Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-06-09

De loved. Some portraits have an in
describable something about them
which proves that those faces crave
affection. If the closed lips could
speak, they would say: 81 live for 9th
ers in order that others might live for
me. | love iii order that | can be loved.
l suffer in order that others can be
made happy. And, being happy, they
can pour out their gratitude upon me-
l only awoke to the fact a few years
ago that Christ'S face was a face that
wanted to be loved. l used to think
that l must love Christ because Christ
could and would save me if l asked
him. But now 1 have learned to love
him because he loves me and wants me
to love him. He loves me with a love
that passeth all understanding. But
that love is incomplete unless | re-
spond to it and love as 1 am loved.
Mr.. Moody told a pathetic story how
a short time after his fathers death
his elder brother ran away from home.
Then he described how his mother
used to be continually watching for
the return of the prodigal, how she
would send the children every day
down to the postoffice to find out if
there were a letter from her absent
boy. They would hear her praying at
night for the return of her son, that ne
might give her his love. Well, today
Christ's face is a face craving affec-
ton.
Are you ready to satisfy the cravings
for affection which are pictured upon
Christ's face? Are you willing to have
your face stamped upon Christ's heart?
If you would, you cannot have your
face there alone. There are many
faces imprinted upon his heart, and yet
all these faces blend into one These
faces, which are stamped upon the
tender, living, forgiving heart Of
Christ, make a composite picture.
When you graduated from college, the
Photographic made a composite pic
ture of your class. He took all the diff
ferent photographs of the members
and passed them rapidly before the
cameras eye. Then the various photo
graphs were combined in a single pic
ture, and that was called the class por-
trait. SO upon Christ's heart there is
composite picture. That composite
portrait is made up of your Christian
mothers and fathers faces, your
Christian wife's and child's faces; it
is made from the faces of the Chris
tan men and women who have died
in the past and of those who are living
today. Will you have your face in this
composite picture, which is inefface-
ably stamped upon the great heart Of
Christ?
Divine Love Not Blind.
But, sad to relate, after all Christ
has suffered and done for US, his face
may be a condemning face. The di-
| vine love may be great enough to sur
pass all human understanding, yet the
| divine love is not blind. The spirit of
| God will not always strive with man.
| In Ezekiel we read, my face will
| turn also from them" Oh, the awful
moment when Christ's face, on account
| of our unrepented sins, shall become a
condemning face! This is one charac-
teristic of Christ which all unrepentant
sinners and some ministers preaching
in the sacred pulpits are trying not to
see. But if Jesus is not to have con-
| demning face for the unrepentant sim
ner how can you account for the para
BILE of the shepherd separating the
sheep from the goats? There is going
to come day when Christ shall gath
er before the judgment seat of God all
the nations of the earth. Crash! crash!
crash! will go every tombstone. The
mausoeums shall rock and heave as
night of Pauls and Silas' incarceration.
Every gate and slab door will fly open
The tall cemetery shafts shall tumble
as did the walls of Jericho at the blast
of the rams horn. The bodies of the
sailors sleeping by the coral reefs, the
emigrants who died when crossing the
prairie, the arctic explorers buried un
der the snow and ice, the missionaries
who died upon the Kongo-they shall
all come up. The dead which slept un
der the dome of Tai Mahal and the
poor unknown patient who died in the
county hospital and whose body was
buried in potter's field shall come up
The bodies of the rich and the poor
alike, the black and the white, the Jew
and the gentile-they shall all come up
Then Christ shall separate this multi
tude which is gathered before him as
shepherd separates his sheep from
the goats. Toward the sheep the Saw
Jour will turn a forgiving face, bu
toward the goats he shall turn con
demning face when he says, 'Depar
from me, We cursed, into everlasting
fire."
If Christ is not to have a condemnins
face to those who have not repente(
of their sins, how can you account fo
the scene in the parable of the ten vir
gins? AS we read that parable we SCI
the five foolish virgins who had no
prepared for the Bridegroom's comm.
standing without and pounding upol
the door of the banquet hall. We sool