Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-08-11


In it; as Regent Morton was Rugged
to death by the spikes of the fatal
image of torture known as the
Maiden which he himself had intro
duced into Scotland, and as a Hannah
was hanged upon the gallows he had
erected for the despised Mordecai, so
the unjust criticisms which we mete out
to others are often the very condemna-
lions with which we ourselves shall
be condemned by our fellow men.
But the text has deeper and wider
meaning than merely the Interpretation
which implies that if we utter condem-
nation against our brothers our breth-
rem will in turn speak similar cOndem-
nations against us. 1t means that if we
condemn our brethren Christ will con-
denim us. 1t means that if we do not
speak kindly Of those who have gone
wrong Christ will not become our di-
vine advocate and plead for our for
giveness. What does the Bible say in
order to impress this truth upon our
hearts? Christ gave us the Lords
Prayer as the model of our supplica-
tons. "Our Father, which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy
kingdom come Thy will be done in
earth as it is in heaven. Forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against u.s." In other words,
we must pray that as we are ready to
forgive the sins of others SO may God
forgive us our own trespasSes. My
Lord and my God, If thy pardon is to
be dependent upon our willingness to
| forgive and pardon others what chance
have most of us of thy forgiveness!
The older 1 grow the more believe
that thousands and hundreds of thou
sands of Christian men and women are
barred from the divine joys of higher
| Christian service because they are
| harsh in their criticism upon the errors
of their fellow men. You know that
some people make the sinful boast that
| If an injustice or a wrong has ever
been done against themselves they will
never forgive. How can such persons
expect Christs pardon when they are
willfully refusing to obey Christ's CON-
mand to judge not, so that they shall
not be judged?
| We Must Forgive to BE Forgiven.
Mr.. Moody was the evangelist, /
think, who once illustrated the impossi-
bility of receiving Christ's pardon for
sin unless at the same time we are will
ing to forgive the sins of others by tell
ing an incident that happened at one Of
| his revival meetings. A woman was
under deep conviction of sin. She felt
that Christ was ready to pardon. She
felt that she was sinner, but for some
unknown reason she would not be par
doned. At last the great evangelist
came to her and said: Madam, there
is some sin in your life which you are
unwilling to give up. What is it? Will
you confess the sin to me?" EYES,"
answered the lady, 81 will l want to
be saved. I feel that Christ is willing to
save me. But every time 1 begin to
pray for pardon I think of a woman
who has done me in the past a great
wrong. 1 cannot but condemn her and
judge her very harshly. Then, as I
pray for pardon, Christ seems to say to
me, will you pardon and forgive your
sister if pardon and forgive your and
1 say, No, cannot forgive her. Then
Christ, with a sad face, seems to say,
Then 1 will not forgive you" Mr..
Moody said to the lady, "Will you kneel
down here by this seat and let me pray
for your She answered Il WILL" Then
the evangelist prayed that God might
soften her heart toward her sister; that
he would help her to forgive, as she
wanted to be forgiven. And in the
midst of the prayer the erring woman
sobbed, 80 Lord I forgive, l forgiven
and she was saved. So, my brother, If
you are not ready to deal gently with
those who have done you wrong and
also ready to forgive others Christ will
not forgive you. Judge not, that We be
not judged, for with what judgment We
judge, We shall be judged. And with
what measure We mete it shall be meas
ured unto We again"
But I have one thought more to de-
velop, and then I am done. No man
has a right to condemn his brother, be,
cause after the condemnation is once
spoken it often happens that it can
never be recalled, no matter how much
he may repent Our judgments are
nearly always spoken Judgments
therefore those evil words which
speak to others about an absent friend
or enemy will in all probability be re
peated to a second and q third and
fourth party until those censoFious
criticisms are carried everywhere. And
then, my brother, the damage which
we do unto others will be past recall.
! Thus my text has the same kind OF
practical application as that which
a mother taught her little boy while
they were spending the summer in the
woods. The little fellow came running
into the house in tears and said: NAM
ma. there are some bad boys out there
hooking me. When l cried Hello!
they shouted back 'Helloy When
cried Keep stillv the bad boys CRIED
Keep still! And when shouted
womb thQ had h0vS shouted hack 9