Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-06-06


and Stays him, yet runs roaring through
the forests at the alighting on his
brawny neck of few insects. You
meet some great loss in business with
comparative com posure, but you can
think of petty trickeries inflicted upon
you, which arouse all your capacity for
wrath and remain in your heart an I'M
bearable annoyance IF you look back
upon your life, you will find that the
most of the yexations and disturbances
of spirit which you felt were produced
by circumstances that were not worthy
of notice If you want to be happy, you
must not care for trifles. Do not be toe
minute in your inspection Of the treat
ment you receive from others. Who
cares whether MOrdecai bows when you
pass or stands erect and stiff as cedar?
That wood1nan would not make much
clearing in the forest who should stop
to bind ap every little bruise and scratch
he received in the thicket; nor will that
man accomplish much for the world or
the church who is too watchful and APP
preciative of petty annoyances. There
are multitudes Of people in the world
constantly narrowed because they pass
their lives not in searching out those
things which are attractive and deserv-
ing, but in spying out with all their
powers of vision to see whether they
cannot find Mordecai.
Again, [ learn from the life of the
man under our notice that worldly van
ity and sin are very anxious to have
piety bow before them. Hannah was
fair emblem Of entire worldliness and
Mordecai the representative Of unfinch-
ing godliness Such were the usages of
society in ancient times that had this
Israelite bowed to the prime minister it
would have been an acknowledgment of
respect for his character and nation
Mordecai would therefore have sinned
against his religion had he made any
obeisance or dropped his chin half an
inch before Hannah. When therefore
proud Hannah attempted to compel
homage which was not felt, he only did
what the world ever since has tried to
do when it would force our holy re-
ligion in any way to yield to it's dictates
Daniel, if he had been a man of re-
HgiOus compromises, would never have
been thrown into the den of lions. He
might have made some arrangements
with King Darius whereby he could
have retained part of his form of re-
ligion without making himself SO COM
pletely obnoxious to the idolaters. Paul
might have retained the favor of his
rulers and escaped martyrdom if he had
only been willing to mix up his Chris
tian faith with few errors. His un-
bending Christian character was taken
as an insult.
How the World Demands Homage.
Fagot and rack and halter in all ages
have been only the different ways in
which the world has demanded obei-
sance. 1t was once, away up on the top
of the temple, that satan commanded
the holy one of Nazareth to kneel be-
fore him. But it is not now so much on
the top of churches as down in the aisle
and the pew and the pulpit that satan
tempts the espousers of the Christian
faith to kEeel before him. Why was it
that the Platonic philosophers of early
times as well as Toland, Spinoza and
Bolingbroke of later days were so mad
ly opposed to Christianity? Certainly
not because it favored immoralities or
arrested civilization or dwarfed the in
tellect. The genuine reason, whether
admitted Or not, was because the reli-
gion of Christ paid no respect to their
intellectual vanities. Blount and Boyle
and the host Of infdels Matched out by
the vile reign of Charles H. as reptiles
crawl out of a marsh of slime, could
not keep their patience, because, as they
passed along, there were sitting in the
gate of the church such men as Mat
thew and Mark and Luke and John,
who would not bend an inch in respect
to their PHILOSOPHERS.
Satan told our first parents that they
would become as gods if they would
only reach up and take q taste of the
fruit. They tried it and failed, but their
descendants are not yet satisfied with
the experis1ent. We have now many
desiring to be as gods reaching up after
yet another apple. Reason, scornful of
Gods Word, may foam and strut with
the proud wrath Of a Hannah, and at
tempt to compel the homage of the
good, but in the presence of men and
angels it shall be COMPOUNDED. 'sGod
shall snite thee, thou whited wall. -
When science began to make its bril-
liant discoveries, there were great facts
brought to light that seemed to over
throw the truth of the Bible. The ar
ch@ologist with his crowbar, and the
geologist with his hammer and the
chemist with his batteries, charged upon
the Bible. Moses account of the crea-
ton seemed denied by the very struc-
ture of the earth. The astronomer
wheeled around his telescope until the
heavenly bodies seemed to marshal
themselves against the Bible as the stars
in their courses fought against Sisera.
Observatories and universities rejoiced
at what they considered the extinction
of Christianity. They gathered new
courage at what they considered past