Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-08-06
BY THE PLUMB LINE.
THE KIND OF RELIGION THAT THE
WORLD NEEDS.

Comes Straight Down Frcra Heaven
Can Be of Benefit to Euinanity-iIan
Made Religions Are Useless.
WASHINGTON, Aug 5--From Troudh-
jem. Norway, where Dr. Talmaga is
now staying. he sends the foilOwfng
discourse. in which he shows that the
world can never be benefited by re
ligion of human manufacture, which
easily yields to ones surroundings, but
must have Il religion let down from
heaven; text, Amos vii, 6: And the
Lord said unto me, Amos. what seest
thou? And 1 said, A plumb line"
The solid masonry of the world has
for me q fascination. Walk about
some Of the triumpha1 arches and the
cathedrals. 400 or GOO years old, and
see them stand as erect as when they
were builded, walls of great height,
for centuries not bending a quarter of
an inch this way or that. So greatly
honored were the masons who builded
these walls that they were free from
taxation and called H.free" masons.
The trowel gets most of the credit for
these buildings, and its clear ringing
on stone and brick has sounded across
ment of Just as much Importance as
the trowel. and my text recognizes it.
Bricklayers and stonemasOnS and car
penters III the building of walls use
an instrument made of a cord, at the
end of which q lump of lead is fasten-
ed. They drop it over the side Of the
wall. and. as the pEummet naturally
seeks the center of gravity in the
earth. the workman discovers where
the wall recedeS and where it bulgeS
out and just what is the perpendicular.
Our text represents God as standing
on the wall of character. which the
ISraelites had built, and in that way
testing it. "And the Lord said unto
me, Amos, what seeSt thou? And
said. \ plumb line
What the world wants is straight
up and down religion. Much of the SO
called piety of the day bends this way
and that to suit the times. 1t is
oblique, with a low state of sentiment
and morals. We have all been building
a wall of character, and it is glaringly
imperfect and needs reconstruction.
How shall it be brought into perpen
dicular? Only by the divine measure
ment And the Lord said unto me,
Amos, what seest thou? And / said.
A plumb line"
The whole tendency of the times is
to make us act by the standard Of
what others do. We throw over the
wall of our character the tangled
plumb line of other lives and reject
the infallible test which Amos saw.
The question for me should not be
what you think is right, but what COG
thinks is right. This perpetual refer
ence to the behavior of others. as
though it decided anything but human
fallibility. is n mistake as wide as the
world. There are 10000 plumb lines
in use. but only one is true and exact,
and -riTat IS tire line OF GODS eter1laI
right. There is mighty attempt be-
ing made to reconstruct and fix up the
Ten Commandments. To many they
seem too rigid The tower Of Pisa
leans over about 13 feet from the per-
pendicUlar. and people 60 thousands
of miles to see it's graceful inclination
and to learn how. by extra braces and
various architectural contrivances, it
is kept leaning from century TO cen
fury. Why not have the ten granite
blocks of Sinai set little aslant? Why
not have the pillar of truth a leaning
tower? Why is not an ellipse as good
as Il square? Why is not an oblique
as good us straight up and down? My
friends, we must have Il standard.
Shall it be Gods or mans?
The Divine Plumb Line.
The divine plumb line needs to be
thrown over all merchandise. Thou
sands of years ago Solomon discovered
the tendency of buyers to depreciate
goods. He saw a man beating down
an article lower and lower and saying
it was not worth the price asked, and
when he had purchased at the lowest
point he told everybody what a sharp
bargain he had struck and how he
had outwitted the merchant. 1T is
naught. saith the buyer, but when he
is gone his way. then he boasteth"
proverbs XXX. 40. Society is so utter
ly asllew in this matter that you sell
dom find Il seller asking the price that
he expects to get. He puts on a higher
value than he expects to receive. know
ing that he will have TO drop. And
when he wants so he says rs. and if
he wants 1000 he asks $500. cit is
naught." saith the buyer. 1.-The fab
Tic Is defective, the style OF goods is
poor. l can get elsewhere q better ar
ticle at q smaller price. 1t is out of
fashion, it is damaged, it will fade, it
will not wear WE'LL After awhile the
merchant, from overpersuasion or from
desire To dispose of that particular
stock of goods, says, well, take it at
your own price," and the purchaser
goes home with light step and calls
into his private Office his confidential
friends and chuckles while he tells
10 g. l,nIf l,o h.