Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-03-25
do they succeed? AS well when Chi

| that when a revival begins IN 4 church
| it begins at SO many points that while
you have doused one anxious soul with
q pail of cold water there are 800 other
anxious souls on fire. Oh, how much
better it would be to lay hold of the
chariot Of Christ's gospel and help pull
it on rather than fling ourselves in
front of the wheels, trying to block
their progress. We will not stop the
chariot, but we ourselves viii be ground
to powder.
Did you ever hear that there was a
convention once held among the ice
bergs of the arctic? It seems that
| the summer was coming ON and the
sun was getting hotter and hotter and
there was danger that the whole ice
field would break up and flow away;
so the talIest and the coolest and the
broadcast of all the icebergs, the very
king of the arctics, stood at the head
of the convention, and with a gavel
of ice smote on a table of ice, calling
the convention to order. But the sun
Kept growing in intensity Of heat and
the south wind blew stronger and
stronger and soon all the icefield
began to grind up, iceberg against
| iceberg, and to flow away. The first
resolution passed by the ice convention
was, "Resolved that we abolish the
SUM- But the sun would not be abOl
fsihed. The heat of the sun grew greater
| and greater until after awhile the very
king of the icebergs began to perspire
under the glow and the smaller ice
bergs fell over and the cry was: ''TOO
much excitement Order! Order!'
Then the whole body, the whole field
of ice, began to flow out, and thou
sand voices began to ask: where are
we going to now? Where are we float
ing to? We will all break to pieces"
| By this time the icebergs had reached
| the gulf stream and they were melted
| into the bosom of the Atlantic ocean.
The warm sun is the eternal spirit.
The icebergs are frigid Christians. The
warm gulf stream is a great revival.
| The ocean into which everything
melted is the great, wide heart of the
pardoning and sympathiZing God.
Unconverted Ministry.
But 1 think, after all, the greatest OBJ
stacle to revivals throughout Christen-
dom is an uncOnverted ministry. We
must believe that the vast majority of
those who officiate at sacred affairs are
regenerated, but L suppose there may
float into the ministry of all the de-
nominations of Christians men whose
hearts have never been changed by
grace They are all antagOnistic to re-
vivals. How did they get into the min
istry? Perhaps some Of them chose it
as a respectable profession; perhaps
some chose it as means of livelihood;
perhaps some of them were sincere,
but were mistaken. AS Thomas Chal-
mers said, he had been many years
preaching the gospel before his heart
had been changed, and as many minis
tiers of the gospel declare they were
preaching and had been ordained to sa-
cred orders years and years before
their hearts were regenerated. Ora
ciOus God, what a solemn thought for
those Of us who minister at the altar!
With the present ministry in the pres
ent temperature of piety this land will
never be enveloped with revivals.
While the pews on one side the altar
cry for mercy the pulpits on the other
side the altar must cry for mercy. Min
listers Quarreling, ministers trying to
pull each other down, ministers strug-
Cling for ecclesiastical place, ministers
lethargic with whole congregations dy-
ing on their hands! What a spectacle!
Aroused pulpits will make aroused
peWs; pd1pits af1ame will make pews
afame Everybody believes in a reviv-
al in trade, everybody likes a revival
in literature, everybody likes a revival
in art, yet great multitude cannot I'M
derStand a revival in matters of reli-
giOn. Depend upon it, where you find
man antagOniStic to revivalS, Wheth-
er he be in pulpit or pew, he needs to
be regenerated by the grace of God.
l could prove to demonstration that
without REVEALS this world will never
be converted and that in 100 or 200
years without REVEALS Christianity will
be practically extinct. 1t is a matter
of astounding arithmetic. In each of
our modern generations there are at
least 100000 children. Now add 3d.
100000 to the worlds population and
then have only 100000 or 100000 con-
verified every year, and how long before
the world will be saved? Never-abso-
lutely never!
The King Calls For Recruits.
During our civil war the president of
the United States made proclamation
for $4,000 troops. Some of you remem-
Der the big stir. But the King of the
universe today asks for 1,2O0,OOO,00O
more troops than are enlisted, and we
want it done softly, imperceptibly no
excitement, one by one. You are a dry
goods merchant on a large scale, and I
am a merchant on a small scale, and /
come oyou and want to buy a thousand
yards of cloth. Do you say: '"Thank
you. I'll sell you a thousand yards of
cloth, but I'll sell you 20 yards to-
day and 20 tomorrow and 20 the next