Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-05-01

Rickety Stairs and found his old com
panion living In poverty and squalor.
He threw his arms about the coloBels
neck and begged his pardon. Then be
said. Colonel, why did you not let us
search you and free you from the sus-
! picion of the theftr' Because" an
swered the colonel, though / am poor,
/ am very proud My wife and chill
aren have not had enough to eat for
months. Meat they have not had for
a week. And while you were eating
slipped the meat of my plate and hid
it In my pockets, that they might eat
it after 1 reached home" All, the
temptations Of sin, which must con-
tinually abide with such starving men
| and the homelessl God is going to
| Judge such sinners differently from
the way he will condemn our sins.
Like Lots wife, we have had our
physical necessities supplied. Aye, al
most all of us have had more than the
necessities. God has given to us many
| luxuries as well. When we entered
into sin we went there to seek pleas
ure and not for the necessities of food
| and clothing. We sinned because we
wanted to sin, and not because in one
sense we felt we had to sin to live.
The Training Lots Wife Had
Like Lots wife, are we? Most of us
| aye, all-have felt the gospel inspiration
| of Christian home know not wheth-
er this woman was born in cody
| cradle and reared in pious home. I
know not whether in her younger days
she was taught to say her evening
prayers at her mothers knee. But do
know that as soon as she married she
was taken to a gOdly home. Lot, her
husband, was Abraham's foster child
and nephew. His father died when Lot
was very young. Abraham and Sarah
had no children; therefore they adopt
ed this orphan-his mother was evil
IDENTIFY dead-and brought him up as
their own son. No sooner did Lot bring
home his young bride than, methinks,
can see this old gray haired patriarch
Abraham welcome her to his home. /
can see him place his hand upon her
head and say: MY child. l welcome
thee in the name of the Lord. I well
come thee as my daughter" Methinks
1 can see Sarah take the young girl in
her arms and press her to her heart
and place a holy kiss upon her fresh
young lips. That night, as usual, the
aged couple have family prayers Lot
and his bride kneel by the old folks
side Step by step Lots wife is taught
to trust God and to live for God and to
h. -
not a cannibal on the Kongo, taught
from her infancy that the best banquet
she can have is the quivering flesh Of
a captive whom her husband has
brought home in chains. She is not an
Aztec Indian, who thinks the best of
fering she can make to God is the
bleeding heart of human sacrifice
torn out from the ribs of a pleading
suppliant. She is a child of the cove
nant, having lived at least for years
amid the highest and nOblest of godIy
surroundings. She was destroyed be-
cause she refused to obey the teach
| ings of God which she learned from her
| father-in-law and mother-in-law.
Lots wife's doom awful, you say.
Yes, but shall not God condemn more
| severely those who have deliberately
| wandered forth into the ways of sin
and who have once lived in Christian
homes than those who have never
heard the name of Jesus except in bias
phemy? Shall not God more severely
condemn you and me for our sins than
he would oQr companions in evil whose
mothers were like Delilah, Jezebel or
Rahab instead of like Sarah or Esther
or Ruth? Indeed, so strong is the in
fuence of our parental Christian
homes that they are Juggling at our
hearts today in spite of present sins
We cannot drown their echoing calls if
we would
Influence of the Old Home.
Some time ago a dear friend of mine
was out in a mining town There at
| that time was miner noted for his
sins. Gambler, drunkard, blasphemer
| and peddler of filthy stories was he.
My friend met him one day and said:
Are you as bad man as you make
out to be? You say you are going
home this spring to visit your mother.
| w III you yet drunk Ilefe as Won do
here? Will you tell her the vile stories
you tell here?" The man looked at nv
friend a moment and then said: mo
sir! l would sooner cut off my right
arm than let my mother or nv sisters
see me as l am. l came from a Chris
tan home, and the old truths which
were taught me there are still plead
ing with me to be a good Christian
man." Oh, my friends, when Lots
wife went astray she did not sin in
ignorance. Like ourselves. she once
lived in a godly home. Like yonder
miner, she had, as we have, the pray
ers of her pious loved ones pleading
with her to keep pure and true and
upright, as she ought to have been
Will you continue to disregard the
| Christian teachings of your youthful
| days?
But DO the lessons of Lots wife end
here? No. Drawing near today to the
| Abrahamic encampment we hear a