The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-10-29
PULPIT UTTERANCES.
THE Fight Of the Angelic Hosts
Against the Dragon"
Prof. David Swings Sunday Discourse in
Central Church, Chicago-The Con-
test Between Good and Evil-An
Impressive Sermon.

Impressive Sermon.
Prof David Swing, Of Central Church,
Chicago, took as his subject Sunday morn
ing ga Great Battle" His text was:
Michael and his angels fought against the
iragon.-Reu Jif. 7.
That struggle for existence which the
naturalists trace in the brute species be-
comes more visible in the race Of man.
We need make no long or difficult search
in this one field at least. The conflict has
always existed in such large Dimensions
that there is no one to deny the presence
oflan awful conflict as taking place among
the millions of mortals. This war seen by
st. John was located up in the clouds.
Michael and his angels and the dragon and
his troops must needs meet in the upper
air, for being ganunusual soldiery they must
engage in battle In some unusual place.
Virtue of any form has never made a
move in this world without waking up the
dragon. 1t was this ever.recurring con-
dict that created the myth of a creature
having somewhat the form of a serpent,
but having wings and having eyes that
glowed like furnaces. Dragon is said to
mean having fiery eyes, To meet such
constant enemy Michael was also invent
I'd with name which implied resemb-
lance to God. We thus have a pictorial
representation of the trouble that besets
all righteousness, all reform, all religion,
all civilization. No sooner does any good
appear than forth comes the dragon TO
dispute its right and its advance, and the
contest begins. In our century the same
war is waged that marred the period Of
st. John and that wrought injury In
Egypt, India or old China. When our re-
ligion and literature go to a pagan conti-
nent or island our whisky and our revolv-
ers 60 along, and the Sunday that brings
sweet singing under a palm.tree brings
drunkenness in hut or palace and a fight
in the streets. In India caste and false
theology are passing away, but drunken
ness is making rapid advance, and whore
the cup is not working its injury bust.
ness ambition is making Calcutta possess
a Wall street like New York and fever.
ishness like that Of Chicago. The endless
Sophisms of the old Hindoos have, indeed,
given place to a practical reason, but this
ANaooh Ohig nOW ~ ube
wheat and cotton than are grown in Amer.
lea. While many of the quiet, indolent
minds which once thought and dreamed
life away over the return to tho Deity
have been awakened to the beauties of the
Christian religion and life, many have
been awakened only to the aspiration to
be railway official or merchant prince.
Thus the conflict will only change its
form; II refuses TO come 10 an end. When
the noble element in society masters some
form of wrong or error, some new form
springs up, and, although It may be less
powerful than the one destroyed, IL is able
to bring unhappiness and to make peace
delay its coming.
The Western nations have found light
Of agriculture, mechanics, art, politics
and manufacture, but they rush into new
evils and do not gather in much more
happiness than their wild ancestors found
in far-away centuries. Our games pass
into the hands of gamblers; the speed Of
the horse ruins the fortunes and homes Of
many; the steamship, which Is an honor
TO the nineteenth century, carries in its
saloons men who bet daily on the speed Of
the vessel and who ought to have lived
when Ulysses was twenty years in sailing
from Troy to Ithaca, few hundreds Of
miles. Our world will not advance with
any perfect uniformity, for in cars that
belong in elegance and speed TO a Golden
age there are often men who belong TO
the times OF Nero and Herod. In Europe,
20 which we all try TO journey once at
least to see the greatness OF man, there Is
among many one gambling place where
there were eighteen suicides and two mur.
ders in two months Of this year. Paris Is
thought to be both Heaven and hell. Thus
with one lame foot does progress come.
IL halts as often as II advances. Each age
that appears with new smiles comes with
new tears. II the dark ages had TO 20
without learning and liberty, we must re-
member that also they had 10 go without
whisky. In our day the man in car with
book is Offset by the man with the flask.
At the end Of the journey the one alights
refreshed by his travel and his volume,
the other allghts and reels into some
saloon to make total the partial eclipse Of
bis faculties
While wedding-bells ring out the divine
ness Of love and marriage, our dramas and
novels are made out Of their calamitles.
Our country is both made and injured by
It's railways; for an English writer affirms
calmly that only one of the entire number
has lived an honorable life. His state
ment is too sweeping, but IL is we'll known
that the glory Of the flying train is tar.
nished by its common history.
Thus the war which st. John saw up In
the clouds we see down on the ground
where men live. There is no one TO alarm
us any more. As modern vice wears no
cloak the words spoken about 1t need no
disguise. The dragon Of the ancients
looked like a serpent with wings, but in
our day this mark is put aside, and we see
a creature without wings-a man In ruin,
as savage, as drunkard, or criminal. THIS
, manhood is multitudinous and wages war
without ceasiDg upon the sons Of God.
What are we to conclude from this pict.
ure OF incessant strifep As we can take