Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-04-14

4 talk or religion tut w.. - corners or
the mouth drawn Own and the eyes
rolled up. Others went into skepticism
through n,altrCatment on the part of
some who professed RELIGION. There is
a man who says, MY Partner in bust
ness was conspicuous in prayer meet
Ing, and he was officiOus in all religious
circles, but be cheated me out of $4,000,
and l don't want any of that religion"
Then there are others who get into
skepticism by natural persistence in
asking questions, why or how? How
can God be one beiEg in three persons?
They cannot understand it. Neither
can /. How can God be complete
sovereign and yet man free agent!
They cannot understand it. Neither
can 1. They cannot understand why
| holy God lets sin come into the world.
Neither can L. They say: Here is a
great mystery; here is a disciple of
fashion, frivolous and goddess all her
days; she lives on to be an octogenarinn.
Here is a Christian mother, training
her children for God and for heaven,
self sacrificing, Christlike, indispensa-
BILE seemingly to that household; she
gets cancer and dies" The Skeptic
says, IL can't explain that" Neither
can |.
can see how men reason themselves
into skepticism. With burning feet l
have trodden that blistering way. l
know what it is to have a hundred
nights poured into one hour. There are
men in the arid desert of doubt who
| would oripo thoir thousands of dollars
if they could get back to the old re-
ligion of their fathers. Such men are
not to be caricatured, but helped, and
not through their heads, but through
their hearts When these men really
do come into the kingdom of God, they
will be worth far more to the cause of
Christ than those who never examined
the evidences of Christianity. Thomas
Chalmers once a skeptic, Robert Hall
once skeptic, Christmas Evans once
a skeptic; but when they did lay hold
of the gospel chariot how they made
1t speed ahead! If, therefore, l address
men and women who have drifted
away into skepticism, l throw out no
scott; l rather implead you by the
memory of those good old times when
said your evening prayer and those
other days of sickness when she watch
ed all night and gave you the medi-
cines at just the right time and turned
the pillow when it was hot and with
hand long ago turned to dust soothed
your pains and with that voice you
will never hear again unless you join
her in the better country told you new
er mind you would be better by and
by, and by that dying couch where she
talked so slowly, catching her breath
between the words-by all those mem
cries | ask you to come and take the
same religion 1t was good enough for
her; it is good enough for you. Aye,
l make a better plea: By the wounds
! and the death throe of the Son of God,
who approaches you in infinite love
: with tern brow and lacerated hands
and whipped back. crying, "COme unto
J me. all We that labor and are heavy
, laden, and | will give you restp'
= Another Apology.
Other persons apologize for not en-
terng the Christian life because of the
incOrrgibility of their temperament
: Now, we admit it is harder for some
: people to become Christians than for
others. but the grace of God never
} came to a mountain that it could not
climb or to an abyss that it could not
/ fathOm or to Il bondage that it could
f not break. The widest horse that ever
i trod Arabian sands has been broken tC
: bit and trace. The maddest torrent
e tumbling from mountain shelving has
: been harnessed to the mill wheel and
= the factory band, setting a thousand
J. shuttles all a-buzz and a-clatter. AnG
J. the widest. the haughtieSt, the mos
q ungOvernable man ever created by the
y grace of God may be subdued and sem
s out on ministry of kindness, as Coo
e sends an August thunderstorm to wa
+ ter the wild flowers down in the grass
s Peter, with nature tempestuous as tin
e sea that he once tried to walk, at ont
h look from Christ went out and wep
g bitterly. Rich harvests of grace ma.
e grow on the summit of the jagged
r steep, and flocks of Christian grace
" may find pasturage in fields of brandt
If and rock. Though your disposition
u may be all a-bristle with fretfulness
v though you have a temper a-glean
It with quick lightnings, though you
g avarice be like that of the horse leect
/? crying "Give.' though damnable i'm
II purities have wrapped you in all cor
le Stunning fire. God can drive that dew
y out of your soul, and over the chao
e. and the darkness he can say, lie
k there be light" Converting grace ha
err lifted the drunkard from the ditch an
b. snatched the knife from the hand @
th the assassin and the false keys fror
lg the burglar and in the pestiferous lane
d. of the city met the daughter Of sin III
d der the dim lamplight and scattere
b. her sorrow and her guilt with th
n words. Thy sins are forgiven; go. an
It, sin no more" For scarlet sin a scarle