Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-12-24


guessed, never expected, that he loved
our human race so ardently that he
Will pardon sin and subdue the offend
er with Il divine kiss and turn foaming
malefactCrs into WOrshipers before the
throne. Oh. | am so glad that the Sc
cret is out and that it can never again
be yelled, Tell it to all the SHINING,
suffering, dying race, tell it in song and
sermon on canvas and in marble, on
arch and pillar; tell it all around the
earth-'GOd is love"
Notice that the Wisest men Of the
nations for thousands of years did not
amid their idOlatries make something
to represent this feeling, this emotion.
They had q JOve, representing night;
Neptune, the god of the sea; Minerva,
the goddess of wisdom; Venus, the god
Gess of base appetite; Ceres, the god
dess Of corn, and an Odin and an Osiris
and q Titan and a Juggernaut and
whole pantheons Of gods and goddess
eS. but no shrine, no carved image, no
sculptured form, has suggested q god
of pure love. That was beyond human
brain It took God to think that, a
God to project that, God let down
from heaven to achieve that.
False Religions.
Fear is the dominant thought in all
false religions. For that the devOtees
cut themselves with lances and swing
on iron hooks and fall under wheels
and hold up the right arm so long that
they cannot take it down. Fear, bru-
fish fear. But love is the queen in our
religion. For that we build temples
For that we kneel at our affairs. For
that we contribute our aims. For that
martyrs suffered at Brussels market
place and at Lucknow and Cawnpur
and Picking. That will yet bejewel the
round earth and put it an emerald on
the great, warm, throbbing heart of
God.
The world has had many specimens
Of sIandered men and women, their mo-
tives slandered, their habits slandered
-slandered until they got out of the
world and then perhaps honOred by
elaborate eul0gium and tall shaft of
granite, all four sides chiseled with the
story of how good and great they were.
But no one under the heavens or over
the heavens has ever been so much
slandered as God. Bad men have
fought against him and have thought
they heard his voice in the crash of a
thunderstorm, but have not seen him
in the sunshine of the spring morning.
They have blamed him for wrongs
which they had done themselves. The
sight of Il church building eXcites their
disgust. They like the madrigal of a
saloon better than the dOXOlOgy of a
temple. They do not want to live with
him in heaven, but would prefer on
leaving this world to go into some
realm where God has abdicated the
throne and from which he is exiled
forever. The reason is they do not
know him. They do not realize the
fact that God is the best friend this
world ever had or ever will have and
that he would do more for their happi-
ness than any one in the wide uni
verse, that he would help them in the
wear and tear and tussle of this life.
that he would hush their sorrows, that
he would help cure the evil habits with
which they sometimes struggle, that
he would at their request not only for
give, but forget, the wrong things in
their life. Yes; forget! And that is
the only thing that God ever does for
get-pardOned tranSgreSSiOn. The best
memory in the universe is Gods men,
DRY, and he remembers all that has
transpired in all time and in all eter-
nifty save one kind of occurrence. That
passes completely out of his memory.
He declares, Their sins and their in
Equities will l remember no more"
Convincing Proof.
Do you want more proof that God is
love?" Yea, disinterested love. No
for it's bestowal. No re-
ward for its sacrifices. But call that
back. The world did pay him. 1t paid
him on Calvary, paid him with bram-
bles on the brow and four spikes, two
for the hands and two for the feet, and
one spear for the side near the heart;
paid him in eXecratiOn, paid him with
straw pillow in a barn and q cross on
hill, paid him with a third of q century
of maltreatment and hardship save one
year-yea, is paying him yet in rejec-
ton Of his mission Of mercy. Having
dethroned other kings, the world would
like to dethrone the King of kings. But
he knew what he was coming to when
he left the portals Of pearl and the land
where the sun never goes down. Yes;
he knew the world, how cold it is, and
knew pain. how sharp it is, and the
night how dark it is, and expiration,
how excruciating it is. Out of vast
eternity he looked forward and saw
Pilates criminal courtroom and the
rocky bluff with three crosses and the
lacerated body in mortuary surround
ings and heard the thunders toll at the
funeral of heavens favorite and under
stood that the palaces Of eternity
would hear the sorrow Of a bereft God.
What do the Bible and the church lit