The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-07

brought George Washington down on his
knees in the snow at Valley Forge, and led
the dying Prince of Wales to ask some one
to sing "Rock of Ages"
/ tell you that the worst attempted crime
of the century is the attempt to destroy this
book: yet infidelity, loathesome, stenchful
leprous, pestiferous, rotten monster, stretches
out its hand, icherous with the second death.
to take the hand of this republic. 1t
stretches it out through seductive ma gazines
and through lyceum lectures and through
caricatures of religion. 1t asks for all that
part Of the continent already fully settled
and the two-thirds not yet occupied. 1t
! says: "Give me all east of the Mississippi,
with the keys of the church and the Christian
printing presses-then give me Wyoming,
give me Alaska, give me Montana, give me
Colorado, give me all the States and Terri
tories west Of the Mississippi, and will take
those places and keep them by right of poses.
sion long before the Gospel can be fully en-
| trent he'd"
And this suitor pre- 'ses his case appallingiy.
! Shall the bauns of that marriage be pro-
claimed, ssNom say the home missionaries
of the West a martyr band Of whom the world
is not worthy, toiling amid fatigues and
malaria and starvation, mo! not il we can
help it. BY what wo and our children have
suffered, we forbid the banns Of that mar
| rlag6!' mo-. shy oil paul NOiSeS, oii
institutions were bought at too dear price
and were defended at too great a sacrifice to
he so cbeaply surreudered.n "No." says the
/ God of Bunker Hill and Independence Hall
! and Gettysburg, "I did not start this nation
for such farce" "No," cry ten thousand
voices "to infdelity this land shall not be
married"
But there is another suitor that presents his
claim for the hand Of this republic. He is
mentioned in the verse following my text,
where it says: "As the bridegroom reio;ceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee" 1t is not my figure, it is the figure of
the Bible Christ is so desirous to have this
world love him that he stops at no humilia-
ton of simile. He compares His grace to
spittle on the eyes of the blind. He COM
pares Himself to hen gathering the chick
q suitor begging hand in M arriage. Does
this Christ. the King, deserve this land? Be-
hold Pilates Hall and the insulting enpecto-
ration on the face of Christ. Behold the Cal
varean ma Ssacre and the awful hemorrhage
of five wounds. Jacob served fourteen
years for Rachel, but Christ, my Lord, the
king. suffered in torture thirty-three years to
at their very birth are pledged in treaty
of marriage to princes or kings of earth. SO
this nation at its biz tn was pledged to Christ
for divine marriage. Before Columbus and
his 12O men embarked on the Santa Maria.
the Pinta and the Nina. for their wonderful!
VOYAGE, what was the last thing they did!
They sat down and took the holy sacrament
caught the first glimpse of this country
and the gun of one ship had announced
it to the other vessels that land
had been discovered, what was the song
that went up from all the three decks
"Gloria in excelsis" After Columbus and his
1870 men had stepped from the ships deck to
the solid ground, what did they do! They
all knelt and conSecrated the new world to
! God. What did the Huguenots do after they
landed in the Carolinas1 What dill the
Holland refugees do after they had lande1in
New York! What did the Pilgrim Fathers
do after they landed in New England With
bended knee and uplifted face and heaven
besieging prayer they took possession of this
Continent for God How was the first Amer
ican Congress opened By prayer, in the
name of Jesus Christ From its birth this
nation was pledged for holy marriage with
Christ
Just open the map of the continent aud see
how it is shaped for immeasurable prosperi-
ties: navigable rivers, more in number and
greater than of any other land, rolling on all
sides into the sea, prophesying large manu-
factures and easy commerce. LOOK at the
great ranges of mountains timbered with
wealth ON the top and sides, metalled with
wealth underneath. One hundred and eighty
thousand square miles of coal, 10000 square
miles of iron. The land so contoured that
extreme weather hardly ever lasts more than
three days-extreme heat or cold. Climate
for the most part bracing and favorable for
Drawn and brain. All fruits, all mill
erals, all harvests. Scenery dis
playing an autumnal pageantry that
no land on earth pretends to
rival. No South American earthquakes. No
Scotch mists No London fogs. No Egypt
ian plaques. No Germanic divisions. The
people Of the United States are happier than
any people on earth. 1t is the testimony Of
every man that has travelled abroad. For
the poor. more sympathy for the industrious,
more opportunity. Oh, how good God was to
our father and how good He has been to us
and our children. To Him-blessed ed be His
mighty name!-to Him oflcross and triumph.
to Him who still remembers the prayer OF
the Huguenots and Holland refugees and the
Pilgrim Fathers-to Him shall this land be
married. Oh, you Christian patriots, by
your contributions and your prayers hasten
on the fulfllment of the text.
We have during the past six or seven
years turned new leaf in our national his
tory by the sudden addition of foreigners.
At Kansas City was told by gentleman
who had opportunity for large investigation.
that great multitude had gone through
there, averaging in worldly estate $780, l
was told in the city Of Washington
by an officer Of the Government
who had opportunity for, authentic
investigation that thou ands and thousands
had gone, averaging 81 900 in possession Of
each. 1 was told by the Commission Of Emf
grafton that twenty families that had arrived
at Castle Garden brought $50, 600 with them
Mark YOU, families, not tramps Additions
to the national wealth, not subtractions
therefrom. saw some Of them reading theii
Bibles and their hymn books, thanking
God for his kindness in helping then
cross the sea. Some of them had
Christ in the. steerage all across the
waves and they will have Christ in the
rail trains which every afternoon start for
the great West They are being taken by tht
Commission of Emigration in New York
taken from the vessels, protected from tht
Shylocks and the sharpers, and in the nam
of God and humanity passed on to their des
tination; and there they will turn your Ter
ritories into States and your wilderness init
gardens, il you will build for them churches
and establish for them schools and send II
them Christian Missionaries
Are YOU afraid this continent il going *
be overcrowded with this population! Oh
that shows you have not been to California
that shows you have not been to Oregon,
that shows that you have not been to Texas.
A fishing smack to-day, on Lake Ontario
might as we'll be afraid of being crowded by
other shipping before. night as for any
one Of the next ton generations OF
Americans to be afraid Of being
overcrowded bv foreign populations
in this country. The one State of Texas IS