Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-02-25
CHRISTIAN HEROISM.
Rev. Dr.. Talmage Tells of It's
Great Rewards.
BADGES OF HONORABLE CONFLICT.

Honor, Though the World May Not
Know.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24-In this dis
course Dr.. Talmage praises Christian
heroism and tells of great rewards.
The text is Galatians vi, II, Il bear in
my body the marks of the Lord Je-
sus."
We hear much about crowns, thrones,
victories, but 1 now tell the more quiet
story Of scars, honorable and dishonor-
able. There are in all parts of the
world people bearing dishonOrable
scars. They went into the battle of sin
and were worsted, and to their dying
day they will have q scarifcatiOn Of
body or mind or soul. 1t cannot be hid
den. There are tens Of thousands Of
men and women now cOnsecrated to
God and living holy lives who were
once corrupt, but they have been re-
generated and they are no more what
they once were than rubescence is ema-
citation, than balm is vitriol, than noon
day is midnight. But in their depleted
physical health or mental twist or style
Of temptation they are ever and anon
reminded of the obnoxious past. They
have a memory that is deplOrable. In
some twinge of pain or some tendency
TO surrender to the wrong which they
must perpetually resist they have an
unwholeSome Renaissance. They car
~ scars, deep scars, ignOble scars.
But Paul in my text shows us a scar
if1cation which is a badge of honorable
and self sacrificing service. He had in
his weak eyes the result of too much
study and in his body, bent and worn,
the signature of scOurgings and ship
wrecks and maltreatment by mobs. In
my text he shows those scars as he de-
clares, II bear in my body the marks
OF the Lord Jesus" Notice that it is
not wounds, but scars, and a scar is
healed wound. Before the scar is well
defined upon the flesh the infiamma-
ton must have departed, and right cir
cuiatiOn must have been restored, and
new tissue must have been formed. 1t
Is a permanent indentation of the flesh
"a cicatrix. Pauaalid we'll to show
those scars. They were positive and
indisputable proofs that with all his
body, mind and soul he believed what
he said; they were his diploma, show
ing that he had graduated from the
school of hardship for Christ; they
were credentials proving his right to
lead in the worlds evangelization.
Honorable Scars.
Men are not ashamed of scars got
In battle for their country. No Ameri-
can is embarrassed when you ask him.
'Whe$s did you get that cash across.
your forehead?" and he can answer,
'HThat was from a saber cut at San
Juan" When you ask some German,
"Where did you lose your right arm?"
he is not ashamed to say, Il lost it at
Sedan" When you ask an Italian,
|'Where did you lose your eye?" he is
not annoyed when he can answer, Z
suffered that in the last battle under
our glorious General Garibaldi." But
I remind you Of the fact that there are
scars not got in war which are just
as illustriOus. We had in this country
years ago an eminent advocate who
was called into the presidential cabi-
net as attorney general In midlife he
was in a Philadelphia courtroom en-
gagged in an important trial. The at
torney on the opposite side of the case
got irritated and angry, and in most
brutal manner referred to the diStin-
guished attorneys disfgured face, a
face more deeply SCARED than any face
I ever saw. The legal hero of whom l
am speaking in his closing argument
said: Gentlemen of the jury, when 1
was a little child l was playing with
my sister in the nursery, and her
clothes caught fire, and l ran to her to
put out the fire. | succeeded, but l
myself took fire, and before it was ex-
tinguished my face was awfully burn
ed and as black as the heart of the
Scoundrelly counsel who on the other
side of the case has referred to my
misfortune" The eminent attorney of
whom l speak carried all his life the
honorable scar of his sisters rescue.
In Gods Service.
A young college student in England
found all the artistic world in derisive
pursuit of William Turner, the painter.
The young graduate took up his pen
In some respects the most brilliant pen
that was ever put to paper-and wrote
those five great volumes on modern
painting the chief thought of which
was his defense of the abused painter
The heroic author by some was sup
posed in his old days to be cynical and
FAULT finding, and when | saw him
little while before his death he was in
decadence, but l know that all his face
and all over his manner were the scars
Of heroic defense. In the seventies of
his lifetime he was suffering from the
wounds and fatigues of the twenties.
Long after he had quit the battle with
authors pen and painters pencil he
bore the scars of literary martyrdom.
But why do we go so far for iIlustra-
lion when l could take right out of the
memories of some whom l address in