Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-07-09

. DtdSt PERISH WITHOUT salt. w Hat are
those paths across the western prai-
ries? Why, they We're made there by
! deer and buffalo going to and coming
away from the salt clicks" Chemists
and physicians all the world over tell
US that salt is a necessity Of life. And
50 with the grace of God; you must
have it or die. 1 know q great many
speak of it as q mere adornment, sort
CT shoulder strap adjoining a soldier, or
a light, frOthing dessert brought in
after the greatest part of the banquet
of life is over, or q medicine to be tax
ell after powders and mustard plasters
have failed to do their work, but Ordi-
narily 4 mere superiority, q string Of
! bells around a horses neck while he
draws the load and in nowise helping
! him to draw it. So far from that, de-
clare the grace of God to be the first
and the last necessity. 1t is food we
must take or starve into an eternity of
famine. It is clothing, without which
we freeze to the mast of infinite terror.
1t is the plank, and the only plank, on
which we can float shOreward. 1t is
the ladder, and the only ladder, on
which we can climb up into the light
1t is a positive necessity for the soul.
You can tell very easily what the effect
would be if 4 person refused to take
salt into the body. The energies would
fail, the lungs would struggle with the
air. slow feverS would crawl through
the brain. the heart would futter, and
the life would be gone. Salt, a neces-
sity for the life Of the body; the grace
Of God. a necessity for the life Of the
soul.
Again, l remark that grace is like salt
in abundance. God has StreWn salt in
vast profusion all over the continents.
Russia seems built on a saltcellar.
There is one region Of that country
that turns out 10000 tons in a year.
England and Russia and Italy have in
eXhaustible resources in this respect.
Norway and Sweden, white with snow
above, white with salt beneath. Aus
tria. yielding 100000 tons annually.
Nearly all the nations rich in it-rock
salt spring salt, sea salt. Christ, the
Creator of the world, when he uttered
our text, knew it would become more
and more significant as the shafts were
sunk, and the springs were bored, and
y
tails We're gathered. So the grace Of
God is abundant. 1t is for all lands,
for all ages, for all conditions. 1t seems
to undergirl everything for
the worst sin, comfort for the sharpest
suffering, brightest light for the thick
est darkness. Around about the salt
lakes of SaratOv there are 10000 men
toiling day and night, and yet they
never exhaust the saline treasures.
And if the 1.6O0,OOO,O0O of our race
should now cry out to God for his mer-
cy there would be enough for all-fOr
those furthest gone in sin, for the MUIR
derer standing on the drop of the gal
lows. 1t is an ocean of mercy, and if
Europe and Asia, Africa. North and
South America and all the islands of
the sea went down in it today they
would have room enough to wash and
come up clean. Let no man think that
his case is too tough a one for God to
act upon Though your sin may be
deep and raging let me tell you that
Gods grace is a bridge not built on
earthly piers, but suspended and span
ming the awful chasm of your guilt,
one end resting upon the rock of eter-
nal promises and the other on the foun-
datiOns OF heaven. Demetrius wore a
robe so incruSted with jewels that no
one after him ever dared to wear it,
but our King, Jesus, takes off the robe
of his righteousness, robe blood dyed
and heaven impaired, and reaches it
out to the worst wretch in all the earth
and says: put that on! Wear it now!
Wear it fOreverr'
The Grace of God.
Again. the grace Of God is like salt
in the way we come at it The salt on
the surface is almost always impure
that which incrusts the Rocky noun
tains and the South American pampas
and in India-but the miners go down
through the shafts and through the
dark labyrinths and along by galleries
Of rock and, with torches and pickaXes, |
find their way under the very founda-
tons Of the earth to where the salt lies
that makes up the nations wealth. To
get to the best saline springs of the
earth huge machinery goes down, Dor
ing depth below depth, depth below
depth. until from under the very roots
of the mountains the saline water sup
plies the aqueduct. This water is
brought to the surface and is exposed !
in tanks to the sun for evaporation, or
it is put in boilers nightly heated, and
the water evaporates, and the salt
gathers at the bottom Of the tank. The |
work is completed, and the fortune is
made. So with the grace of God. 1t is |
to be profoundly sought after. With |
all the concentered energies of body, |
mind and soul we must dig for it. No |
man stumbles accidentally ON it. We |
need to go down to the very lowest |
strata of earnestness and faith to find |
it SuDerficial exploration will not turn |