Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-10-28

than I'll the world besides. Then you
realize as never before what had been
the sweet influences.
Refining Power of the Gospel.
Sweet influences of friendship! If
we have behaved ourselves tolerably
/ well, we have friends. In our days of
mirth they ccme with their congratula-
lions. In times of sorrow they come
with expressions of solace. In times of
! perplezity they come with their advice.
! They are with US at weddings and at
| burials. If there is anything good in
US, they find it out, and our fraiIties
| they overlook or excuse. If something
| appears against Us, they say, ''Wait till
l hear the other side" If disaster
shall befall Us, we know from whom
would come the first coincidence. Fam
lily friends; church friends; business
| friends; lifelong friends. In our heart
of hearts we cherish them.
Sweet influences of our holy religion,
surrounded as we are by all the ameni-
ties Of Christian sOciety-men and wo-
men who have felt the refining and eIG-
waiting power of the gospel! Sweet in
fuences Of the Sabbath, fifty-two Of
them Ginning their joy into every year!
Sweet inf enceS of the Scriptures,
with their balm for all wounds and
their light for every darkness! When
the heirs Of a vast estate in England
wished to establish their claim to prop
erty worth S1OO,OOO,000, they offered
reward of $500 for the recovery of an
old Bible, the family record Of which
.-:4
any Bible, new or old, can help us to
vaster Inheritance tEan the one spoken
of, one that never fades away.
The sweet influences of the heavenly
world, which many wise men thought
for long while was Alcyone, the cen
ter of the constellation of the Pleiades
world of our future residence, as we
hope; world Of chorus and illumination;
world of reunion; world where we shall
be everlastingly complete; world where
our old faculties will be intensified and
Quickened and new faculties implant-
ed; world of high association with
Christ, through whose grace we got
there at ALL and apostles and poets,
Habakkuk, and st. John of PatmOs, and
Edward Young his might Thoughts"
turned into eternal day; and Horatius
Bonar of modern hymnology, and Han
nah More, and Mrs. Hemans, and Mrs.
Sigourney, who struck their harps till
nations listened; and David, the victor
over Goliath with what seemed INSULT
cient weapons; and Joshua of the pro-
longed day in Gideon, and Havelock,
the evangelist hero, and those thou
sands of men Of the sword who fought
on the right side. What company to
move in! What guests to entertain!
What persOnages to visit! What choirs
to chant! What banQuets with lifted
chalices filed with 1.-The new wine o.
the kingdomr' What victories to cele-
brate
The Star of Hope.
The stories of that world and its
holy hilarities come in upon our souls
sometimes in song, sometimes in ser
mon, sometimes in hours of solitary
reflection, and they are, to use the
words of my text, sweet influences.
But there is one star that affects us
more with it's sweet influences than
the center star, the AlcyOne of the |
PleiadeS, and that is what one Bible |
author calls the Star of jacob and an
other Bible author calls the Morning !
Star. OF oil the sweet influences that |
have ever touched our earth those that |
radiate frOIn Christ are the sweetest. |
Born an Asiatic villager, in a mechan-
les home, living more among ham,
mers and saws and planes than among |
books, yet at twelve years of age con-
robed ecclesiastics and start
ing out on mission under which those
u wiz n n
clear daylight and those afflicted with
tympanum were made to
hear and those almost doubled up with
deformitieS were Strengthened into
graceful poise and the leprous became
rubicund and the widows only son eX-
the bier on which he lay life
less for the arms of his OverjOyed
mother and pronouncing nine benedic-
tons on the Mount of Beatitudes and
doing deeds and speaking words which
are filling the centuries with sweet in
fuences. ChXist started every ambu-
lance. kindled every electric ray,
spread every soft hospital pillow and
introduced all the alterations and
and rescues and mercies
of all time. He was the lOveliest be-
ing who ever trod our earth-more
beauty in his eye, more tenderness in
his manner, more gentleness in his
footstep, more music in his voice, more
dignity in his brow, more gracefulness
in the locks that rolled upon his Shout
ders, more compassion in his soul.
Sweet influences of the Holy Ghost,
with all his transforming and comfort
ing and emancipating power. When
that power is fully felt, there will be
no more sins to pardon, and no more
to correct, and no more sor-