Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-10-15

ering? Do their jests and their enter
tainments make the hours go blithelJ
by when you are with them? Have
you taken a sip from their cup of sir
or gone with them in one path of I'M
righteousness? Turn back. From Bah
ylon they came, and to Babylon they
would carry you. If SO many plague
stricken men would like to enter your
companionship, before any one is al
lowed to pass into the intimacy of your
heart put on them severest quarantine.
IneEaceabIe Impressions.
My subject also impresses me with
the fact that early impressions are al
most ineffaceable. Daniel had a reli-
gious bringing up. From the good
meaning Of his name | know he had
pious parentage. But as soon as he
comes into the possession of the king
his name is changed. all his surround
ings are changed, and now, you say,
will begin the Generalization of his
character. Before, his name was Dan
iel, which means God my judge" now
his name is to be Belteshazzar, which
means 'the treasurer Of the god Bel"
Now you expect to see him overthrOwn
amid all these changed circumstances.
Oh. no. Daniel started right, and he
keeps on right. When 1 find what Dan
iel is in Jerusalem, l am not surprised
to find what he is in Babylon. I wish
l could write upon all parents hearts
the fact that early impressions are
we'll nigh ineffaceable. When I see Jo-
seph, pious lad in the house of his
father. Jacob, | am not surprised to
see him acting SO nobly down in Egypt.
When l find Samuel, pious lad, in the
house Of his mother, Hannah, am not
surprised that he gives terrible smit-
ing to idOlatry as soon as he comes to
manhood. David planned the temple
at Jerusalem and gathered the mate
rails for it's building, but Solomon, the
son. came and put up the structure,
and that goes on in all ages. The ia
Their plans the character of the child
and it's destiny for time and eternity,
then the son completes the structure.
You might as well put down founda-
ton ten feet by five and expect to rear
on it great cathedral as to put down
a contracted character in a child's soul
uIit ) CT ISal upOu II SOAI1ClhAIS CAtCh-
sively grand and extensively useful.
Let me say to those Christian parents
who are doing their best in the educa-
ton of their children: Take good heart.
Your sons this morning may be far
away from you and in a distant city,
but God. to whom you dedicated them,
will look after them. The God of Dan
lei will take care Of them far away in
Babylon. TRAIN up child in the way
he should so. and when he is old he
will not depart from it." He may wan
der away for awhile and fall into sin
and break your heart, but before he is
done with his life. you, having COM
him to God, he will come back
again, for / put the emphasis in the
right place and on the word "old'
when l repeat that passage and say,
Train up a child in the way he should
go, and when he is old he will not de-
part from it" May you all have the
glorious satisfaction Of seeing your
children walk in paths of righteous
ness and peace! One with them on
earth, may you be one with them in
heaven.
RcStES1AA tAppctAIGs
But learn also from this subject the
beauty of Christian Sobriety. The meat
and the wine that were to come to
Daniels table were to come from the
kings table Well. Daniel had no right
to take that food. The king was a
leathen and. like all the heather, was
accustomed to ask blessing before he
Dartook of food. and in that blessing
they always dedicated the food to the
gods. So that if Daniel had taken this
food he would have broken the law
which forbade the taking of food dedi
rated to idols. He chose pulse. 1t was
4 miracle that he did not dwindle
away. There is nothing in pulse. such
4 poor herb. to make a man ruddy and
lealthful. Some people talk as though
hat were a kind Of diet which would
make q man swarthy and competent to
10 the duties of this life. That is not
he lesson at all. But for a positive
miracle Daniel would have dwindled
away. and when God, for his self de-
hal. puts upon him this benediction he
outs benediction upon all Christian
| would not have you class
roUr preacher among those who would
)ut unnecessary restraints upon lawful
lppetites. There are those in this day
Who dispute the grant which God gave
% man for animal food, and they make
/ religion Of their, hunger as the Phari-
ices expected heaven for their fasting.
Daniel did not always live on pulse.
lie was not Grahamite, he was not
He went through that self
lenial because the food offered him
vas idoiatrous food. When l see God
filing the earth with all varieties Of
'ood. l have not much confidence in
he teaching of those who would put
is en- severe regimen. There are par
,nts who. with wrong theory in this