Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-11-05

busiest men the best men. All the per-
sons converted in Scripture busy at the
time of their being converted. Mat
thew attending to his custom house
duties, the prodigal son feeding swine,
Lydia selling purple, Simon Peter haul
ing in the net from the sea, Saul spur
ring his horse toward Damascus, GO
ing down Oh his law business. Busy,
busy Daniel with all the affairs of
state weighing down upon his soul and
yet three times a day worshiping the
God of heaven.
Religion In Politics.
Again, learn from this subject that
a man may take religion into his poll
on hand, yet servant of God. He
could not have kept his elevated posi-
ton unless he had been a thorough pol
itician, and yet all the thrusts Of Off
Gals and all the danger of disgrace did
not make him yield one iota of his high
toned religious principle He stood be-
fore that age, he stands before all ages,
q specimen of a godly politician. So
there have been in our day and in the
days Of our fathers men as eminent in
the service of God as they have been
eminent in the service of the state.
Such was Benjamin E. Butler, attorney
general of New York in the time of
your fathers; such was John Mclean
of the supreme court of the United
States; such was George Briggs of Mas
sachusetts; such was Theodore Freling-
huysen of New Jersey-men faithful to
the state, at the same time faithful to
God. 1t is absurd to expect that men
who have been immersed in political
wickedness for 80 or 40 years shall
come to reformation, and our hope is
in the young men who are coming up,
that they have patriotic principle and
Christian principle side by side when
they come to the ballot box and cast
their first vote and that they swear al
legiance to the government of heaven
as well as to the government of the
United States. We would have Bun
ker Hill mean less to them than Cal
vary, and Lexington mean less to them
than Bethlehem. But because there
are bad men around the ballot box is
no reason why Christian men should
retreat from the arena. The last time
you ought to give up your child or for
sake your child is when it is surround
ed by company of Choctaws, and the
last time to surrender the ballot box is
when it is surrounded by impurity and
dishonesty and all sorts of wickedness.
Daniel stood on a most unpopular
platform. He stood firmly, though the
demagogues of the day Kissed at him
and tried to overthrow him. We must
carry our religion into our politics. But
there are a great many men who are
in favor of taking religion into nation
al politics who do not see the impor-
lance of taking it into city politics, as
though a man were intelligent about
the welfare of his neighborhood anc
had no concern about his own home.
Honors of Heaven.
My subject also impresses me with
the fact that lions cannot hurt a good
man. No man ever got into worse
company than Daniel got into when he
was thrown into the den. What a rare
morsel that fair young man would
have been for the hungry monsters! If
they had plunged at him, he could not
have climbed into a niche beyond the
reach of their paw or the snatch of
their tooth. They came pleased all
around about him, as hunters hounds
at the we'll known whistle come bound
ing to his feet. You need not go to
Numidia to get many lions. You all
have had them after you-the lion of
financial distress, the lion of sickness,
the lion of persecution: You saw that
lion of financial panic putting his
mouth down to the earth, and he roar
ed until all the banks and all the insur-
ance companies Quaked. With his nos
tril he scattered the ashes on the do
nestle hearth. You have had trial aft
er trial, misfortune after misfortune,
lion after lion, and yet they have never
hurt you if you put your trust in God,
and they never will hurt you. They
did not hurt Daniel, and they cannot
hurt you. The PerSianS used to think
that spring rain falling into seashells
would turn into pearls, and | have to
tell you that the tears of sorrow turn
into precious gems when they drop into
Gods bottle. You need be afraid of
nothing putting your trust in God.
Even death, that monster lion whose
den is the worlds sepulcher and who
puts his paw down amid thousands of
millions of the dead, cannot alright
you. When in olden times a man was
to get the honors of knighthood, he was
to go fully armed the night
before among the tombs of the dead
a sort Of spear, and then when
the day broke he would come forth,
and amid the sound Of cornet and great
parade he would get the honors Of
And so it will be with the
Christian in the night before heaven as
fully armed with spear and helmet of