Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-11-21

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will it not be grand to have all questions an
swered? The perpetually recurring interro-
cation point changed for the mark OF eApla-
nation. All riddles solved.
Who will fear to 90 out on that discovery,
when all the questions are to be decided
which we have been discussing all our lives!
Who shall not clap his hands in the anticipa-
ton of that blessed country. II il be no better
than through holy curiosityy As this Paul
of my text did not suppress his curiosity, we
need not suppress ours. Yes, l have an I'M
limited curiosity about all religious things,
and as this city Of Rome was so Intimately
connected with apostolic times, the incidents
of which emphasize and explain and aug
ment the Christian religion, YOU viii not
take it as an evidence Of u prying spirit, put
as the outbursting of q Christian curiosity
when / say / must also see Rome.
Our desire TO visit this city Is also intensi,
fed by the fact that the want to be confirmed
in the feeling that human life is brief but its
work lasts for centuries, indeed forever:
Therefore show US the antiquities OF old
Rome, about which we have been reading
for a lifetime, but never seen. In our De
loved America we have no antiquities. A
church 80 wears old overawes us with its
age. We have in America some cathedrals
hundreds of thousands of years old, but they
are in Yellowstone park or California canon,
and their architecture and masonry were by
the omnipotent God.
We want to see the buildings. or ruins OF
old buildings that were erected hundreds and
thousands of years ago by human hands.
They lived 40 or 20 years, but the arches they
lifted. the paintings they peneilled, the sculp-
ture they chisellcd. the roads they laid out, l
understand, are yet to be seen, and we want
you to show them to us. / can hardly wait
until Monday morning. i must also see
Rome. We want to be impressed with the
fact that what men do on a small scale or
large scale lasts a thousand years, lasts for
ever; that We build for eternity, and that we
do so in q very short space of time. God Is
the only old living presence. But II Is an old
age without any Of the iniirmities or limita-
tons of old age.
There is a passage of scripture which
speaks OF the birth OF the mountains, for
there was a time when the Andes were born,
and the Pyranees were born, and the Sierra
Nevadas were born, but before the birth of
those mountains the Bible tells us, God was
born, aye was never born at all, because he
always existed. Psalm xc., 2: "Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou
hadst formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting 10 everlasting, thou art
God" How short is human life, what an
tiquity attaches TO its WORTH How everlast-
ing Is God! Show us the antiquities, the
things that were old when America was dis
covered, old when Paul went up and down
these streets sightseeing, old when Christ
was born, / must. / must also see Rome!
Another reason for our visit to this city Is
that we want to see the places where the
mightiest ~intellects and the greatest natures
wrought for our Christian religion. We have
been told In America by some people OF
swollen heads that the Christian religion IL a
pusillanimous thing, good for children undo
7 years of age and smalLbrained people, but
not for the intelligent and swarthy minded.
We have heard OF your Constantine, the
mighty, who pointed his army to the cross,
saying: "By this conquer II there be any
thing here connected with his reign or his
military history, show il to us.
The mightiest intellect OF the ages was the
author of my text, and, il for the Christian
religion he was willingt to labor and suffer and
die, there must be something exalted and
sublime and tremendous in it; and show me
every place he visited, and show me, IL you
can, where he was tried, and which of your
roads lead out to 0stia, that ! may see where
he went to die. We expect before we finish
this journey to see Lake Galilee and the
places where Simon, Peter and Andrew
iished, and perhaps we may drop a net or a
hook and line into those waters ourselves but
when following the track of those lesser apos-
ties ] will learn quite another lesson. | want
while in this city Of Rome 10 study the relig-
ion of the brainiest of the apostles. / want
to follow, as far as we can trace II, the track
Of this great intellect Of my text who wanted
to see Rome also. He was a ~logician, he was
a metaphysician, he was an all conquering
orator, he was a poet Of the highest type.
He had a nature that could swamp the lead
ing men Of his W day, and, hurled against
the Sanhedrim, he made 1t tremble. lie
learned all he could get in the school OF his
native village; then he had gone to q higher
school, and there had mastered the Greek
and the Hebrew and perfected himself in
bellies ~lettres, until, In after years, he astound.
ed the Cretans, and the Corinthians, and the
Athenians, by quotations from their own
authors
1 have never found anything In Carlyle OF
Goethe or Herbert Spencer that could com
pare in strength or beauty with Paul's epis-
ties. | do not think there is anything in the
writings Of Sir William Hamilton that shows
such mental discipline as you find in Pau's
argument about justification and resurr,
ton. l have not found anything in Milton
finer in the way Of imagination than | can
find in Paurs Illustrations drawn from tie
amphitheatre. There was nothing in Robert
Emmett pleading for his life, or in Edmund
Burke arraigning Warren Hastings in West
minister Hall, that compared with the seer e
IN the court room when, before ROBBED Off
cials, Paul bowed and began his speech, sa,.
ing: II think myself happy, King Agrippa.
because / shall answer for myself this day."
l repeat that a religion that can capture a
man like that must have some power In il.
Ii Is time our wiscacres stopped talking rs
though all the brain OF the world were op-
posed to Christianity. Where Paul leads we
can afford to follow. i am glad to know that
Christ has, III the different ages Of the world,
has in his discipleship a Mozart and q Handel
in music, a Raphael and a Reynolds in paint
ing, an Angelo and a Canova In sculpture, a
Rush and a Harvey in medicine, a Grotius
and a Washington in craftsmanship, a Black
stone. a Marshall and a Kent in the law and
the time willcome when the religion Of Christ
VIII conquer all the observatories and UNI
YerSitics, and philosophy will, through her
telescope, behold the morning star of Jesus,
and in her laboratory see that ''all things
work together for good" and with her gen-
logical hammer discern the Rock of Ages
Oh, instead of covering and shivering
when the sceptic stands before US, and talks
of religion as though Il were pusillanimous
thing-instcad of that, let us take out our
New Testament and read the story Of Paul AZ
Rome. or come and see this city for ourSeiV
and learn that it coald have been no We
gospel that actuatcd such a man. but thai
Is AN aii conquering gospel. Ayei for
ages the power OF God and the wisdom ui
unto salvation.