Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-09-01
I would Mead with VOL

women, who are trying to set your
house in order, to look after the spir-
itual welfare of your loved ones as
well as your own, because do not I'M
derstand how heaven can ever be
truly and entirely happy place for any
man who has neglected to look after
the spiritual interests Of those who on
earth were near and dear to him. I
know that the Bible distinctly declares
that heaven is to be bright and a
happy place; but, for one, l think that
even celestial happiness would be mar
red if, when we are safely there, we
! were conscious that our loved ones
had missed their opportunity of COM
! ing in through our own neglect to tell
i them the way to the great white
! throne. 1 well remember in our jour
ney around the world how the heart
ached when in faroff Australia father
and | received a cablegram that moth
er was sick and had to return to Amer
lea and could not meet us in Paris. |
well remember how anxiously we two,
10000 miles from home, looked at each
other. Then we began to worry about
the illness which some months later
ended my mothers earthly life. And,
oh, if we were disappointed by not
meeting my mother in the French cap
ital, how much more disappointed will
some of us be, when we reach heaven,
if we should feel that our brothers and
sisters and husbands and wives, ia
theirs and mothers and children, should
have been in any way prevented join
ing us in heaven and especially if the
obstacle has been one of our making!
For my own part, | can sympathize
great deal with the prayer a weeping
wife once made by the bedside of her
husband, whom she supposed to be
asleep. With the tears raining down
her cheeks she said: 80 God, save my
husband! Save my dear, dear hus-
band! And, if by any means my own
sinful life has made him turn his back
upon thee, then blot out my name from
the book Of life if thou wilt! Only
save him!' My brother and sister,
preparing for the great and eternal
journey beyond the grave, 1 beg Of you
at this critical time to look after the
spiritual interests of your loved ones
anu luOSc w liz dlC utSil W yOu
But there is one overwhelming
thought about my text upon which |
love to dwell. If we &C to the throne
of grace in the right spirit of prayer,
God will let every one of us live as
long as is necessary to do the work
he wants us to do in his name. When
the prophet Isaiah entered the royal
palace of Jerusalem and said to the
sick Hezekiah, THUS saith the Lord,
set thine house in order, for thou shalt
die" the king turned his face toward
the wall and began to weep. HeZekiah
was not weeping because he had to die.
He was not afraid to die But he Wept
because he could not accomplish for
God and his people that which seemed
necessary for him to DO. Then, in
answer to Hezekiah's prayer, God said
to Isaiah the prophet, go and say to
Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord the God
of David tbs father, | have heard thy
prayer; | have seen thy tears. Behold,
l will add unto thy days fifteen years. y
So today, if, like Hezekiah, we will
pray in the right spirit, God will let
most of US live long enough to carry
Tic SOSpcl uI6SSdSC " an VI Jul 0Ndi
ones as we'll as to spiritually prepare
for our own eternal journey. But as
our earthly time is short, in order to
make this spiritual preparation our
selves and to help make the spiritual
preparation of our loved ones by bring
ing them to the Saviour, we must con-
secrate ourselves to the Lords service
now. BY the power Of the Holy Spirit
we must consecrate our lives to Gods
work as we have never cOnsecrated
them before. We must so eat and
drink and breathe and talk and pray
that we shall make Christ the supreme
ruler of our lives so that in all things
we may do nothing inconsistent witt
our allegiance to him. Are you and
like Ifezekiah-ready to surrender ou1
lives entirely to the Divine Masters
will?
ssChrist or Diana:"
Some of US have seen the noted pic
,, ture which bears the title "Christ OF
Diana?" The central figure is a beau
tiful girl, with one of the sweetest
noblest faces ever painted by an art
lists brush. With true dramatic pow
6E tue IIdSlSI SulICuuOSu
young girl with all the horrors of &
Neronian persecution. There in the
background of the picture is the am
phitheater in which wild beasts are
tearing the martyrs to pieces ant
u crunching the bones of the slain
: There are the torches made out of the
living bodies of men and women, GOV
cred with pitch, who are dying fol
! their belief in the lowly Nazarene
There are the grim faced Roman sol
diers There is the pleading lover, al
I well as the pleading mother and ia
Their, begging the young girl to re
nouEce her belief in her Saviour. Ant
there the young maiden stands be