Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-05-07

| logned and frizzled and crimped and
banged" sinners plenty of room
Such we meet elegantly at the door of
our churches, and we invite them into
the best seats with Chesterfieldian gal
! 1antries; we usher them into the house
| of God and put soft OttOmanS under
; their feet and put gilt edged prayer
! book in their hands and pass the con-
! tribution box before them with an air
of apology, while they, the generous
souls take out the exquisite portemon-
naie and open it and with diamonded
finger push down beyond the $40 gold
pieces and delicately pick out as an eX-
preston of gratitude their Offering to
the Lord-of 1 cent! For such sinners
plenty of room, plenty of room! But
for the man who has been drinking I'M
til his coat is threadbare, and his face
| is erysipelased, and his wifeS wedding
dress is in the pawnbrOker's shop, and
his children, instead of being in school,
are out begging broken bread at the
basement doors of the cty-the man,
body, mind and soul on fire with the
flames that have 1eaped from the scath-
ing, ScOrching, blasting, blistering con-
Stunning cup which the drunkard takes,
trembling and agonized and affrighted,
and presses to his parched lip, and his
cracked tongue, and his shrieking yet
immortal spirit-no room!
Oh, if this younger son of the parable
had not gone so far off, if he had not
dropped SO low in wassail, the protest
would not have been SO severe; but,
going clear over the precipice, as the
younger son did, the elder son is angry
and will not go in.
Pity the Fallen.
Be not so hard in your criticism Of
the fallen lest thou myself also be
tempted. Do you know who that man
was who, Sabbath before last, stagger-
ed up and down the aisle in a church,
disturbing the service until the service
had to stop until he was taken from
the room? He was a minister of the
gospel of Jesus Christ in a sister de-
nomination.! That man had preached
the gospel; that man had broken the
bread of the holy communion for the
people. From what a height TO what
a depth! Oh, was glad there was no
smiling in the room when that man
was taken out, his poor wife following
him with his hat in her hand and his
coat on her arm. 1t was as solemn to
me as two funerals-the funeral of the
body and the funeral Of the soul. Be
ware lest thou also be tempted!
An invalid went to South America
for his health and one day sat summing
himself on the beach when he saw
something crawling up the beach wrig-
Cling toward him, and he was alright
ed. He thought 1t was wild beast or
a reptile, and he took his pistol from
his pocket. Then he saw it was not a
wild beast. It was a man, an immortal
man, q man made in Gods own image,
and the poor wretch crawled up to the
feet OF the invalid and asked for strong
drink, and the invalid took his wine
flask from his pocket and gave the
poor wretch something to drink, and
then, under the stimulus, he rose up
and gave his history. He had been a
merchant in Glasgow. He had gone
down under the power of strong drink
until he was so reduced in poverty
that he was living in boat just off the
beach. why" said the invalid, 81
knew a merchant in Glasgow once, a
merchant of such and such a name"
And the poor wretch Strengthened him
self and said. 81 am that man. Let
him that thinketh he standeth take
heed lest he fall
Again l remark that the senior broth
er Of my text stands for the spirit of
envy and jealousy. The senior broth
er thought that all the honor they did
to the returned brother was a wrong
to him. He said, 81 have staid at home,
and [ ought to have had the ring, and
I ought to have had the banquet, and
I ought to have had the garlands."
Alas, for this spirit of envy and jeal-
ousy coming down through the ages!
Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Saul
and David, Hannah and Mordecai,
Othello and Iago, Orlando and Angeli-
ca, Caligula and Torquatus, Caesar and
Pompey, Columbus and the Spanish
courtiers, Cambyses and the brother
he slew because he was better marks
man, Dionysius and PhiloXenius, whom
he slew because he was better singer.
Jealousy among painters Closterman
and Godfrey Kneller, Hudson and
Reynolds. Francia, anxious to see a
picture of Raphael, Raphael sends him
picture. Francia, seeing it, falls in a
fit of jealousy from which he dies.
Jealousy among authors. How seldom
contemporaries speak Of each other
Xenophon and Plato living at the same
time, but from their writings you new
er would suppose they heard of each
other. Religious jealousies. The Mo-
hammedans praying for rain during a
drought; no rain coming. Then the
Christians begin to pray for rain, and
the rain comes. Then the Mohamme-
dams met together to account for this,
and they resolved that God was so well