Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-10-23

must obey him even as the Franciscan
monks obey their leaders. We must not
yield Christ one-third or one-half or
nine tentbs of our wills, but we must
surrender unto him complete and abso-
lutte obedience.
We must acknowledge Christ as king
of the entire will. We have more rea-
son to do so than had PLATE, though
he conceded more than some of US are
doing In the first place, he yielded
his will to Christ enough for a little
while to defy the Hebrew mob. Then,
In the next place, he tried to save
Christ by a subterfuge He placed
alongside of Jesus one of the worst
criminals of the east, and then he said:
According to the law, l must pardon
one of these criminals. Which shall it
be-? He did this with the hope that
the people would let him pardon Christ.
Then when all means failed he took a
basin of water and washed his hands
before the people as he said: II am in
nocent of the blood of this lust per-
son. See We to it." All, yes, PLATE did
enough. With one word he could have
said, Free, freer and Christ would
have been free. He yielded his will to
The divine will one-eighth, one-fourth,
one-third, one-half, but he did not yield
all. what will you do then with
Jesus who is called Christi" In every
department of life will you give to him
complete obedience?
Obeyed His Father
Would that Plate could have real
lied that in full submission to Christ
he would have found his own safety!
recall the story Of the little child of
a switchman on one of the German
railroads. The fast mail was rushing
down the track. The switchman at
his post moved the switch to give it
clear track. Suddenly, to the fathers
horror, the man saw his little boy run
upon the rails. The father dared not
throw the lever back. It would have
meant the death of hundreds of per-
sons. His own boy must be killed
rather than that others should perish
So the father cried out to the child:
Lie down! Lie fiat down. The boy
dropped. The great engine and it's
coaches swept past Then it was found
that, because the boy absolutely yield
ed his will to his fathers and lay down
fat upon the ground, his life was saved.
Oh, that PLATE had obeyed his divine
Fathers commands as that little child
obeyed his earthly parent! Would that
we could surrender all our wills to
Gods will! Pilates halfway attempts
to rescue Jesus did no good. PLATE
should have been man enough to have
gone all the way, no matter what the
temporary cost might have been. He
should have firmly said: Jesus, thou
Son Of God, thou art free. l, the gov
ernor, decree it,
But to yield our wills to Christ's is
not enough. There is another ques-
ton which l would put, "What are you
going to do with Jesus who is called
| Christ in reference to your affections
or your hearts loving power?" To be
/ obedient-to Christ is not necessarily to
be a loving disciple of Christ There
! is many clerk in a store who tries
! to be obedient and faithful to his en-
! ployer's interest who personally has
! no more use for his employer than a
weasel has for a rat or a mongoose for
Kissing cobra. There is many a wo-
man today trying to be a true and duti-
! full wife who years ago lost all love
| for her husband That husband has
! again and again broken every one of
/ his vows. She is true to him for her
| children's sake alone. Thus l believe
| there are many men trying to obey
/ Christ, and yet they are disciples who
have not learned to love Christ.
Pilot, in one sense, was trying to
! serve Christ, but PLATE did not love
Jesus any more than some Of US love
/ him who have been trying to follow
him for years. Why are you Chris
tan? Why do you go to church and
always contribute to the church and
have your name enrolled upon the
church books? For two reasons you
may answer. "When l was a little
chap, mother started me to church and
to Sunday school For years and years
she took me. Churchgoing is an old
AolUIl, anu OlU udDIlS are udru 10 break.
Then, in the next place, though l do
not profess to love Christ very much,
yet l fear the results if I do not follow
him. Adoniram Judson was started in
the Christian ministry by the death of
one of his worldly college mates. AS
soon as he heard he was dead this
sentence sprang to his lips: Dead and
lost! Dead and lostr So, because
fear death without Christ, that is the
reason 1 am following him. Now
my friends, your answer is the ansve,
many are ready to give. They worship
and follow him because they are afraid
not to do it. Their God is a Cod Of
fear and not God of love. Now
comes the practical question. What
are you to do with Christ in reference
to your hearts affections?
We Must Love.
You must love somebody or some
thing. You cannot help it, The ten
l. al;.-