Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-02-01

KNOW MIN, wrote us IdIullY puySi
clan, DR.. Douglass, "as a patient, gen.
tie, quiet, accomplishing sufferer, look
ing death cas@lly in the face and count
ing almost the hours he had to live,
and those hours were studied by him
that he might contribute something of
benefit to some other fellow sufferer.
If he was great in his life he was even
greater in his death!'
The Grace of God.
If the Lord God could give sufficient
grace to Ulysses S. Grant to serve him
amid such narrowing surroundings
will not God give you enough grace in
the darkest hours of your Christian life
to be a good Christian soldier, so that
you shall love your fellow church mem
bers as yourself? l say lin the darkest
hours Of your life because l firmly
believe that some so called Christians
are passing through a religious crisis.
You are now about to decide your
whole eternal destiny. You are to de-
eide it not Icy how you profess to love
God, but by how you are willing to
love your fellow church members. Are
you ready, here and now, as Christian
soldiers to ''be kindly affectioned to one
another, with brotherly love in honor
preferring one another" Do not tell
me that it is impossible for you to live
in Christian sympathy with those who
belong to your same church family. By
the grace of God it is possible. And if
you are not willing to let that divine
love have full control of your life, then
instead of staying in a church and dis
putting and finding fault continually
with the other members it is far bet
ter for you to leave that church and go
back to the world and thereby play
the gospel coward, as did the $4,000
men who deserted Gideon's standard
at the first opportunity the Hebrew
commander gave them to skulk home.
The church should be tremendously
organized army. 1t is not only possible
thereby to hurl solid front against
the Satanic foe, but also by preponder-
ance of numbers, concentrated in one
move, to make, as the Bible says, a
little one become a thousand and a
small one a strong nation" COncentra-
ton in military parlance means not
only conquest, but generally the COM
plete mystifcation and disOrganization
of an opposing foe. If by a sure mathe-
NAUTICAL calculation the military chief
tain can drive as a battering ram ten
offensive men against one man on the
defensive, the successful outcome of the
conflict becomes an assured fact.
Power of the Prayer Meeting.
1t was by the successful cOncentra-
ton of forces against his enemies and
by the lightning rapidity of his move
ments that Napoleon Bonaparte won
his great victories. During all the mil
itary career of the Little COrsican"
his armies were outnumbered by those
of his opponents. But one day we find
the brilliant military genius attacking
one wing of the Austrian army. The
next day we find him attacking another
wing of the Austrian army. One day
he is falling upon the defenseless Ital-
ian fields by boldly scaling the Alps.
Another day we see him concentrating
his artillery fires upon a separated part
of the German army. Napoleon with
his forces would have been wiped off
the face of the earth ten years before
he met his fate at Waterloo had he at
tempted to battle his enemies in bulk.
He beat Austria and Italy and Ger
many and Spain by defeating his foes
by detail-piecemeal. He did it by the
power of military concentration. This
was the way Frederick the Great car
ried OH his wars of many years. This
was the way Washington and Nathaniel
Greene won their victories, and it was
in this way that "StonewalP' Jackson,
with small force at his back, became
the terror of every northern commander
campaigning upon Virginia soil. So,
| my friends, as Gideon marshaled his
| three hundred, the church soldiers
should be united band They must
! be able to hurl all their spiritual
strength against the Satanic foe in one
| place and at one time.
How can this great forward move
ment of single church against sin be
concentrated and conserved? First, by
/ all the church members every seven
days answering church roll at the mid
week prayer meeting Wednesday
night prayer meeting is even more i'm
portant than the Lords day worship
1t is by the commingling of prayers
that the spiritual forces of church
+, become inflamed with the holy zeal anG
all conquering gospel enthusiasm. 1t is
to that roll call that the members OF
the church must give diligent heed
Concentrated church membership at thu
midweek prayer meeting is of over
whelming Importance l know of wha
speak. During my life have observed
the ways of two kinds of churches
In the one | have seen a mighty Cos
| pei conquest going on month in ant
month out. Why? The people attend
ed the midweek prayer meeting. l.
the other kind of church spiritual re
suits were never assured. Why? Tn
people, no matter how the pastor beg
ged and pleaded. failed to attend th
! midweek praVpr meeting 4 churc