Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-08-28

US lue LuOEDlllB, IdlT as Tue lDOO1, CledE
as the sunT' Thus the first great es-
sential of the conquering church OF
Christ to which / would call your at
tention is that she must be "clear as
the sun" That means, as all the light
and all the heat of the earth come
from the great orb which rises in the
east, so all the teachings or tenets or
beliefs or creeds of the conquering
church must radiate from the Sun
of righteousness, the risen Christ.
Christ must be the center, the circum-
ference, the nadir, the zenith, the be-
ginning and the ending and the all Of
that conquering church or there shall
be no triumph ahead of her. What the
rising sun is to the natural world the
! Sun Of Righteousness is to the spirit
ual world.
Higher Rose the Sun.
A true conception of Jesus Christ
is as necessary to the church as is
the suns radiance to the earth. Can
not you grasp it? Cannot you discern
| it in the beautiful panorama you wit
messed many years ago, when you
| arose one morning very early on Mount
| Washington to see the sun rise In old
| New England? You went forth in the
darkness and took your position on
| Sunrise point The whole world
seemed dead as you left the hotel pi-
azZa. The servants were asleep. The
night clerk or the Waterman was the
only person around to speak to you.
| The trees, tall and grim in outline,
seemed like gigantic highwaymen, with
their black hats drawn down over
their foreheads and their black cloakS
thrown about their shoulders, under
which they were concealing the fatal
dirks Off in the distance by the dim
light of the stars you could see the
mountains sinking lower and still low
er as stepping stones leading to a gi-
gantic throne. Slowly, almost imper-
ceptb1y, the light of the stars dwin-
died and the blackness Of the night
was changed into dull gray. Then the
tops Of the eastern hills became rim
med with a golden covering The suns
head lifted itself as though one Of the
huge rocks, touched by Gods finger.
had been changed into huge, living
coal. Higher and higher rose the sun,
as the glowing headlight Of the oncom-
ing locomotive off in the distance is
seen coming out Of a Hoosic tunnel
Lakes become FURNISHED mirrors Of
light and the mighty sea off in the dis
lance becomes reservoir Of light,
and the rivers, as parts of a great
network spread at your feet, be-
come silver threads. The heavens drip
with light and the earth is flooded
with it. The birds begin to sing and
the cocks begin to crow. Off in the
distance the farmers are seen starting
for the fields and the cattle for the
pasture The sun has at last risen,
and morning has lighted her many con-
fagratiOns. ''Who is she that cOmeth
forth as the morning, fair as the moon
and clear as the sun?' Cannot you
grasp it? The church, the conquering
church-the church, clear in her di-
vine beliefs, clear in her conception of
Jesus Christ! In order to have a con-
quering church we must hold fast to
Christ as the alpha and omega, the
beginning and the ending, which is
| and was and which is to come, the al
| mighty and omnipotent Christ. The
conquering church must be clear in
reference to her belief in the atone
ment What the sun rising In the
east and setting in the west is to the
natural world the Sun of Righteous
ness is to the conquering church.
Look and Live.
Do not Christ's own words prove that
| the more we eXalt him the more we
shall conquer in his dear name? Read
his promise as recorded in the twelfth
chapter of John, "And I, If be lifted
up, will draw all men unto me-" What
does that mean? You find the connec-
ton between that statement and an
other in the third chapter of the same
book, "As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even 50 must the
Son of man be lifted up" Methinks
l am wandering about in the Israelit
ish camp in the land of Edom." On
account of the sinful dissatisfaction OF
the people God has sent them the
plague of serpents. We can hear their
hiss everywhere. The people witt
clubs and swords and spears are kill
ing the serpents by the hundreds ant
the thousands, but the more they xii
the more the serpents seem to sprin,
up. Suddenly one of these serpent
buries its fangs in the naked leg of
man on the outskirts of the camp
Come" cry his companions, "com
and look at the brazen serpent whicl
Moses has lifted, and you shall live.
But the deadly poison is doing it
work. Like a man benumbed by tn
billiards. cold and determined to Ii
down in the snowdrifts and sleep, thi
Hebrew wants to lie down and slee
the sleep of death. Let me alone,
he mutters, ''let me sleep" His friend
rouse him. They beat him to keep u
the circulation. But it does no good
Sleep he will. Then, by main force, a
a drowning man is pulled out of tn
surf, they drag him over the sand t