Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-04-10

40 thC A1Ak4O IL w C11, pei ~ AEy
and perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it may
partly, and perhaps it may not be at
! all. They despise what they call the
apostolic creed, but if their own creed
were written out it would read like
this: 81 believe in nothing, the maker
of heaven and earth, and in nothing
! which it hath sent, which nothing was
/ born of nothing and which nothing was
dead and buried and descended into
nothing and arose from nothing and
assembled to nothing and now stitch
| at the right hand of nothing, from
which it will come to judge nothing |
believe in the holy agnostic church and
in the communion of nothingarians and
in the forgiveness of nSthing and the
resurrection of nothing and in the life
that never shall be. Amen" That is
the creed of tens Of thousands of people
in this day. IF you have a mind to
adopt such a theory. I will not. II be-
lieve in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and EARTH and in
Jesus Christ and in the holy catholic
church and in the communion of saints
and in the life everlasting. Amend"
Oh, when I see Eleazar taking such a
stout grip of the sword in the battle
against sin and for righteousness, I
come to the conclusion that we ought
to take stouter grip of God eternal
truth-the sword Of righteousness.
Forget Self.
AS [ look at Eleazar's hand I also
notice his spirit of self forgetfulness.
He did not notice that the hilt of the
sword was eating through the palm Of
his hand. He did not know it hurt him.
AS he went oet into the conflict he was
SO anxious for the victory he forgot
himself, and that hilt might go never
SO deeply into the palm of his hand, it
could not disturb him. ''His hand clave
unto the sword Oh, my brothers and
sisters, let Us go into the Christian con-
fict with the spirit of self abnegation.
Who cares whether the world praises
us or denounces us? What do we care
for Misrepresentation or abuse or perse-
cution in a conflict like this2 Let us
forget ourselves. That man who is
afraid Of getting his hand hurt will
never kill a Philistine Who cares
whether you get hurt or not if you get
the victory? Oh, how many Christians
there are who are all the time worry
ing about the way the world treats
them! They are so tired, and they are
SO abused, and they are so tempted,
when Eleazar did not think whether he
had hand or an arm or foot. All he
wanted was victory.
We see how men forget themselves in
worldly achievement We have often |
seen men who, in order to achieve |
vx,or111x,
fatigue and all annoyance and all OBJ |
stacle. just after the battle of York |
town in the American Revolution q |
musician, wounded, was told he must
have his limbs amputated, and they |
were about to fasten him to the sur
geon's table, for it was long before the
merciful discovery of anasthetics. He
said: ''No; don't fasten me to that ia
BILE. Get me violin" A violin was
brought to him, and he said, ''Now, go
to work as begin to play" and for 40
during the awful pangs of
he moved not a muscle
nor dropped a note, while he played
some sweet tune. Oh, is it not strange
that with the music of the gospel of
Jesus Christ and with this grand
march of the church militant on the
way to become the church triumphant,
we cannot forget ourselves and forget
all pang and all sorrow and all perse-
cution and all perturbation?
Weak Christians.
We know what men accomplish I'M
der worldly opposition. Men do not
shrink back for antagonism or for hard
ship. You have admired Prescott's
Conquest of Mexico, as brilliant and
beautiful a history as was ever writ
ten, but some of you may not know I'M
der what disadvantages it was written
that Conquest of Mexico for
Prescott was totally blind, and he had
two pieces of wood parallel to each other
and, totally blind, with his
pen between those pieces of wood, he
wrote the stroke against one piece of
wood telling how far the pen must go
IN one way, the stroke against the other
piece of wood telling how far the pen
must go the other way. Oh, how much
men will endure for worldly knowledge
and for worldly success, and yet how lit
lie we endure for Jesus Christ How
many Christians there are that go
around saying, "Oh, my hand; oh, my
hand. my hurt handl Don't you see
here is blood on the sword p while
Eleazar, with the hilt imbedded in the
iesh Of his right hand, does not know it.
Must be carried to the skies
On fowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize
Or sailed through bloody seas?
What have we suffered in comparison
With those who expired with suffoca-
ion or were burned or were chopped to
pieces for the truths sake? We talk of
he persecution of olden times. There
s just as much persecution going on
low in various ways. In 1S49, in Mad
lgascar, Is men were put to death for I