The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-11-27

Is tiic Keynote IN winch Tue music oil
American Christian patriotism needs to
DO written. Remembering then the
historic reach and sweep OF our country
VIC want to make patriotism Il part OF
our picty, and give ourselves to tho be-
hests OF our country us part OF the
dedication OF ourselves to tho Lord
Jesus Christ.
We must not forget that We arc re.
ncwing every year the experiment OF
our early history. We arc planting col.
Onics in our newer domains far more
Heterogeneous and perilous than the old,
and the greatest need OF this genera.
ton, tho most important respon-
sibity resting upon tho church
to-day has regard TO the evangelical.
ton OF this rapidly opening empire OF
tho West. The Christian forces which
shaped our primitive and formative life
along the Atlantic seaboard, arc re.
CURED TO control the greater national
life springing up In our Western states
and territories. With every new open.
ing OF our domain to settlement, there
comes n new sense OF our peril and OF
our duty. Beyond tho Mississippi are
more than two-thirtls OF our national
domain, II region equal in size to three
hundred and ilfty-onc states like Massa-
chusotts. The centre OF population in
100 was near Baltimore. Al present it
is near the western line OF southern In.
diana, and is Fastening to cross the big
bridge into st. Louis.
The London Times has called tho de-
velopment OF the West "the most i'm
portant fact in contemporary history"
We are dwelling in what is ultimately
to be the controlling and wcalthiest ma
ton under tho sun. Tho average wealth
to-day OF the people Of California is be-
yond the average in New York, in Colo
RADIO beyond that in Illinois, in Mime
sofa beyond that in Vermont, and in
Montana beyond four times that in
South Carolina. Unqucstionably the
West is TO rule the East, and this fact
should make us tremble when wo re-
member tho vast moral perils which
threaten these newer regions
But | lift not only voice OF solemn
concern, but Of triumphant hopefulness.
BLESSED is tho nation whose God is the
Lord; and the people whom He hath
chosen for His own inheritance" God
hath been
OUR LORD IN ALL HISTORY,
and He has peopl4 here for His in
heritance. Jesus Christ is with His
church in this nation; the gospel has
not lost its power; it is still the wisdom
and might OF God to individual and
national salvation. The Christian
church is still the centre OF bcniiiccnt
influences wherever its spires point
toward heaven. There families are
gathered, children taught, God honored
and His day respected. There the
divine spirit is felt in power, leading
lost men to the fellowship OF Jesus
Christ. There is fashioned the love OF
the noblcr things OF human life, for out
OF the churches have come our Christian
schools, academies and colleges. Into
the pioneer work OF the humble Chris
tian missionaries OF the west has gone
patriotism as noble rs that which gave
up its life ut Marathon or Lexington.
Through forests primcval, over plains
and mountains, these modern pilgrims
have gone forth, and upbearing the
Bible in thei: hands on the fourfold
foundation OF the Christian church, the
Christian schools, the Christian home,
and Christian Sabbath, they have
helped to build the huge fabric OF our
western life. And though the names OF
but few OF them will ever find place
even on the margin OF the page of his
tory, their work far surpassed in i'm
portancc that OF all our statesmen put
together.
Wehave noreason to be discouraged rs
We review the Christian progress OF our
nation in the past. When we reflect,
that the numerical strength OF the
church has increased three times as
rapidly rs the population; when we note
the rise and progress OF Sabbath schools,
which this century has witnessed; when
we recall the fact that nearly all the
great missionary philanthropic and re-
formatory societies are less than hun
drcd years old; when We contemplate
the vast sums that are given ior Chris
tian education, and the troops Of colleges
which. as one has said, 80 lowing over
our Western plains like Jacobs Kline"
and when We ioyfully remember that
on every day seven new church build.
ings are erected on the soil covered by
the national flag, and that on every
Lords day ten thousand new confessors
OF the Divine Man OF Nazareth are en-
rolled beneath the standard OF tho
Cross, We surely have good reasons for
believing that Washington's hope has
been realized, and that our people still
render their dutiiul homage to the
Great Author OF every public and pri-
vatc good. The triumphs OF the past
and the needs OF the present should
combine to stimulate our zeal and deep
en- our conservation. l would, that in
the midst oil our selfish and spcndthriit
lives, We might catch something OF the
spirit OF that Western preacher who
once had vacation and went to 4
boarding house in Saratoga. and
thence wrote home his wife that
certain fashionable woman's hablli-
mcnts and adornments, rs he reckoned,
were equivalent to one Westinghouse,
seven cabinet organs, and fortv-two
Sabbath school libraries. Tho old
Scotch city OF Glasgow once had upon
its cscutchcOn these words: LET Glas-
gov flourish by the preaching OF the
Word" but after awhile the latter part
OF the sentence was left off, and to-day
We read only the meaningless wish, "Lct
Glasgow flourish" So our fathers laid
the foundations OF a Christian common
wealth, saying, "Let us build up nation
on the word OF God" To-day, let US
not forget it and be pulled up with pros
.perity and drunk with the wine OF q
material success, with 10 fear OF God in
the midst OF it. lie. us remember that
no truo blessedncss can rest upon 4
nation whose God is not the Lord, and