The Forrest City times., 1889-11-16

put e t00 outOuf1tl0R or CnriStau curl osity when say must also zee Rome
 Our jesiro to visit this city is also iutsn- sined by the fact that wo want to be con- iirmed in tho feeltug [ that human life b brief, but its work lasts for centuries, in- deed forever. Therefore show us the anti qutties of old Romo, about which we have boon reading for lifetime, but never soen. In our beloved America, we have no anti- quities. A church eighty ycars old ovcrawes us with its age. We have in America somo cathcdrals hundreds and thousands of years old, but they arc in Y Yellowstone park, or Californian canon, and their architecture and masonry were by the omnipotent God. We want to see tho buildings, or ruins of old buildings, that were erected hundreds and thou sands of years ago by human hands. They lived forty or seventy years, but the arches they lifted, tho paintings they pencilod, tho sculpture they chiseled. the roads they laid out I understand, are yet to bc 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 mon do on small scale or large scale lasts thousand years, lasts forever, that we build for eternity and that we dc 90 in very sho-t space of time God is the only old living presence. But it is an old age without any of tho in firmities or limitations of old age. There is passage of Scripture which speaks Of the birth of the mountains, for there was time when the Andes were born, and the Pyrenees were borne, and the Sierra N evadas were born, but before tho birth of those noun tains the Bible tells us, God was born, aye was never born at all, because he always existed. Psalm xc, 2, "Before the noun. tains were brought forth, or ever thou hadss formed the earth and the world, oven from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God" How short is human life, what antiquity attaches to its worthl How ever lasting is God! Show us the antiquities. the things that were old when America was discovered, old when Paul went up and down these streets sight seeing. old when Christ was born. must, must also see Romel
 Another reason for our visit to this city is that we want to see the places where the mighticst intellects and tho greatest natures wrought for our Christian religion. We have been told in America by some people of swollen heads that the Christian religion is a pusillanimous thing. good for children under years of ago and small brained people, but not for the intelligent and swartny minded. We have heard of your Constantine the mighty, who pointed his army to the cross, saying: By this conquer" If thcro be anything here connected with his reign or his military history, show 1t to us. Tho mightiest intellect Of the ages was the au- thor of my text and. if for the Christian religion he was willing to labor and suffer and die, there must bc something exalted and sublime and tremendous in It; and show me every place he visited, and show me if you can where he was tried. and which of your roads leads out to Ostia. that l may sec where hc went out to die Wc expect before we finish this journey to sec Lske Galilee and the places wherc simon Peter and Andrew fished, and perhaps we may drop net or hook and line into those waters ourselves, but when fol lowing the track of those lesser apos. ties 1 will learn quite another lesson want while in this city of Romc to study the religion of the brainiest of tho apostles. Iwant to follow. as far as we can trace 1t, the track of this grcas intellect of my text who wanted to sec Rome also. He was logician, he was metaphisician, he was an all conqucring orator, he was n poet of the highest type. He had a nature that could swamp the leading men of his own day, and, hurled against the Sanhedrim. he made it tremble. He learned all he could get in the school of his native village, then he had gone to a higher school. and therc had mastered the Greek and tho Hebrew and perfected himself in belles lettres, un til in after years, he astoundei the Gro tans, and the Corinthians. and tho Athenians, by quotations from their own authors- have never found anything in Carlyle or Goethe, or Herbert Spencer that could compare In strength or beauty with Pauls cpistlcs. 1 do not think there Is anything in tho writings of Sir William Hamilton that shows such mental discipline as you find in Paui's argument about justl- cation ana resurrection have not found anything in Milton finer in the way of i'm agination than can find in Paurs illustra- tions drawn from tho amphitheatrc. There was nothing in Robert Emmet pleading for his life, or in Edmund Burke arraigning Warren Hastings in Westminster Hall that compared with tho scene in tho court room when. before robcd oai- cials, Paul bowed and began his speech. saying. Fl think myself hap py, King Agrippa because shall answer for myself this day.n l repeat that religion that can capture man like that must have some power in it Ii is time our wiseacres stopped talking ns though aii tho brain of the world were opposed to Chris uanity. N here Paul leads, we can afford to follow. am glad 10 know that Christ has, in the different ages of tho world. had in his disciplcship Mozart and Handel in Music; Raphael and Reynolds in painting; an Angelo and Canova in sculpture; q Rush and Harvey in medicine; Grotius and a Washington in statesman. ship; Blackstone, Marshall and Kcnt in 1,o }as OsxA ft,r,a the religion of Christ will conquer all the obscrvatortes and universities, and philosophy will, through her tele- scope, behold the morning star of Jesus, and in her laboratory see that ''all things work together for good and with her geological hammer discern the Rock of Agcs" Oh. instead of covering and shiv- ering when the skeptic stands before us, and talks of religion as though it were a pusi- luminous thing instead of that. let us take out our new testament and read the story of Paul at Rome, or come and sec this city for ourselves. and learn that 1t could have been no weak Gospel that actuated such a man, but that 1t ia an all conauering Gospel Aye! for all ages the power of God and tho wisdom of God unto salvation.
 Men, brethren aud fathers, l thank you for this opportunity of preaching the gos. pei to you that are at Rome also. Tho churches of America salute you. Upon you who arc like us, strangers In Rome, pray tho protecting and iourneying caro of God. Upon you who are resident here, pray grace mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ After tarrying here few days we resume our journey for Palestine. and we shall never meet again, either in Italy, or America, or what ia called tho Holy Land but there is holicr iand, and there we may meet, say. cd by tho graco that in tho same way ssves Italian and American, and there in that supernA climc, after embracing him who, by his suherings on tho hill back of Jerusalem, made our heaven possi- bie, and given salution to our own kindred whose departure broke our hearts on earth wo shall. think, seek out tho travelling preacher and mighty hero of the text who marked out his journey through Macedonia ana Acfaia to Jerusalem. saying: After 1 have boen therc. must also soc Rome. n
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