Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-09-11


An Incident Of Michael Angelo.
An incident in the life Of Michael
Angelo well illustrates how you and
/ have to continually run up against
and overcome mems prejudices. The
Florentine master had already CHS.
eled some of his greatest pieces of
sculpture, but, strange TO say, there
were a great many Florentnes, as
there are men fn our day, who could
not see any perfection In any picture
or piece Of statuary unless 1t was hun
dreds of years old, so Michael Angelo,
to convert his critics, made a new
statue He then broke off one OF
the arms Of that statue and kept 1t.
Then he stained the rest Of the statue
and buried 1t under one of the old
churches and then had one of his
friends find It. At once all the art
critics Of Florence gathered around this
exhumed piece of stone and declared
1t was one Of the finest pieces of sculp-
ture ever chiseled by man "Oh!" they
cried. Where can we find a modern
sculptor able to mold a body like
that" After Florence had praised
this statue for some months Michael
Angelo came forward with the broken
arm of white marble which he had
kept In his studio. He fitted it on the
exhumed statue and he declared: II
can make statue as good as that.
See, have made this one myself! The
broken arm is a perfect fit" His crit
les were COMPOUNDED, as they we'll
might be, but as l read that story
did not condemn those Florentines as
many have done l said to myself:
Yes, those men who criticised the ris-
ing sculptor were natural born doubt
ers. There are some men who, by their
natural mental makeup find fault with
everybody and everything; therefore,
If we are going to lead men to Christ,
we must learn how to overcome the
intellectual doubts, the intellectual
skepticisms, which trouble so many
men concerning God.
The Mysteries of the Bible.
And how many causes for doubts in
reference to God we see everywherei
Here, for instance, are all the doubts
men have in reference to the mysteries
Of the Bible. Was there ever a COM
pass which needed to be surer or truer
in the dark and almost impenetrable
forests than the star of Bethlehem to
guide the mental doubters out of the
mysteries Of Gods providence? Here
are all the mysteries of sorrow. The
doubter perhaps has lost a little child
or the mother Of bis children. He can
not understand why God took his loved
ones. Shall we pass over these mys-
teries of sorrow with a mere wave Of
the hand? Here are all the shortcom-
ings of Christians which blind the
doubter's eyes. Perhaps some elder
Of church has cheated him in a bust
ness deal. Shall not the doubter be
talked to lovingly in reference to that
matter and shown how there have been
Judases among Christ's professed fol-
lowers at all times? Yes, Christ wants
to draw to his arms those who are
mentally blinded. He would have us
lead them as carefully as 1 saw the
other day a boy leading his little
brother Of eight summers, who was
blind in both eyes, across q country
field. As 1 saw these two boys going
past me there were tears in my eyes
for an especial reason. AS they were
passing I was told that only a year
before that little boys eyes were as
good as yours or mine. But his own
brother, who was then leading him,
while hunting one day had acciden-
tally discharged his gun and shot his
brothers sight away. 20 Cod"
said to myself, "can 1t be that some Of
us, by our own sins of commission or
sins Of omission, have made some Of
thy children mentally blind to thy love"
Can 1t be that doubters and skeptics
and agnostics and mental antagonists
to God are resisting him today merely
because we will not take away the
bands which are binding their eyes
because there is no one to uncover
their eyes-as the disciples Of old took
off the bands from the eye sockets Of
helpless Lazarus? o God, today give
US more sympathy for the honest
doubter! Inspire US with holy zeal to
| try to scatter these doubts away when
ever and wherever they areI
Bound Hand and Foot.
But as l go up to the open tomb where
| slept the dead Lazarus find that not
only was he blinded, but his move
! ments were restrained. His resurrect-
| ed body has its graveclothes bound
around the arms and the hands, the
legs and the feet and the stomach, as
we'll as around the forehead, the
lips and the eyes. Indeed, so helpless
was Lazarus physically that he could
| not have stepped out Of his crypt of
| the tomb, as you and 1 would throw.
| back the bedclothes of a morning and
| leap out upon the floor, but he must
have had to give a lurch and roll out
upon the stones CT the tomb. Then he
struggled to his feet and stood like
statue. Thus stood Lazarus resur-
rected body. As 1 go on up and ex-
anime the mans bound hands and feet
l say to myself, YES; how much in