The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-11-21
klt .L.,, Thnndar ID fha aneach OF

! without them, Thunder is the speech OF
lightning There are evils in our world
which must be thundered down, and which
will require at least seven volleys to pros
trate them. We are all doing nice, delicate,
soft handed work in churches and reforma-
tory institutions against the evils OF tho
! world, and much of 1t amounts to teaspoon
dipping out the Atlantic Ocean, or clam
| she'll digging away at mountain, or TACK
hammer shifting the Gibraltar. what Is
needed is thunderbolts, and at least seven OF
! them There Is the long line OF fraudulen1
! Commercial establishments; every stone in
the foundation, and every brick in the wall,
| and every nail in the rafter made OUT OF
dishonesty; skeletons of poorly paid sewing
| GIRLS arms in every beam Of that establish
ment; human nerves worked into every
figure of that embroidery; blood IN the
deep die of that proffered upholstery'
what will come, is the seven thunders. Ihere
is drunkenness backed up by capital
mightier than in any other business In
toxlcating liquors enough in this country TO
float a navy. Good grain to the amount OF
81 ,95O, 900 bushels annually destroyed to
make the deadly liquid. Breweries, dist!llerles,
gin shops, rum palaces, liquor associations,
our nation spending annually seven hundred
billions Of dollars of accumulated fraud
entrenched in massive storehouses and
stock companies manipulated by un-
scrupulous men until the monopoly
is defiant of all earth and oil heaven, How
shall the evil I've overcome2 BY treatses on
the maxim: Honesty is the pest policys Or
by soft repetition of the golden rule that we
must do to others as we would have them
do to usF No, wit it " will nesdsS not anS os
and forty millions Of dollars for rum result
ing in bankruptcy, disease, pauperism, filth,
assassination death, illimitable woe. What
will stop themi High lio,nsel No. Thunder
bolts will do it; nothing else will. Seven
thunders!
Yonder are intrenched intidelity and athe.
ism with their magazines of literature scoff-
ing presses h:lsy day and night There are
their baspheming apostles, their drunken
Tom Paines aud libertine Voltaires Of the
present as well as of the past, reinforced
by all the powers of darkness from highest
demon to lowest imp. What will extirpate
those monsters of in6delity and atheism!
John Browns shorter catechism about who
made you!" or Westminster catechism about
"What is the chief end Of mans" No,
Thunderbolts! The seven thunders!
For the impurities of the world empalaced
as we'll as cellared, epauletted as well as rag
ged, enthroned as we'll as ditched: for cor
rupt legislation which at times makes our
State and National capitals hemisphere
stencil: for superstitions that keep whole ma
Glons Ill squdiol, century altoi cenOuiJ' Inou
Juggernauts crushing their knives lacerat-
ing. their waters drowning, their funeral
pyres burning, the seven thunders
Oh, men and women, disheartened at the
bad way things often go, hear you not q
runbling down the sky of heavy artillery,
coming in on our side, the seven thunders of
the Almighty? DON t let us try to WELD them
ourselves; they are too heavy and to fiery for
US to handle; but God can and God
will; and when all mercy has failed and all
milder means are exhausted, then Judgment
will begin. Thunderbolts! Depend upon it,
that what is not done under the flash OF the
seven candlesticks will be dono by the tramp
ling of the seven thunders.
But leave this imperial and multipotent
numeral seven, where the Bible leaves it,
imbedded in the finest wall that was ever
built, or ever will be constructed, the wall o.
heaven. 1t is the seventh strata Of precious
stones that make up that wall After NAM
ing six Of the precious stones in that
wall, the Bible cries out-"the sew.
enth chrysolite!" The chrysolite is an
exquisite green, and in that seventh layer o.
the heavenly wall shall be preserved forever
the dominant color of the earth we once
dened at the thought that this world,
according to science and revelation, Is
to be blotted out of existence, for it is such a
beautiful world. But here in this layer
Of the heavenly wall, where the numeral
seven is to be embedded, this strata Of green
is to be photographed, and embalmed, and
perpetuated, the color of the grass that
that fills the forest. the color Of the
deep sea. One glance at that green chrysol-
million years after this planet has been
extinpuished, will bring to mind JUST nowIS
looked in summer and spring. ana we WIN
saw to those who were born blind on eartn'
and never saw at all IN TINS "oriu:
after they have obtained full eyeslght
in heaven. sIf YOU would know how the
earth appeared in June and August, look at
that seventh layer of the heavenly wall,
the green of the chrysolite." And while we
stand there and talk, spirit with spirlt that
old color of the earth which had more sway
than all the other colors put together, Will
bring back to US our earthly experience, ana
noticing that this green chryso!lte is tne
NAV bethink ourselves of the domination OF
that numeral seven over all other numerals,
and thank God that in the dark earth we left
behind us we so long enjoyed the light OF
the seven golden candlesticks, and were all
of us permitted to shine among the seven
stars of more or less magnitude, and that all
bssn ss broksn saS wde % the epen or as
Christ, and that the seven thunders havlns
done their work have ceased reverberatlon,
and that the numeral seven, which dld sucn
tremendous work in the history OF natlons
on earth, has been given such hlgn pace I'D
that niagara of colors, the wall OF heaven,
"the FIRST foundation of which is jasper; the
second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the
fourth, an emerald the fifth, sardonyX; tne
sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysollte."
"When shall these eyes thy heaven-buiit walls
And pearly gates behold,
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong,