Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-12-18

bon; or plot it's overthrow, as do some
in every community whose pride and
hate and debauchery are reproved by
the Ten Commandments which it thun-
ders and the sermon on the mount
which it breathes. But it will stand
as long as the earth stands, the same
unique and wonder working and
beatifc and miraculous thing for
which God decreed it. Small wits tax
their brain to say things that will put
her at disadvantage, but many of them
will send for it's coincidence when dy-
ing, and their children will be gathered
up under it's benedictions after the pa
rental curse has been removed. Through
her gates will march all the influences
for good that shall ever reach our
world. Take her membership as a
mass, not speaking Of the acknowl-
edged exceptions, they are the noblest,
grandest, kindest, best men and wO-
men of the ages. But for them the
earth would long ago have been a
burned out volcano. They have been
the salt that has kept the human race
from putrefaction insufferable either
to human or angelic olfactories.
You lying and hypocritical world,
shut up those ISLANDERS about the
church of Christ, an institution which,
far from being what it ought to be and
never pretending to be perfect, is 500
times better than any other institution
that the world ever saw or ever dream
ed Of. The highest honor I ever had
and the highest honor [ shall ever re-
ceive and the highest honor I ever
want is to have my name on her rec
ords as member. At her affairs I re-
pented. At her sacraments l believed.
In her service let me die. From her
doors let me be buried. 0 church of
God! Thou home Of the righteous!
Thou harbor from tempest! Thou
refuge for the weary! Thou lighthouse
of many nations! Thou type of heaven!
I could kiss thy very dust with ecstasy
of affection.
For her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend,
To her my tolls and cares be given
Till tolls and cares shall end.
"Perfumed smoke" says Solomon
in the words following my text. Not
like the fumes coughed up from the
throat of a steam pipe, or poisoned
with the gases of chemical factories,
or floating in black wrath from the
confagration of homesteads, or sui
phurous from blazing batteries, but
sweet as a burning grove of CHINA
mon, or jungle of sassafras, or the
Odors of a temple censor. 'WhO is this
that cometh out Of the wilderness like
pillars of smoke, perfumed with
myrrh and frankincense" Hear it,
men and women everywhere, that the
advance of the genuine church of
Christ means peace for all nations.
Victor Hugo, in his book entitled
sNinety-three," says: Nothing calmer
than smoke, but nothing more star
Ting. There are peaceful smokes, and
there are evil ones. The thickness and
color of a line of smoke make the
whole difference between war and
peace, between fraternity and hatred.
The whole happiness of man or his
complete misery is sometimes express
ed in this thin vapor which the wind
scatters at will" The great French
say that as the kingdom of God adj
vances like pillars of smoke the black
volumes belching from batteries of
war and pouring out from portfolios of
ships will vanish.
"A SJiuSulSIleu ScuoIdl Ol our CIVIL
war told me that Abraham Lincoln
proposed to avoid our civil conflict by
purchase of all the slaves of the south
and setting them free. He calculated
what would be a reasonable price for
them, and when the number of mil
lions of dollars that would be reQuir-
ed for such a purchase was announced
the proposition was secuted, and the
north would not have made the offer,
and the south would not have accept
ed it if made. But" said my military
friend, 1.-The war went on, and Just the
Number of millions of dollars that Mr..
Lincoln calculated would have been
enough to make a reasonable purchase
Of all the slaves was spent in war, be-
sides all the precious lives that were
hurled away in the $50 battles. In 9TH
er words, there ought to be some other
way for men to settle their cOntrover-
sizes without butchery.
The church Of God will yet become
the arbiter of nations. If the world
would allow it, it could today step in
between Germany and France and set
tie the trouble about Alsace and Lor-
raine, and between England and her
antagonists, and between all the other
nations that are flying at each others
threats, and command peace and dis
band armies, and harness for the plow
the war horses or saddled for cavalry
charge. That time must come or
through the increased facility for
shooting men and blowing up cities
and whelming hosts to instant death,
so that we can kill a regiment easier
than we could once kill company and
kill a brigade easier than we could
once kill a regiment tha Daton+ Of