The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-20

and the home of the brave, az that very time
when these much spoken against people were
under God working out the grandest problems
of humanity, bear in mind that just across the
English channel far different scenes were being
enacted Instead Of the truths of the Gospel
shaping the state, French inideiity was thrust
ing its poisonous roots deep down into the soil.
A class of statesmen began to arise no were
enemies to the spirit of the Gospel. Louis XIV.
revoked the edict of Nantes; he exiled the Hugue-
nots: and his successors killed the preachers OF
the Gospel, sold the temples in which they had
preached, aud shut up the Word OF God from
the peopls
They banishcd the holy day OF God and de-
creed a day of their own. All things which
were holy were put beneath their feet. Over
their church doors which were still left stand
ing. aud over the gateway to their cemeteries,
thsy wrote that "Thers is no god but reason,
and death is an eternal sleep" Look at them
now; they have no God, no Gospel, no Sabbath
What was the RESULT
The result? Go and ask corpse-strewn Champ
de Mars; ask the shot-riddled Iuvalides, and the
Hotel de Vile Go and ask the Place de la Rev
olution, and the Bloody Tribunal. Ask the
guiilotine, with the heads OF the royal and the
low lying about its base together, and ii indeed
your heart does not grow sick and turn away
before half the story is told you Will get the an
swer as to what were the results
Unless you have read history upside down
you know that there 10 no more dreadful period
In ali human annals than that of France from
1890 to ISIS The king of Dahomey filling pool
with the blood Of his fellow beings and floating
upon it in his boat exhibits no more heart
less disregard for human life than does that
quarter OF a century of blood-red history.
This Was the harvest time for years of atheisti-
cal seed -sowing. The fruit was gathered when,
with one fell sweep, dsrkened hearts legislated
God, and the Gospel, and the Sabbath out OF the
land, and distorted passions, and misguided
reason rode triumphant at the helm Of state.
What period was that!
"Infdelity itself could not endure it. Atheism
staggered and fell under the weight Of its own
wickeduess. Everything human tottered, be-
cause everything perished that was divine. In
fidelity, atheism, and France were obliged to fall
back upon institutions which they had scorned,
and seek the law at the lips Of Gods ministers,
and at the affairs which they SO shamelessly
desecrated."
Had they not taken refuge here from the re-
suits at their own deeds they would have soon
perished without hope OF resurrection. That
dark period of unmeasured wrecks and count
less ruins will ever stand a monument of
what may be expected when people turn their
backs upon God aud put His holy institutions
beneath their feet Before you lightly set aside
this Gospel of Christ: before you are misled by
what is often enormously said of the Puritans,
most lurid page. And rs sure as you read to any
purpose you will see that those who are now
clamoring for the destruction of our Christian
Sabbath, and for the bringing in of that corrupt
Continental holiday of pleasure and bestiality,
are trying to lay the foundations for enaction of
like scenes which rendered Paris as solcitous
for her safety from the dead bodies In her streets
as she was from the fury of her blood thirsty
living
Is it not a most significant fact that all the
dark and bloody places of this earth have been
those where the Gospel has not gone, or:where it
has been set aside? Over against all the moral
darkness and death and ignominy of this earth
stands the Gospel of Christ with healing for the
nations. In its truths is the only hope that this
sunken world can be saved from utter destruc-
ton. He who would lift one hand against this
moral lumnary to stay its healing light would
with the other hand invoke hopeless, impen-
etrable night.
''This book-this holy book, on every line
Marked with the seal of high divinity
On every leaf believed with drops OF love d.
vine"
ever has been and must ever remain the source
of all moral and social reforms on our planet.
We are indebted to the Gospel for all the moral
light that floods the land. Every high and every
noble impulse that throbs in human bosoms;
every holy desire that rises towards better life
or extends hand to help fallen brother is in
spired by Christ Jesus, who is the soul and Gen.
ter of all moral light: the central sun from
whom all other suns and stars must borrow
their robes of glory.
Therefore there can be no hope for any ad-
vance steps without the Gospel-no reforms
except those which it inspires. Oh, that this
great TACT might speedily be recognized by all
classesi What clouds of darkness would be
speedily lifted from this earth.
DR.. Gardiner Spring, of New York city, once
said: "Plant pulpit in q hotbed of crime, and
the atmosphere becomes gradually more pure;
the fearful activity of iniquity is restrained,
and low vices and black crimes skulk away and
seek shadow under some deadly Upas rather
than regale themselves under the tree of life"
Some would-be reformers were once trying to
use the name and fame of Wendell Phillips
against the Gospel He replied to these efforts
in these words:
"Enough for us to know that on every field
where justice has triumphed the Bible has led
the van; that tyrants in every age have hated
it: humanity in every step Of its progress has
caught vatchwords from its pages. Freedom
Of thought was won by those who would read it
in spite of the popes: freedom of speech b.
those who would expound it in defiance OF
Laud."
And entreat that in your studies OF tn
moral progress OF the world you do not forget
that the Gospel has not only given us all the
moral nobility we possess, all the soul liberty
but at this very moment this invincible volume
stands before every iniauitous institution, every
degrading social custom, and every unrighteous
law laundering at their gates like whole park
of artillery, and will accept no compromise till
every stronghold of sin is RACED to the ground.
The hallowed victories of nineteen GEN.
turtles affirm that the Gospel is a mighty power
tits all that the immortal missionary claimed
for it among the Romans; it Is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
1t is this that has made the pulpit an uncon-
ouerable force, a real throne OF might and
majesty. No jeweled crown nor flashing scepter
on earth is to be compared to a consecrated pull
pit where the Gospel OF Christ is faithfully
preached.
Ii sometimes the misguided have spoken
against this book; ii the irreverent have dis
dained it, let us remember that the wisest and
the best of the ages have bowed reverently be-
fore its treasures of wisdom; their activities
were inspired by its precepts, and when weary
they pillowed their heads upon its promises
The oppressed have here gained new strength
and snatched victory from defeat; the aged and
the weary have leaned upon 1t in LIES decline
and found il an uufagtering stay; the dying
have scanned its pages with failing sight aud
caught fore-gleams of immortality and gone on
to their eternal homes with shouts of joy. The
march OF this book across the globe has been q
march of heavenly light: every reiormer who
has been worthy of the name has received his
inspiration from its pages, and his councils
have been shaped by its precepts.
DO your hearts throb today with desires TO see
the last shadow Of iniquity lifted from long-de-
pressed humanity? Would you see every
shackled prisoner set free, and every Bleeding
heart healed of its wounds? Then l commend
to you this holy volume: by its sacred truths all
earth's wrongs are TO be righted, all clouds of
darkness and oppression are to be rolled back
and away forever.