Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-04-03
which is IKE a 1ver. unless you Drng
yourself into harmony with Gods laws

which Is IKE a r1ver, unless you pr1ng
yourself into harmony with Gods laws
and obey Gods commandments.
Naaman had to learn this lesson be
fore he could be cured of his leprosy.
His way was that the prophet should
come out to him and stand and call on
the name Of the Lord and strike bis
hand over the place. Gods way was
that he dip seven times in the Jordan.
When he took Gods way he was cured,
but not until he took IT, Gods way can
cure you, o immortal. of your sin. Are
you ready to welcome this divine peace.
like a river, which will come to you
through Jesus Christ? The way of the
cross is the source of this peace. From
the mount of Calvary that stream
gushes forth, as from Mount Hermon
flows the Jordan and from the Ad-
irondacks the mighty Hudson.
But the pleading river teaches us an
other lesson about the divine peace
which passeth all understanding. The
longer disciple of Jesus Christ lives
Christian life the deeper and wider does
the river of his peace become. 1t
should deepen and widen and grow
more majestic in volume, even as the
waters Of the Hudson grow deeper and
wider as they slip past the highlands
| and lap the feet of the Palisades and
| sweep on in their grandeur to the place
where they are married to the waters
of the mighty deep at the nuptial altar
| of Governors island, in upper New York
and wider, even as become the waters
| of the river Orinoco where they empty
| themselves into the unfathomable
| depths of the sea. When, in 1893,
| Christopher Columbus for the first time
touched the mainland of South Ameri-
ca and saw this great river, one of his
officers congratulated him because he
had discovered another island. The
immortal explorer replied: mo such
river as that flows from an island.
That mighty torrent drains the waters
OF continent" The pleading river of
Gods peace grows wider and deeper as
we travel along its banks in the journey
OF life. At the beginning of our Chris
tan course it may seem a small stream,
but as the years pass and our feet come
nearer and nearer to the great ocean of
eternity the volume of the river in
creaSes until it becomes a peace that
passeth understanding.
Is this increasing power true in ref
erence to our spiritual peace? AS you
compare your present life with that
of your spiritual life ten, twenty, thir-
ty years ago are you conscious that you
love God more now than you did then?
Do you read the Bible more now than
you did when you joined the church
and prepared for your first commun-
ion? Is your enjoyment of prayer and
your dependence upon it more intense
now than they were at first? Are you
| striving more earnestly than formerly
| to gather the showers of blessing that
are everywhere falling around you into
your own spiritual nature? Are you
more ready now than at the beginning
of your Christian career to go into the
house of a neighbor on whom sickness
or bereavement has fallen to admins
ter comfort and to cheer him with re-
minders of Gods promises? There is
something awfully wrong with a Chris
tan who. While his wealth and mental
power increase with the passing years,
| finds that his spiritual nature does not
widen and deepen like the pleading
river of Gods peace.
Not Like River.
Indeed. | sometimes think that our
| so called peace is not like a river at
ALL 1t is more like a brackish, stag
| nant pool or as a dried up well that
| gives forth no water. There was a
| very good we'll here once" said an old
| farmer in reference to a certain drink
ing trough. Indeed" answered a
preacher on his vacation, sis that so?
I wonder what is the matter with it.
How did it get filed up?' Neglect,
SIR answered the farmer. First a
little rubbish got in it, then little
more and a little more and a little
more. The dirt and refuse were not
cleared out. and the water grew worse
and worse and less and less until al
last the well became choked up. ]
wonder if there is any water at the
bottom of this wellY' YES" said the
preacher. II wonder if there is any wa.
|
that the figure of our peace? Is it q
well and not q river?
AS the Mississippi river is fed by the
Missouri. the Ohio, the Tennessee and
the Red rivers and indirectly by the
Allegheny, the Monongahela. the Vel
lowstone and the Platte, so from many
sources might the river of our peace re
ceive the waters of blessing, but in
stead we allow the dirt and refuse o.
this world to choke the passages b,
which they might enter and our rive
dwindles into a stagnant pool. Hav'
we become dried up spiritual wells? Al
the tourists dropping pebbles int
Jacobs well have choked it up, SOM
Of us have choked up our gospel wells
Years ago we dropped the pebble O
Sabbath Dissertation into it. Years ag,
in went another pebble-absence from
Sunday school and church worshiD
l %nol- 10 h,