Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-10-31

stem is staggering. He is blear eyed
ond maudlin in drink He turns down
side street and staggers on to his
lodgings in the upper room of a Door
tenement. where live his wife and four
mr. five half naked and half starved
children. That young man only ten
wears ago was dressed as well as you
or |. He had then a finer business
than YOU have today. He once had
inst as happy home. Tell me that
man is happy? Is that the man whose
wife so proudly stepped to the altar
~ Give herself to him in marriage? Is
that the young man her friends CON
graduated her upon marrying?
The Wages of Sin.
Call that fun? Fun to be kicked out
IF vour home? Fun to have tie shpr-
if sell your store over your head? Fun
To have all your old friends turn their
hack upon you and look upon YOU rs
an outcast? Through the HlIni.lt
darkness l hear the echoiug Of the
song of ten years ago now singing,
..Tbe wages of sin is death" Oh, no.
NV brother: that young man IS act
hannv. The worst taskmaster On e11th
is the devil No man so much wants
| to crush the power of sinful tempta-
+ion as that man who has been com
neIled to drink the bitter dregs of de
snair. Do not despise him; pity him,
and with gentle words try to win him
hack to honor and to Christ. He de
| serves your cOmmiseratiOn. There
fore, if you and l are ready to go to
Gods Outcasts. if we are ready to go
| to the sinners in Christ's name and say
| gently. Brother, Jesus is ready to
| save you, Jesus wants me to be your
| friend and help you," there would be
no difficulty in most cases about the
| spiritual rescues. But the trouble with
| this old hateful and hating world is,
as Josh Billings quantity put it, When
| q man starts dOwnhill it seems as
| though everything was creased for the
occasion" And when a man once
strikes the bottom Of the hill but very
| few people are ready to fling him the
| gospel rope and haul him up out of the
| mud. O man, can you not hear
| Christ speaking to you in behalf of
| Gods wayWard children, as David. the
| broken hearted father, once said to
| General Joab about his hayward boy,
Deal gently for my sake with the
| young man, even with Absalom."
| Oh, how many sinners could be
brought to Christ if we would only
practice the gospel Of a gentle life! 1t
| is said that one of the hardest criIni-
mails of an eastern penitentiary was
| converted by the gentleness of little
| child. This little girl and her father
were being shown through the prison
wards. When the party came to long
| fight of stairs the warden turned to
this hardened life prisoner and muir
| derer near by and said, Jack, carry
| her upstairs" When the hard feat1Ir-
| ed convict stopped down to pick up the
| little girl she looked up into his face
| with smile and said, Jack, will you
kiss me?' And when he was about to
| put the little one down she said, Now
| Jack, will YOU let me kiss your Nc
sooner We're those last words spoken
| than the old criminals heart was melt
|
| it guShed forth with tears of penitence
Kindness did it. The gentleness of q
little child accomplished what the
| blows of the keeper and the iron bars
could never do. o man, will you not
start forth from this moment to win
sinful men and women to Jesus Christ
| by the omnipotent power of a gospel
lied gentle life?
The Chief Mission of Man.
To save inlmortals for Christ ought
to be the chief mission of man, in
view of which fact again 1 ask the
same question 1 asked before, Why
should we not be gentle with the sins
and wrongdo;ngs of other people? Has
not God been very gentle in his deal
ings with our sins? When William E
| Gladstone, tile great commoner' of
England, was dying his son was read
ing to him this beautiful verse from
Pauls epistle to young Timothy, This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptation. that Christ Jesus came i'll
sooner did thu son come to the word
SINNERS Lnau the dying statesman
finished the verse, "of whom 1 am the
chief" Yes, like William E. Glad
stone, like Peter and Paul, we have
all been the ''chief of sinners" There
fore. if God deals gently with our sins
cannot we, shall not we, deal gently
i with the sins OF others whom we want
to bring to the cross?
|
votion to man was ready to sacrifice
his all for an earthly master. Cannot
we, al least in the same ratio, be will
ing to sacrifice orr lives to the service
of Jesus Christ to bring sinners tc
Christ through the influences of g
gentle life. AIuid a large gather
ing in London of literary men William
no I.lyl inf,+