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

more SGst
Is not this reunion vision of the isle
of Patmos to YOU transcendent
thonrbt? Is it not an uplifting hone
Tho, those who were once snatchad
ovrov from Us by death shall be given
hack in I'll the beauty and love of the
redemption? Not long ago the great
ho+tlesbip of the United States navy
named after the state of Missouri was
threatened with humiliation. By q
certain mishap the powder chargers on
+ba decks were ignited and exploded.
In an instant a spark might fly into
tbe magazine room, and then the whole
shin would be destroyed and six hun
dred men might be hurled into eternity.
At once a gunner's mate who stood
near Jumped through the open door of
rho magazine room and slammed shut
the iron door. The magazine room was
flooded and the ship was saved: not.
however. before the brave gunner's
mate was nearly drowned in that mag
azine room as rat might be drowned
in his hole AS with that gunner's
mate sometimes 1t is our duty to face
dangers. !
were. turn our backs upon our friends
and slam shut an iron door. called the
door of the tomb, which separates us
from our dear ones. Sometimes we
must be separated from those we love.
even as St. John On the island of Pat
mos was separated from his friends in
Asia Minor. But in heaven God will
will be no separations, no partings
there For in heaven, according to the
inspired Apocalypse, there is no more
sea-"
Inward Spiritual Strife.
But the Mediterranean waves beat
ing against the Patmos rocks were not
only symbolic of external troubles, but
also of an inward spiritual strife.
When ST. John gave his heart to
Christ. in one sense he was emancipat-
ed from sin. But Satan never for an
instant, this side of the grave, leaves
off his struggle to capture a gospel
stronghold. The Bible declares a Chris
tan shall not be tempted by a sin
greater than he can bear. But Chris
for more spiritual strength in order to
repel the Satanic onslaughts which are
daily being made against the strong
holds of their hearts.
Can we not find the symbol of a
spiritual struggle in the never ending
restlessness of the sea? "Oh," said
lady some time ago to me, 81 am so
tired Of hearing those waves beat up
against the rocks" Yes, those waves
have been beating up against thoserocks
for thousands of years. When sailing
upon the ocean, some days its surface
seems as calm as Loon lake asleep, as
a smiling child in the broad lap of the
Adirondack mountains. But that is
only slumber. Within a few hours
she may awake with a scowling face,
with the fire of the ightnings in her
eye and with the shriekings of the
tornadoes in her voice. In our lives
the spiritual struggles keep on to the
end We have the good angel whis-
pering in one ear to be good; we have
the dad anger whispering in the
other ear to be bad. st. John, even up
W TIE eIlu Vi HIS lllS, Hdu W uSul NY
the power Of the Holy Spirit against
the restless ''sea of temptations" So
have we.
About the best illustration of my
thought that I know is the simple one
which DR.. Frederick Goss told to his
Cincinnati people a few months ago.
One day one of his Sunday school
teachers was trying to explain to her
class that there are two kinds of lives
to live, the good life and the bad life.
"Now, children she said, "all those
little girls who want to live the good
life,' will please step over on this
nice warm carpet, and those who want
to live the bad life will stand on that
cold, hard oilcloth?" Much to the teach
ers surprise, her own little girl put one
foot upon the carpet and the other
upon the oilcloth. My DEAR" said the
mother in surprise, you are standing
upon BOTH Il know it, mamma" said
the child, "but you know 'thometimes'
I want to be just a little bad" So IN
every Christian life there has to be a
continual war against the world, the
flesh and the devil. And when st. John
looked off upon the troubled waters Of
the Mediterranean, he not only looked
off upon his own spiritual struggles,
| but at the same time he looked off in
vision to the time when those spiritual
struggles should forever pass away,
when there shall be no more sea-"
Thus my text means more than a
mere figure of speech. 1t has more
| than a mere literal Interpretation that
| heaven is to be a place without at
mospheric moisture. 1t means that the
mountain of Calvary" shall be large
enough to hold all peoples who give
their hearts to Jesus Christ 1t means
that this mountain Of Calvary" shall
not only be wide mountain, but a
| high mountain. 1t shall lift US up and
I'D and up until it lifts US to the very
gates of heaven itself. Oh, my brother
and sister, will you not stand upon this
mountain, this blood red Calvary noun