Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-04-10

thermometer sixty and sixty five degrees
below zero, wrapped in rabbit skins woven
together. I said: Is it poss'b~l? Ynn do
| not mean sixty ard sIxty-fiVe degrees below
zern?" He SAID: Il do, and / was happy"
All for Christ Wpe.e is there any other
being that will raj y such enthusiasm
Mothers sewing their fingers eff tn educate
their boys for the Gospel ministry. For
u,ne yesrs no luxury on the table unrli the
course through grammar school and college
and theological seminary be Completed
Poor widow putting her mite into the
Lords treasury. the face of Emperor or
President impressed upon the coin not so
conspicuous as the blood with which she
earned il. Millions of good men aud wn
rneD, but more women than men, to whom
Christ is every thiHg Christ first and Christ
last. aud Christ forever.
Why, this age is not so characterized by
invention aid scientific exploration as 1t is
by Gospel proclamation. You can get no
idea of it unless you can ring all the church
bells IN one chime, and sound all the or
gaus in one diapasou, and gather all the
congregations of Chrstendom in one Gloria
in Excelsis. Mighty camp meetings -
Mighty Ocean Groves. Mighty Chautau
quas Mighty conventions of Christian
workers. Mighty general assemblies of the
Presbyterian Church. Mighty conferences
of the Methodist Church Mighty associa-
tions of the Baptist Church. Mighty con-
veptions Of the Episcopal Cburch. l think
before long the bast Investments will not be
in railroad stock or Western Uuion, but iu
trumpets aud cymabals and festal decora
tions, for we are on the eve of victories
wide and world uplifting. There may be
oc ~ hof tho
consummation, bus the signs are to me so
encouraging that I wouId not be- unbeliev-
ing if saw the wing of the apocalv otic an
gel spread for its last triumphal flight 10
this days sunset; OF if TO morrow morning
the ocean cables should thrill US with the
news that Christ the Lord had alghted on
MDun Oitvet or Miun- Calvary to proclaim
universa: dominion.
o yon dead chu' ches, wake up. Throw
back the shutters of stiff ecciesiast cisn
and let the light of the snring morning
come in. Morniug for the land. Morning
for the sea. Morning of emancipation. -
Morning of light and love and peace
Morning of a day in which there shall be no
chains TO break, no sorrows to assuage, no
despotIsm TO shatter, no woes to cpmpas-
sOnate. 0 Ct ist, descend! Scared tenn
pie, take the crown! Bruised hand, take
the seepter! Wounded foot. step the
throne! Thine is the kingdom"
These things l sly because want you to
be alert. | want you to be watching all
these wonders unrolling from the heavens
and the earth. God has classified them,
whether calamitous or pleasing. The di-
vIne purposes are harnessed in traces that
cauno5 break, and in giIths that canuoG
slip, and in buckles that cannot loosen, and
are driven by reins they must answer. l
preach no fatallsm. A swarthy engineer at
one of the 6epots in Dakota said: "When
will yon get on the locomotive and take a
ride with us?'' "WeIl," l said, snow, if
thai suits YOU" So got on one side the
locomotive, and a Methodist minister, who
vas also invited, got on the other side and
brtween us were the engineer and the
stoker. The train started. The engineer
had his hand on the agitated Pulse of the
great eng ne. The stoker shoveled in the
csal aud shut tho door with q loud clang
A vast plain slipped under Us and the hills
swept by, and that great monster on which
we rode trembls aud bounded and snorted
and ragged as it hurled us on l said TO the
MethudiSt miD,s'e er OH The other side the
locomotive: "Hy brother, Why should
Presby teri4pa aud Method sta quarrel about
the DEGREES and free agency? Y1u see that
track, that fi,u track, that ron track; that
is the decree. You this engineers ann?
Tnat is free agency. how beautifully they
work together. fhey a'e g hng TO take Ms
through. We could nos do without the
track, ard We could not do without the
engineer" So rejoice day py day. Wo' k
for Us all to d., and We miy turn the crank
nf The ChristIan machiuery this way or that,
for We are free agents; but there is the
track laid so long ago 40 one remembers it,
lald by the hand of Almighty God in sock
cts that no terrestrial or satanic pressure
Can ever affect. And along that track the
car of the worlds redemption Will roll and
roll TO the Grand Central depot of the mil
lenium. | have no anxiety about the
track. am only afraid that for our indo-
lence God will discharge US and get some
other stoker and snme other engineer. The
train is going through with us OF without
us. So, my brethren, wasch all the events
that are going by. If things seem to turn
out right, give wings to your joy. If things
seem to ,uru out wrong, throw out the
anchor of faith and hold fast.
There is house in London where Peter
the Great of Russia lived awhile when he
WAS moving through tue land iac0gnito and
in work mans dress, tfat he might learn
the wants of the people. stranger was
visiting a5 that house recently, and saw III
q dark attic an old X, and he said to the
owner of the house "WhaL's IN that box?'
The owuer said, Il don't know; tbar box
Was ;here when got the house, and il was
there WHEN my father got it. We haven't
had any curiosity 10 look at it; l guess
there's nurh ng in II" "Well," said the
strang ger, III, give you two pounds for 1t. y
w ell, done" The two pourds are paid,
aud recently the conseats of that box were
sold to The Car of Russia for Atty thousand
dollars. In Ii the latbing machlue OF Peter
| the Grea., his private Ieter and dncu
meuts of value beyond all monetary con-
sideratiou. Aud here aIe the events thai
seem very insignificant aud unlmportant
but they 'pcasa treasures Of divine provl
deuce and e,efn,ties of meauiug which affel
while Gud Will demonstrate before tht
ages as bong of stupendous vaue. Al
near as l Gao tell from what see, there
must be- God some where about.
| When TItaus play. quolts they pitct
mountains; but who owns these gig .ntit
forces you have beeu reading about the las
Two months? Whose hand is ON the throt
tle valve of the volcanoes? Whose foo
-addenly planted ou the footstoOl makes
The Continents quivei? Goo! God. He look
eth upon the mountains and they tremble
He toucheth the bills aud they smoke
G ID! Goa! l must be at peace with him
! Through the Lord Jesus Christ this God il
mine and he IS yours. put the earthquake
that shGok Palestine at the cruc,tixiol
lsgainst all the down rockings of the centu
lies. Tbs God on our side, we may chai-
ilepge all the centuries of time aud all th
'cycles of e'ernity.
Those of us who are in nid life may vel
thank Gud that we have seen 50 man.
wondrous things; but there are people her
TO day who will see the twentieth century
Things obscure tn us will be PLAIN to yo'
yet. The twentieth century will be as ia
ahead of the nineteenth as the nj neteeuth i
ahead of the eighteenth, and as y"u Carl
Ca ure the habits aud customs and ignO
rauce of th, past, others will caricatnr
this age Some of you may live to see th
sh mmering veil between the material All
the spiritual world lifted. Magnetism,