Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-03-27

have struggled under a heavy mortgage
of physical disa bilities, and instead of
the placidity that once characterized
yo1 it is now only with great effort
that you keep away from irritability
and sharp retort. Difficulties of respira-
zion. of digestion, OF locomotion, make
up the great obstacle in your life, and
you tug and sweat along the pathway
and wonder when the exhaustion will
end Ny friends. the brightest crowns
in heaven will not be given to those
who in stirrups dashed to the cavalry
and the sound of clashing sabers rang
through the land, but the brightest
crowns in heaven, I believe, will be
given to those who trudged on amid
chronic ailments which unnerved their
strength, yet all the time maintaining
their faith in God It is comparatively
easy to fight in regiment of thou
sand men, charging up the parapets to
the sound OF martial music, but it is not
so easy to endure when no one but the
nurse and the doctor are the witnesses
of the Christian fortitude. Besides that,
you never had any pains worse than
Christ's. The sharpness that stung
through his brain. through his hands,
through his feet, through his heart,
were as great as yours certainly He
was as sick and as weary. Not a nerve
or muscle or 1igament escaped. All the
pangs of all the nations of all the ages
compressed into one sour cup. He took
the vinegar
The Sourness of Poverty.
There is also the sOurness of poverty,
Your income does not meet your out
goings, and that always gives an hon
est man anxiety. There is no sign of
restitution about you-pleasant ap-
pearance and a cheerful home for you
but God only knows what a time you
have had to manage your private
finances Just as the bills run up the
wages seem to run down. You may say
nothing, but life to you is hard push,
and when you sit down with your wife
and talk over the expenses you both
rise up discouraged. You abridge here,
and you abridge there, and you get
things snug for smooth sailing, and, 10,
suddenly there is a large doctors bill
to pay, or you have lost your pocket
book, or some debtor has failed, and
you are thrown abeam end. Well, broth
er, you are in glorious company. Christ
owned not the house in which he stop
ped, or the colt on which he rode, or
the boat in which he sailed. He lived
in a borrowed house. He was buried in
a borrowed grave Exposed to all kinds
of weather, yet he had only one suit CT
clothes He breakfasted in the morning,
and no one could possibly tell where he
could get anything to eat before night.
He would have been pronounced tinan-
cial failure. He had to perform mir
acle to get money to pay tax bill. Not
a dollar did he own. PrivatlOn of do
mesticity; privation of nutritious food;
privatiOn of a comfortable couch on
which to sleep; privation of all worldly
resourcesl The kings Of the earth had
chased chalices out of which to drink,
but Christ had nothing but plain cup
set before him, and it was very sharp,
and it was very sour. He took tie vim
egar.
There were years that passed along
before your family circle was invaded
by death, but the moment the charmed
circle was broken everything seemed to
dissolve. Hardly have you put the black
apparel in the wardrobe before you
have again to take it out. Great and
rapid changes in your family record.
You got the house and rejoiced in it,
but the charm was gone as soon as the
Grape hung on the doorbell. The one
upon whom you most depended was
taken away from you. A cold marble
slab lies on your heart today. Once, as
the children romped through the house,
you put your hand over your aching
head and said, ''Oh, if I could only
have it stilll'' Oh, it is too still now.
You lost your patience when the tops
and the strings and the shells were left
amid floor but, oh, you would be will
ing to have the trinkets scattered all
over the floor again if they were scat
tered by the same hands.
With what ruthless plowshare be-
reavement rips up the heart But Jesus
knows all about that. You cannot tell
him anything now in regard to bereave-
ment He had only a few friends, and
when he lost one it brought tears to his
eyes. Lazarus had often entertained
him at his house. Now Lazarus is dead
and buried, and Christ breaks down
with emotion, the CONFUSION of grief
shuddering through all the ages of be-
reavement Christ knows what it is to
go through the house missing familiar
inmate. Christ knows what it is to see
an unoccupied place at the table. Were
there not four of them-Mary and Mar
tina and Christ and Lazarus? Four of
them. But where is Lazarus p Lonely
and afflicted Christ, his great loving
eyes filed with tearsl Oh, yes. yesi He
knows all about the loneliness and the
heartbreak. He took the vinegarl
None Can Escape Death.
Then there is the sourness of the