Sharp County record., 1885-10-29


down. This Nation, so easily approached
on north and south and from both oceans,
might have on hand at once more hoStili-
ties than were ever arrayed against any
one power. We have recently been told
by skillful engineers that all our fortresses
around New York harbor could not pre-.
vent the she'll from being hurled from the
sea into the heart of these great cities.
Insulted China, the wealthiest of all ma.
tions, as will be realized when her re-
sources are developed, will have adopted
all the modes of modern warfare, and at
the Golden Gate may be discussing
whether Americans must go. II the
combined jealousies OF Europe and
Asia should come upon us we should
have more work on hand than would
be pleasant. | hope no such comblna'
ton against us will ever be formed, but
want to show that, as Assyria was the
hired razor against Judah, and Cyrus
the hired razor against Babylon, and the
Huns the hired razor against the Goths,
there are now many razors that the Lord
could hire if, because of our National
sins, he should undertake to shave US.
In 1870 Germany was the razor with
which the Lord shaved France England
is the razor with which very shortly the
| Lord will shave Russia. But nations are
to repent in a day. May a speedy and
world wide coming to God hinder on
both sides the sea all national calami y.
But do not let us as nation, either by un-
righteous law at Washington or bad lives
among ourselves, defy the Almighty.
One would think that our National sym.
Dol of the eagle might sometimes sug-
gest another eagle-that which an.
cient Rome carried. In the talons OF
that eagle were clutched at one
time, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Dal.
malta, Rhoetia, Noricum, PannOnia, Moe.
sia, Dacia, Thrace, Macedonia, Greece
Asia Minor Assyria, Phonicia, Palestina,
Egypt and all Northern Africa, and all the
islands of the Mediterranean, and, indeed,
all the world that was worth having, and,
10000, 900 of people under the wings of
that one eagle. Where is she now? Ask
Gbbon, the historian, in his prose poem,
the "Declne and Fall of the Roman EN-.
pire" Ask her gigantic ruins struggling
theiS sadness through the ages, the screech
owl at windows out Of which
worldwide conquerors looked. Ask the
day of judgment when her crowned
debauchees, Commodus and Pertinax and
Calgula and Diocletan, shall answer for
their infamy. AS men and as nations let
us repent and have our trust
in pardoning God rather than
depend on former successes for
immunity. Out of thiteen greatest
battles Of the world, Napoleon had lost
but one before Waterloo. Pride and de-
struction often ride in the same saddle.
But notice once more, and more than all
in my text, that God is so kind and loving
that when it is necessary for him to cut he
has to go to others for the sharp-edgei
weapon. 'In the same day shall the Lord
shave with razor that is hired" God is
love. God is pity. God is help. God is
shelter God is rescue. There q e no sharp
edges about him, no thrusting points, NO
instruments of laceration. II you want
balm for wounds, he has that Il you want
salve for divine eyesight he has that. But
| if there is sharp and cutting work to do
| which requires razor, that he hires. God
| has no hing about him that hurts, save
| when dire necessity demands, and then he
| has to go clear off to some one else to get
| the instrument. This divine genaliy will
| be no novelty to those who have pom.
| dered the Calvarean massacre, where
| God submerged himself in human tears,
| and crimsoned himself from punctured
| arteries, and let the terrestrial and in.
| fernal worlds maui him until the chan.
| deliers of the sky had to be turned out,
| because the universe could not endure the
| indecency. Illustrious for love he must
| have been to take all that as our substi.
| tute, paying out of his own heart the Grim.
son price of our admission at the gates of
Heaven. King Henry IL of England
crowned his son as King, and on the day
! of coronation put on servants garb and
waited, he, the King, at the sons table,
| to the astonishment of all the Princes.
| But we know of more wonderful scene,
| the King of Heaven and earth offering to
| put on you, his child, the crown of life,
and in the form of servant waiting on
you with blessing. Extol that love, all
painting, all sculpture, all music, all
architecture, all worship. In Dresderian
gallery let Raphael hold him up as
child, and in Antwerp Cathedral let r.
beus hand him down from the cross as
martyr, and Handel make all his oratoro
| vlbrate around the one chord: "He was
wounded for our transgressionS, bruised
for our inquty." But not until all the
redeemed got home, and from the counte.
nances of all the piled.up galleries of the
| ransomed shall be revealed the wonders
| Of redemption, shall either man or seraph
| or archangel know the height and depth
| and length and bread h of the love of God.
At our National capital a monument in
| honor of him who did more than any one