The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-01

every mountain and hill shall be made low i:
! and the crooked shall be made straight. and
the rough places plain: and the glory of the
] II together: for the month of the I,OrIi hatf
spoken It's 10: 3-5.
The subject to which, under the guild
ance of this passage your attention
7 viii be directed, is not related directly
TO the state of our country, but to the
remarkable condition of the world at
large when viewed from a particular
standpoint. 1t has not been selected,
rather than other themes which to some
persons might seem to be more appro-
! PIRATE for day of thanksgiving, be-
cause there is in the dealings of Proyi-
dence with us as people during the
last year, nothing which calls for de-
| Vout gratitude. On the contrary be-
sides the continuation of the common
success of life, God has bestowed such
| special favors as the staying of the pes
thence, which threatened us from any
very wide desolations, the maintenance
| OF internal peace, deliverance from
hosnlities with foreign nations, and
substantial financial prosperity. Every
man, it may be presumed, can see
enough in his private affairs and in the
state of the nation to excite within his
heart, feelings of profound thankful
ness to God.
The subject to which your attention
| OF the wonderful changes which have
been rapidly occurring within the past
few years, throughoutthew world. While
we have been engrossed with the mighty
revolution which has been rolling on
| ward among ourselves, transformations
have been taking place in other lands,
| sometimes silently and sometimes with
the voice and confusion of war; and
some of these transformations have
been of character to call forth the
| gratitude, not only of every Christian,
but also of every friend of civilization
and liberty. 1t becomes us, under such
circumstances, to have II range of vision
wide as the world. While every Chris
tan should be patriot, he ought also in
higher sense to be cosmopolite. He
ought to regard every man as his brother
and himself as a citizen of the world.
Let US therefore from the eminence to
which we have come to-day take a broad
outlook over the Kingdoms of men.
Even the most careful eXpositors of
prophecy, as well as the more enthusi-
astlc, have long expressed belief that
the year 1866 would be attended by
very remarkable state of the nations.
Is there anything now existing of n
character to justify these anticipations? d?
The figure of the text is derived from
the conduct of some of the powerful
monarchs of antiquity, who when
marching at the head OF their ar
mics sent pioneers before them to
prepare highways over which they
might pass with suitable pomp. The
passage, as prophecy, received its full
hlment in the preparations for the
coming OF Christ. The Scriptures speak
of 1t as "the fullness of time" But it
also may legitimately be taken as in
volying general principle-that God
by his providence so controls all the
affairs of men as to prepare the way
. In NNFa eNsnVE s 4. &
| Ihere Is one event foretold in the
Bible and still unaccomplished,w which
Is of such stupendous magnitude and
OF such inestimable Importance as to
justify the use ofthe prophets language
in regard to it, provided the facts OF the
case will justify such an employment.
This is the spread of Christianitya among
all nations. Without indulging in any
wild dreams and fancies, we may as
sumo that the day will come when the
gospel shall be made known to every
creature, and when its principles will
have the ascendancy over other relig-
ions just as fully and probably
far more completely than they
now have in England or the United
States.
If such period is toarrive, there will
be course of preparation for it, under
the providence of God. This is the goal
toward which all events will silently
j
as Christ came in "the fullness oftime,"
so the universal spread of the gospel
Will be preceded by the levelling of the
mountains and the elevation of the
valleys in order to prepare highway
for it.
Let us look at some of the indications
of this preparation now clearly to be
I. The barriers in the way of an effort
for the universal propagation of the
truth are rapidly disappearing Less
than century ago two principal obsta-
cles seemed to render such an underta-
king utterly hopeless. One was the in
difference ofthe mass ofChristians with
reference to the unevangeliZed portions
of the globe. As sign of those times,
it may be mentioned that even as late
as 1898, when William Carey sailed as
| q missionary, Sydney Smith scoffed at
him as the preaching cObbler, and the
British East India Company refused to
allow him to labor anywhere within
their dominions. Now, while the church
has not come up to the full measure of
her duty, she at least admits that she is
under obligation to send the gospel to
the heather, and the men who are at
| the head of government and commerce
encourage the efforts of the mission
aries.
The other obstacle was the impracti-
cability of an actual effort universally
to spread the Gospel. The nations
which were not under Protestant in
fluence had closed and barred their
doors against the truth. Now behold
the change! China, India, Africa, and
indeed almost every country are acces-
sible. Ten years ago in a majority of
Roman Catholic countries, il was at the
peril of life itself that Bible was circu-
lated, or word spoken for Protestant
ism. But to-day, with the exception of
poor, bigoted, priest-ridden Spain and
Portugal, and the pitiful little slip of
territory known as the States of the
Church, the Roman Catholic nations,
by their governments, are tolerating the
introduction of the truth. Even Italy
with her q, 100000 people is free-free
from the Alps to the Apprentices, from
Lombardy TO Sicily-free not only as to
her constitution, but free also to the
Gospel
2. The old syste ms which have been
arrayed in opposition to Christianity
are in a condition of decay; and as a
consequence there is longing for and
expectation of something better on the
part oftheir subjects. In regions where
Buddhism and Brahmanism and kim
dred errors have bad the ascendancy,
intercourse with the more enlightened
nations OF the West, and the introduce
ton of modern arts and sciences are
rapidly undermining the ancient idoIa-
tries. Mohammedanism has long ago
ceased to make any progress. Turkey,
by which it is upheld, is notoriously
"the sick man of Europe" whose de-
mise depends upon the caprices of the
great powers of that continent. The
Papacy, as temporal power, is like a
withered tree, from which the last