Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-09-18

dwindling red race dies cor pletely ont,
Rish that this generation might by COM
mon Justice atone for the inhumanity of its
predecessors. In the day of Gods judg-
ment l would rather there be blood
smeared Modoe than swindling United
States officer on an Indian reservation! One
! man was barbarian and savage, and
nevet pretended to be anything but bar.
barian and savage. The other man pre-
tended to be representative of Christian
nation. Notwithstanding all this, the gen.
ersl disgust with war and the substitution
of diplomatic skill for the glittering edge of
keen steel is sign unmistakable that 1.-THE
day is at hand"
/ find another ray of the dawn in the
compression of the worlds distances. What
a slow, snail-like, almost impossible thing
would have been the worlds rectifcation
with fourteen hundred millions of popula-
tion and no facile means of communication;
but now, through telegraphy for the eye,
and telephone intimacy for the ear, and
through steamboating and railrosding, the
twenty-five Thousand miles of the worlds
circumference are shriveling up into insig-
nificaut brevity. Hong Kong is nearer to
New York than few years ago New
Haven was; Bombay, Moscow, Madras,
Melbourne within speaking distance. Pur-
| Cuhbo b GCit &IdpulC anu ny bu0 Uiue
lines see the telegraphs of the Land, aud by
the red lines the cables uIder the ocean.
You see what opportunity this is going to
give for the final movements of Christiani-
ty. A fortress may be months OR years in
building, but after it is constructed it may
do all its work in twenty minutes. Chris
tianity has been planting its batteries for
nineteen centuries, and may go ON in the
work through other centuries; but when
those batteries are thoroughly planted,
thess fortresses are fully b-ilt, they may do
all their work in twenty -four hours. The
world sometimes derides the church for
slowness of movement. Is science any
quicker? Did it not take science five thou
sand six hundred and fifty-two years to
find out so simple thing as the circulation
of the human blood? With the earth aud
the sky full of electricity, science took five
thousand eight hundred years before it
even guessed that there was any practical
use that might be made of this subtle and
mighty element. When good men take
possession of all these scientific forces, and
all these agencies of invention, do not
know that the redemption of the world
will be mere than the work of half a day.
Do we not read the Queens speech at the
preroguing of Parliament the day before in
London2 If that be 80, is it anything mar
velous to believe that in twenty-fo hours
q divine communication can reach the
whole earth? Suppose Christ should des-
cend on the nations-many expect that
Christ will come among the nations person
ally-suppose that tomorrow morning the
Son of God from lowering cloud should
descend upon these cities. Would not that
fact be known all the world over in twenty
fours? Suppose he should present his Cos
| e. h. O..
of God; l came to pardon all your sins aud
to heal all your sorrow; to prove that am
supernatural being, have just descended
from tie clouds; do you believe me, and do
you believe me now?' Why, all the tele-
graph stations of the earth would be crowd.
ed as none OF them were ever crowded just
after shipwreck tell you all these things
to show you it is not among the Impossible
tiles or even the improbabilities that Christ
will conquer the whole earth, and do it in
stanter, when the time comes. There are
foretolzeniugs in the air. Something great
is going to happen. l do not think
that Jupiter is going to run us down or
that the axle of the world is going TO break;
but mean something great for the worlds
blessing aud not for the worlds damage is
going to happen. l think the world has
had it hard enough. Enough, the London
n
Enough, the wars. Enough, the ship
wrecks. Enough, the conflagrations. /
think our world could stand right well
procession of prosperities and triumphs.-
Better be on the lookout. Better have
your observatories open toward the heavens,
and the lenses of your most powerful tele-
scopes we'll polished. Better have all your
Leyden jars ready for some new pulsation
of mighty influence. Better have new
fonts Of type in your printing offices to set
up some astounding good news. Better
have some new banner that has never been
carried, ready for sudden professions Bet
ter have the bells lii your church towers
well hung, and rope within reach, that you
may ring out the marriage Of the Kings
Son. Cleanse all your oourt-houses, for
the Judge of all the earth may appear. Let
all your legislative halls be gilded, for the
great lawgiver may be about to COME
Drive off the thrones of despotism all the
occupants, for the King of heaven and
earth may be about to reign. The dark
ness of the night is blooming and whiten-
ing into the lilies of morning cloud, and
the lilies reddening into the roses of
stronger day-ft garlands, whether white
or red, for him on whose head are many
crowns. "The day is at hand"
One more ray of the dawn l see in facts
chronological and mathematical. Come
now, do not let US do another stroke of
work until we have settled one matter
WbaS is going to be the final issue of this
great contest between sin and righteous
ness? Which is going to prove himself the
stronger, God or Diabolus? Is this world
going to be all garden or all desert? Now
let US have that matter settled. If we
believe Isaiah and Ezekiel and Hosea, and
| oh Malaohi ap6 Tabu ond pator
and Paul and Christ, we believe that it is
going to be all garden. But let US have it
settled. Let us know whether we are
working on toward a success or toward
dead failure. If there is child in your
house sick, and you are sure he is going to
get we'll, you sympathise with present
pains, but all the forebodiDg is gone. If
you are in cyclone off the Florida coast,
and the captain assures you the vessel is
staunch and the winds are changing for
better quarter, and he is sure he will bring
you safe into the harbor, you patiently
submit to present distress with the thought
of safe arrival. Now l want to know
whether we are coming on toward dismay
darkness and defeat, or on toward light
and blessedness. You and l believe the
latter, and if so every year we spend is one
year subtracted from the worlds woe, and
every event that passes, whether bright or
dark, brings US one event nearer a happy
consummatioD, and by all that is inexor
able in chronology and mathematics, 1
commend you to good cheer and courage
If there is anything in arithmetic, if you
subtract two from five and leave three,
then by every rolling sun we are coming on
toward magnificent terminus. Then
every winter passed is one severity less for
our poor world. Then every summer gone
by brings US nearer unfading arborescence.
Put your algebra down on the top of your
Bible and rejoice.
If it is nearer morning at 8 o'clock than it
is at 2, if it is nearer morning at o'clock
than it is at 3, then we are nearer the dawn
of the worlds delIverance. Gods clock
seems to go very slowly, but the pendulum
swings and the hands move, and it will yet
strike noon. The sun and the moon stood