Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-02-29

liant man? Do not thousands upon
thousands of people go to the great
cathedrals of Europe in order to hear
the music, just as those same musical
lovers would sit at the feet of a List,
a Paderewski or a DamrosclI?
We know that the finest living mu-
steal composer of Italy leads the Vati-
can choir and the finest organist of all
London is master of st. Paul's famous
organ and that Plymouth church was
not more noted for the fact that it had
one of the greatest of preachers than
that it had one of the greatest of mu-
sicians, who was able to make its or
gan pipes weep and sob as we'll as
sound mighty hosanna. Are not some
of our churches on account of their
wealth being more and more secular
lied into mere social clubs? Do not
many professional men 90 to church
not for the spiritual good they may get
out of those churches, but that they
may be able to come in touch with
those who worship in those congrega-
tons? Is it not becoming more and
more the custom for the members of
the church boards Of trustees to Judge
of the success or the failure of the
church by the criterion of money-by
the way that church in it's collections
is able to take in as well as give out
wealth?
Heed the Summons
Oh, yes, my friends, the church men,
bers should heed the Lenten summons.
They should heed the spiritual call,
which scars above the discordant ones
of the busy marts even as the clear
note of the thrush may be heard above
the bedlam Of the woods sounding the
reveille of the morning. They should
hear the Lenten call which says to the
clergyman, ooh, ordained undershep-
herd of the Christian pulpit, down on
your knees and pray!' Lent calls to
the elders and deacons and Sunday
school officers, Down on your knees
and prayw 1t calls to the lay members,
whether bediamonded and in silks or in
humble homespun, Down on your
knees in prayerw Oh, that we might
all heed the spiritual Lenten call and
make Christ's church veritable ''house
of prayer"
Thus, my friends, the spring fast
calls to the men in the social world
and to the men in the business world
and to the men in the home and to the
men in the church to come to prayers.
1t calls at this time because ON the
coming Of Ash Wednesday we shall
celebrate the beginning of one of the
most triumphant and yet Saddest times
Of all Christ's earthly existence. The
Jordanic baptism was just over. Christ
was about to begin his divine mission.
We know not how far the human ma
ture he assumed may have obScured
for the time the divine attributes he
possessed. It may be that in those for
ty days Of solitary thought and prayer
he realized more clearly than in his
former years the sublimity of his work
and of his sacrifice. He saw what his
work was to be. He saw how he must
carry the burden of mans sins and die
for man and be resurrected before he
could return to his Fathers throne.
May this coming spring fast Of the
Lenten season be to you also time of
| spiritual awakening. May it be a time
when you will not only realize that
God has glorious earthly work for
you to do, but a time when you can
realize that after work is done you
shall live on and on and with Christ
and never die. May you during the
next coming forty days be much in
prayer, much in earnest beseechment.
| May you also feel and know that the
way you are to be best fitted for that
earthly work is by the depth Of your
repentance as we'll as by the height of
| your glorious and triumphant faith.
May God bless this Lenten season to
us all!
copyright, 1904, by Louis Klopsch.1