The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-10

| the world might 60 and see Golgotha and
Bethlehem. If we cannot afford to pay fol
muleteers now, perhaps when the rail train
goes we can afford to buy a ticket from
Constantinople to Joppa and SO we
will get to see the Holy Land. Thel
let Christians travel! God speed the
rail trains, and guide the steamships this
| night painting across the deep in the phos
phorescent wake Of the shining feet of him
who from wave cliff to wave cliff trod the
| stormed Tberias. The japanese come across
| the water and see our civilization. and e1
anime our Christianity, and so back and tell
the story, and keep that Empire rocking until
Jesus shall reign.
Where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run.
And the firearms with which the lnf1del
traveller brought down the Arab horsemm
and the jackals Of the desert have been sur
rendered to the church, and we reach forth
our hands, crying: "There is none like that;
give it mel"
So it has also been with the learning and
the eloquence Of the world. People say:
"Reigion is very good for women, it is very
good for children, but not for men," But we
have in the roll of Christ's host Mozart and
Handel in music; Canova and Angelo in
sculpture; Raphael and Reynolds In
painting; Harvey and Boerhaave in
HeQ1Cno CO"per dllu OSOVu Ill
poetry :; Crotius and Burke In states
manship; Boyle and Leihnitz in philosophy
Thomas Chalmers and John Mason in theolo-
gy. The most brilliant writings Of worldly
nature are all aglow with scriptural illusions
Through senatorial speech and through essay
lists discourse Sinai thunders and Calvary
pleads and Sloan spnrkles.
Samuel L. Southland was mighty in the
court room and in the senate chamber, but
f&r %I,n+
daY when he stood before the literary So
cieties at Princeton commencement and
pleaded for the grandeur of our Bible. Daniel
Webster won not his chief garlands while he
was consuming Hayne, nor when he
opened the batteries of his eloQuence on
Bunker Hill, that rocking Sinai of the Ameri-
can Revolution, but on that day when, in the
famous Girard will case, he showed his
affection for the Christian religion and
eulogized the Bible. The eloquence and the
learning that have been on the other side
bons's historical pen? Where is Robcspierres
sword? Captured for God. 'Thers is none
like that; give it mel"
So, also, has it been with the picture max
ing Of the world. We are very anxious on
this day to have the printing press and the
platform on the side Of Christianity; but we
overlook tho engraver's knifo and the
painters pencil. The antiquarian goes and
looks at pictured ruins, or examines
the chissled pillars Of Thebes, and Ninevah
and Pompeii, and then comes back to tell us
Of tho beastliness Of ancient art; and it is a
fact now, that many of the finest speci-
sculpture and painting that are to be
found amidst those ruins are not fit
to be looked at, and they are locked up.
How Paul must have felt, when, standing
amidst those impurities that stared on him
from the walls and the pavements and the
bazars Of Corinth, he preached Of tho pure
and holy Jesus The art Of the world on
the side of obscurity and crime and death.
In later days the palaces Of Kings were
clean Henry VIII. was beautiful picture of
the Madonna? What to Lord Jefries, the
unjust Judge, the picture of the Last Judg-
ment? What to Nero, the unwashed, a
picture of the baptism in tho Jordan? The
art Of the world still on the sido of super
stitition and death But that is being
changed now. The Christian artist
goes across the water, looks at the
pictures, and brings back to his American
studio much Of the power Of those old mas
ters. Tho Christian minister goes over to
Venice, looks at the "Crucifxion of Christ"
and comes back to his American pulpit to
talk as never before Of the sufPerings Of tho
Saviour. The private tourist goes to Rome
and looks at Raphaers picture of the Last
Judgment" Tho tears start, and he goes
back to bis room in the hotel, and prays God
for preparation for that day when,
shriye,ing Ike parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll.
Our Sunday-school newspapers and walls
are adorned with pictures Of Joseph in the
court, Daniel in tho den, Shadrach in the
o. -. L. IL - !,
cross. Oh, that we might, in our families,
think more of the power of Christian pic
turesI One little sketch of Samuel kneeling
in prayer will mean more to your children
than twenty sermons on devotion. One pa
tient face Of Christ by the hand Of tho artist
will be more to your child than fifty sermons
on forbearance. The art Of the world is to
be taken for Christ What has become of
Thorwaldsens chisel and Ghirlandajo's cray
on? Captured for the truth "Thero is none
like that; give it mel"
and tact. When Christ was upon earth, the
people that followed Him, for the most part,
had no social position. There was but one
man naturally brilliant in all the apostle
ship. Joseph, of Arimathea, the rich
man, risked nothing when he offered hole in
the rock for the dead Christ. How many
of the merchants in Asia Minor
befriended Jesus9 I think Of only one, Lydia.
How many of the castles on the beach Of
Galilee entertained Christ? Not one. When
Peter came to Jopga, he stopped with one
name on the Roman exchange, or in the
bazars Of Corinth? None, TIE prominent
men of the day did not want to
risk their reputation for sanity by pre-
tending to be one of His followers. Now that
is oil changed. Among the mightiast men in
our great cities to-day arc the Christian mer-
chants and the Christian bankers; and if to,
morrow, at the Board of Trade, any man
should got up and malign the name Of Jesus,
ho would be quickly silenced or put out. In
the front rank Of all our Christian
workers to-day are the Christian merchants;
and the enterprises of the world are coming
on the right side There was farm willed
away some years ago, all the proceeds , Of
Somehow matters have changed and now
all the proceeds Of that farm go
toward the missionary cause. One OF
the finest printing presses ever built
was built for the express purpose OF publish.
ing iufldel tracts and books Now it does
nothing but print Holy Bibles. Ibelieve that
the time will come when, in commercial cir.
cles, the voice Of Christ will be the mighticstt
of all voices, and the ships OF
Tarshish will bring presents and the
Queen of Sheba her glory and the
wise men of the East their myrrh and franklin,
cense. I look off upon the business men Of
our cities end rejoice at the prospect that
their tact, and ingenuity, and talent will,
after while, all be brought into the service
of Christ. 1t will be one of the mightiest
of weapons. '"rhcre is mono like that; give
;tmew
Now, if what have said be true, away
with all downheartedness! If science is to
be on the right side, and the travelling dispo-