The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-04-17


! Christ forever.
Why, this age is not so characterized by
invention and scientific exploration as it
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 organs
in one diapason, and gather all the congrega-
tions of Christendom in one Gloria IN Excel
sis. Mighty camp-meetings. Mighty ocean
Groves Mighty Chautauquas. Mighty con-
ventions of Christian workers. Mighty gen.
eral assemblies of the Presbyterian church.
Mighty conferences of the Methodist church.
Mighty associations of the Baptist church.
Mighty conventions Of the Episcopal church.
think before long the best investments Will
| not be in railroad stock or Western Union,
| but i'll trulnpetS and cymbals and 1eSta!
decorations, for we are on the eve Of vic
tories wide and world uplifting. There may
be many years of hard work yet before the
consummation, but the signs are to me so en-
couraging that would not be unbelievlng
if saw the wiag Of the apccalyptlc angel
spread for its last triumphal fight in this
DAYS sunset; or If tomorrow morning the
ocean cables should thrill US with the news
that Christ the Lord had aliShted on Mount
Olivet or Mount Calvary TO proclaim uni
verSal dominion.
0 YOU dead churches, wake up! Throw
back the shutters OF stiff ecceslastlcism anu
let the light Of the spring morning come III.
Morning for the land. Morning for the sea.
Morning for emancipation. Morning OF
light and love and peace. Morning OF day
i which there shall be no chains to break,
no sorrows to assuage, no despotlsm 10
shatter, no woes to compassionate. OChrlSt,
descent. Scared temple, take the crown!
Bruised hanu, take the scepter. wounded
foot, step to the throne! Thine IS the
kingdom
These things say because | want you to
be alert. want you TO be watching all
these wonders unrcling from the heavens
and the earth Gcd has classified them,
whether calamitous or pleasing. The divine
purposes are harnesScd in traces that can
not break. and in girtiIs that can not slip,
and in buckles that can not loosen, and are
driven by reins they must answer. preach
no fatalism. A swarthy engineer at one Oh
the depots in Dakota said: when will YOU
get on the locomotive and take ride
with us.n "Wel," ! said, 'now if that
suits youa' SO I got on one side the
locomotive and Methodist minister, VINO
was also invited. got on the other SIDE,
and between US were the engineer and the
stoker. The train started. The engineer
had his hand on the agitated pulse OF
the great engine. The stoker shoveled IN
the coal and shut the door with loud clang.
A vast plain slipped under US and the hills
swept bv, and that great monster on which
we rode trembled and bounded and snorted
and RACED as it hurled US on. said to the
Methodist minister on the other side OF the
Iocomc tive: my brother, why should Pres
bvterians and Methodists quarrel about the
DEGREES and free agency! You see the track,
that firm track, that iron track; that Is the
decree You see this engineers arm! mat
is free agency. How beautifully they
work together. They are going to take
US through We could not do without the
track, and we could not do w thout the
engineer" SO rejoice day by day. Work
for US ali to do, and we may turn the
crank of the Christian machinery this way
or that, for we are free agents; but there IS
the track laid so long ago no one remembers
it, laid by the hand of Almighty God in
sockets that no terrestrial or satanic pres
sure can ever affect. And along that track
the car Of the worlds redemption Will roll
to the Grand Central depot Of the mlllennl-
um. have no anxiety about the track, l
am only afraid that for our Incidence GOD
will discharge US and get some other stoNer
and some other engineer The train is going
through with us or without us. SO, my
brethren watch all the events that are gong
by II things seem TO turn out right give
wings to your JOY. If things seem to turn
out wrong, throw out the anchor OF laltn
and hold fast.
There is house ic London where Peter
the Great of Russia lived awhile when he
was moving through the land incognlto and
in workmau's dress, that he might learn the
wants Of the people. A stranger was visit
ing at that house recently. and saw IN
dark attic an old box, and he said 10 the
owner of the house, whats in that boxer
| The owner said, 81 don't know; that box
was there when got the house, and 1t was
| there when my father got it. We haven't
had any curiosity to look al it; guess
| there's nothing in it.'' ''Well," said tho
stranger, "Ill give you two pounds
for it.'' 'sWell done" The two pounds
are paid, and recently the contents Of
the box were sold to the Gar Of
Russia for fifty thousand dollars. In it the
private letters and documents OF va'ue be-
| yond all monetary consideration. And here
are the events that seem very insignificant
and uuimportant, but they incase treasures
of divine providence and eternitieS OF mean
| ing which after while God will demon
strate before the ages as being OF stupeud.
Gus value AS near as | can tell from what
| | can see there must be God somewhere
| about.
When Titans play quoits they pitch
mountains: but who owns these gigantic
| forces YOU have been reading about the last
two months! Whose hand is on the throttle
valve of the volcanoes! Whose foot sud
| denly planted on the footstool makes the
continents culver! God. God! He looketh
upon the mountains and they tremble. He
toucheth the hills and they smoke. God ,
| God must be at peac ce with Him. Through
the Lord Jesus Christ this God is mine and
He is yours. put the earthquake that
shook Palestine at the crucifixion against all
the down rockings of the centuries. This
| God on our side we may challenge all the
| centuries Of time and all the cycles OF
eternity.
Those Of US who are in mid-life may well
thank God that we have seen so many Won
drous things, but there are people here to-
day who win see the twentieth century
Things obscure to US will be plain to you
vet The twentieth century will be as far
ahead of the nineteenth as the nineteenth
is ahead Of the eighteenth, and as you car
| feature the habits and customs and ignor-
ance of the past, others will caricaturc this
age. Some of you may live to see the SHIN.
mering veil between the material and the
spiritual world lifted Magnetism, word
with which we cover up our ignorance, will