men whom the Chris
tian Hayelock had under his manage
ment, he said: "Call out Havelock's
saints. They are never drunk, and Have
lock is always ready" That Chris
tianity which gathered its first trophies
from the fishermen's huts on the shore
of Galilee now has Samsonian strength
thrown upon its shoulders and has car
ried off the gates of science and world
~ power. We point not to the fortresses
and standing armies and navies as the
evidence Of the church's progress. We
point to the men whom Christ has re-
deemed by his blood.
What if arsenals and navy yards do
not belong to the church? We do not
want them. The weapons Of our war
fere are not carnal, but spiritual and |
mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds The world and |
satan have no idea of the strength and |
heroism which God Will yet let out |
against the forces of darkness. AS yet |
they have had only one round from the |
first regiment The Lord of Hosts will |
soon appear III the field at the head of |
his troops. Depend upon it that when |
God inspires the soul with a new life ho |
puts III it the principle of never give |
up. In all ages of the church there |
have been these who have had a faith |
that was almost equal to sight, looking
through persecution and reverses with
as much expectation as through palpable
achievements There have been men for
Christ who have acted as did the favor
tie troops Of Brien, attacked by Fitzpat-
rick of Ossory The wounded soldiers
begged that they might enter the fight
with the Others They said, Let stakes /
be stuck in the ground and suffer each
of us, tied to and supported by one of
these stakes, to battle in the ranks by
the side of a sound man. 1t is said
that 700 Or 500 men, pale and emaciated |
from former wounds and thus supported
by the stakes, struggled through the
combat. Thus has it been that multi
tudes of the children of God, though
feeling themselves weak and wounded
perhaps in body, perhaps in estate, per-
haps III soul-supported by the staff OF
Gods promise, have warred it up to the
hilt in the subjugation of world of
WiclzedneSs
Mighty Cause.
We are mighty in this cause, for we
have the help of the pious dead. Mes
sengers of salvation from high heaven
they visit the field. They stand behind
us to keep us from ignominious retreat.
They go before us to encourage us in the
strife. The McCheynes, and the Pay
sons, and the Martyrs, and the Brain
erds, an uncounted multitude Of the
glorified, are our coadjutors. Have you
heard the Swiss tradition? The herds
men say that three great leaders of the
Helvetic nation, though seemingly dead,
are only lying down under the ground
in their old time dress, refreshing
themselves with sleep, and that if at
any time the liberties of their country
are in danger they will Immediately
spring to their feet and drive back the
enemy. May [ not have the thought
that if ever the church of the blessed
Christ shall be threatened with destruc-
ton by the foes which seem too great
for her strength the Lord himself will
not only come to the deliverance, but
those great ancients who have seemed
to be sleeping among the dead shall i'm
hear the trumpet blast of the
ELL
back to their old positions in the ranks
of God with the hattlec tMnro than