Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-06-26
us shall be fulfilled the promise .rhey

The ministers are not all Pecksn1nS
and canting hypocrites, as some would
have you think! Forgive me, if having
| at other times glorified the medical pro-
fession, and the legal profession, and
| the literary profession-I glorify my
own. I have seen them in their homes
and heard them in their pulpits, and a
| prander array of men never breathed,
and the Bible figure is not strained
when it calls them stars; and whole
| consultations of glorious ministers
/ have already taken their places on
| high, where they shine even brighter
than they shone on earth; Edward n.
Kirk of the Congregational church,
Stephen III. Tying Of the Episcopal
church, Matthew Simpson of the Meth
odist church, John Bowling of the
Baptist church, Samuel K. Talmage Of
the Presbyterian church, Thomas De
Witt of the Reformed church, John
Chambers of the Independent church,
and there stop, for it SO happens that
have mentioned the seven stars of
| the seven churches.
The Seven Seals.
I pass on to another mighty Bible
seven and they arc the seven seals. st.
seals, and he heard an angel cry, 'EWho
| is worthy to loose the seals thereof?'
Take eight or ten sheets Of foolscap pa
per, paste them together and roll them
into scroll, and have the scroll at sew
en- different places sealed with sealing
wax. You unroll the scroll till you
come to one Of these seals, and then
you can go no farther until you break
that seal; then unroll again until you
come to another seal, and you can go
no farther until you break that seal;
then you go on until all the seven seals
are broken, and the contents of the en-
tire scroll revealed. Now, that scroll
with seven seals held by the angel was
the prophecy Of what was to come on
the earth; it meant that the knowledge
of the future was with God, and no
man and no angel was worthy to open
it; but the Bible says Christ opened it
and broke all the seven seals. He broke
the first seal and unrol1ed the scroll,
and there was a picture of a white
horse, and that meant prosperity and
triumph for the Roman empire, and so
it really came to pass that for 80 years
/ virtuous emperors succeeded each 9TH
er-Nerva, Trajan and Antoninus.
| Christ in the vision broke the second
seal and unrolled again, and there was
picture of red horse, and that
meant bloodshel and so it really came
! to pass, and the next 90 years were red
with assassinations and wars. Then
| Christ broke the third seal and unroll-
ed it, and there was a picture Of a
black horse, which in all literature
means famine, oppression and taxa
ton; and so it really came to pass.
| Christ went on until he broke all the
| seven seals and opened all the scroll.
Well, the future of all of us is a sealed
scroll, and I am glad that no one but
| Christ can open it. Do not let us join
that class of Christians in our day,
who are trying to break the seven seals
| of the future. They are trying to peep
| into things they have no business with.
Do not go to some necromancer or
| spiritualist or soothSayer or fortune
teller to find out what is going to hap
pen to yourself or your family or your
| friends. Wait till Christ breaks the
| seal to find out whether in your own
| personal life or the life of the nation
or the life Of the world it is going to be
the white horse of prosperity or the red
horse of war or the black horse of fam
inc. You will soon enough see him paw
| and hear him neigh. Take care of the
present, and the future will take care
Of itself. If a man live 70 years, his
biography is in a scroll having at least
seven seals, and let him not during the
first ten years of his life try to look in
to the twenties, nor the twenties into
| the thirties, nor the thirties into the
forties. nor the forties into the fifties,
nor the fifties into the sixties, nor the
sixties into the seventies. From the
way the years have got the habit Of
racing along, I guess you will not have
to wait a great while before all the
| seals of the future are broken. I would
not give 2 cents to know how long l
am going to live, or in what day Of what
year the world is going to be demolish-
ed. I would rather give $1,000 not to
know. Suppose some one could break
the next seal in the scroll of your per-
sonal history and should tell you that
on the next 4th of July, 1901, you were
to die, the summer after next, how
much would you be good for between
this and that? 1t would from now until
| then be a prolonged funeral You would
be counting the months and the days.
and your Iam1ly ana If1enQS WOuIu De
counting them, and next 18th of July
! you would rub your hands together
and whine: zone year from today I am
to go. Dear me! I wish no one had
told me so long before. wish that ne
cromancer had not broken the seal Of the
future And meeting some under
taker, you would say: 81 hope you will
keep yourself free for an engagement
the 4th of July, 1901. That day you
will be needed at my house. To save
time, you might as well take my meas