Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-04-21

GNhutVccht'i Stpbuiy'
NOTHING lIPRAcTIcABLE IN THE PRoPo-
sITloN.
Is il audacious for me TO propose it2
Oh, no; a captive servant in the kit
chen of Naaman told the commander
in-chief where he could get rid OF the
blotches of his awful leprosy and his
complexion became as fair as a babes.
And didn't Christ in order to take the
ophthalmia out OF the eyes OF the blind
man use a mixture of spittle and dustl
And who showed Butcher n short cut
Tor his army SO that instead Of taking
the regular road by which he would
have come up too late, he came up in
time TO save Waterloo and Europel
Was it not an unknown Lad, who per-
haps could not write his own namel
And so |, who am less than the least
of all saints" propose a short cut TO
victory and am willing to be the ex.
pectoration on some blind eve and tell
some of the brigadier generals of the
the Lord of host how this ~leprosied
world may in the final decade of the
Nineteenth century have its flesh
come again as the flesh Of a little
child.
Is there anything in prophecy to
hinder this speedy consummationi No:
Some one begins to quote from Daniel
about 'time, times and a half time,
and takes from Revelation the seven
trumpets blowing them all at once i'll
my ear. But with utmost reverence l
take up all the prophecies and hold
them toward heaven and say God
never has and never will stop conse-
Grated effort and holy determination
and magnificent resolve, and that if
the church of God will rise up to its
full work il can make Daniels time
twenty years and his half time ten
wears. Neither Isaiah, nor Ezekiel, nor
Micah, nor Malachi, nor jeremiah,
nor any of the major or minor proph-
cts will hinder Us a second. Suppose
the Bible had announced the millen-
mum TO begin the year 1883, that would
be no hindrance. In one sense God
never changes his mind, being the
same yesterday, today and forever.
But in another sense he does change
his mind and times without number
every day, and that is when his peo-
pie pray. Didn't lie change his mind
about Ninevehl By Gods com
mand Jonah, at the top of
his voice, while standing on the
steps of the merchants exchange and
the palatial residences Of that city,
cried out, Yet forty daysand Nineveh
shall be overthrown." Was it over
thrown in forty daysl No. The peo-
pie gave up their sins and cried for
mercy, and though Jonah got mad be-
cause his whole course of sermons had
been spoiled and went into a disgrace
full pouting, we have the record so
sublime | cannot read il without feel
ing a ervou chill running through
me. God saw their works that they
turned from their evil way and God
repented Of the evil that he had said
he would do unto them, and he did it
not" God is a father, and some of us
know what that means, and some time
when we have promised chastisement
and the child deserved it, the little
darling has put her arms around our
neck and expresses such sorrow and
such promises of doing better that
her tears landed on the lips of our
kiss, and we held her a half hour
after on our knee and would as
soon think of slapping an angel in
the face ms of even striking her with
the weight of our little finger. Godi is
a father, and while he has promised
this world scourgings, though they
were 10 be for a thousand ear or
five thousand years, he would, if the
world repented, substitute benediction
and divine caress. God changed his
mind about Sodom six times. He had
determined on its destruction. Abra-
ham asked him if he would not spare
it If fifty righteous people were found
there; and, narrowing down the mum
Der, if forty-tive people were found
there; If forty people; if thirty peo-
pie; if twenty people; if ten people
were found there. And each of the
six times the Lord answered yes. Oh,
why didn't Abraham go on Just two
steps further and say if five be found
there and il one be found there, for
then for the sake Of Lot, its one good
citizen, think Sodom would have
been spared. Eight times does the
Bible say that God repented when he
had promised p%unishments and with.
held the stroke. Was it aslipof Paul's
pen when he spoke OF Gods cutting
short the work in righteousness No,
Pauls pen never slipped. There j.
nothing in the way OF prophecy 10
hinder the crusade Ihave proposed for
the last decade of the Nineteenth cen.
fury.
PRoCRAsTINAT1oN Is THE THIEF OF TINE
The whole trouble is that we put off
the completion Of the worlds redemp-
ton TO such long and indefinite dis,
tances. The old proverb that what
is everybody's business is nobody's
business" might be changed n little
and be made truthfully 20 say what
is the gospel business of all the ages is
the gospel business Of no age. We
are so constituted we cannot get up
much enthusiasm about something
five hundred years from now on q
thousand years from now. We are
fighting at too long q range. That
gun called the Swamp Angel" was a
nuisance. 1t shot six miles, but il
hardly ever hit anything. II did It's
chief destructive work when it burst
and killed those who were setting il
OIL, Short range is the effective kind
: Of work, whether it be for worldly or
, religious purpose. Some man with