Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-01-29

D. ii. Dlo0UT, lelduu TVuu, II
come. Oh, God! by Thy converting and
slnctifyng spirit make us right here and
POW that we may be right foreverl
! Nen. says some one, "this idea of moral,
| spiritual AMI eternal Echo is ne " to me. Il
there not some way or stopping this EchosH
NJ answer is, GOD can and He onlyn lit
| IS a cheerful Echo we do not want it stopped:
II haleful Echo We would like to have it
stopped. Tho har lest thing in the world to
do is t. stop an Echo. Many an Grafton has
! been spoiled and many an orator confounded
by au Echo, Costly churches, cathedrals
theatres and music halls have been ruined by
an Echo. Architects have strung wires
across aulitoriums TO arrest the Echo, and
hung upholstery az Iinst the walls, hoping to
entrap it, ami hundreds OF thousands of
dollars have been expsniei in public build
ings Of this country TO keep the air from
answering when it ought to be quiet.
Aristotle and Pythagoras and Isaac New
ton and La Place and our own Joseph Henry
tried to hunt down the Echo, but still the
unexplored realms OF acoustics are larger
than the explored. When our first Brook
lyn Tabernacle was being constructed, we
were told by architects that 1t was OF such
shape that the human vocs could not be
heard in it, or, il heard, it would be tangled
into Echoes.
In state OF worrim ent 1 went TO Joseph
Henry, the president Of Smithsonian Insti-
tuition at Washington, and told him OF this
evil prophecy, and he replied: II have proba-
bly, experimental mOrs with the laws of
sound than any other man, andI have got as
far as this Two buildings may seem to be
exactly alike and yet in one the acoustics
may be good AMI in ths other bad. Go on
with your church building and trust that all
viii be we'll" Oh, this mighty law of soundi
Oh, this subtle Echol There is only one be-
ing in the universe that thoroughly under-I
stands 1.-THE sounding again of the
mountains"
And il it is so hard to destroy a natural
Echo, how much harder 10 stop a moral
Echo, IA spiritual Echo, an immortal Echo.
You know that the Echoes are affected by
the surfaces and the shape Of rocks, and
the depth of ravineS and the relative posi-
ton Of buildings3 And oncs in heaven
God will so arrange the relative position OF
mansions and temples and thrones that one
OF the everlasting charms OF heaven will be
the rolling. bursting, asceniing, decending.
chanting L hoes. All the songs we ever
sang devoutly, all the prayers we have ever
uttered earnestly, all the Christian deeds We
have ever done will be waiting to spring
upon us in Echo.
The scientists tell US that in this world tho
roar of artillery and the boom OF the thunder
are so loud, because they are a combination
OF Echoes-all the hlIsides and the caverns
ami the walls furnishing share OF the re-
sonnnce. And never will We understand
the full power and music OF an Echo until
with supernatural faculties able to endure
them we hear all tho conjoined sounds of
heavenly EchoeS-harps and trumpets,
orchestras and oratorios, hosannahs and
halle Il lahs east side of heaven answering to
the west side, north side to south side, and
all the heights, and all the depths, and all
the imnensities, anil all the eternities join
:aZ in Echo upon Echo, Echo in tho
wake of Echo.
In the future state, whether of rapture or
ruin, we will listen for reverberations of
.shly things and doings. Voltaire stand
ing amid the shadows will listen, and from
tine millions whose goilessness and libertiu-
ism and debauchary were a consequence Of
his brilliant basphemies will come back q
weeping, wailing, desparing, agonizing
stcnding in the light listen, and from all
the circles OF the ransomed, and from all the
many mansions, whom he helped TO people,
and from all the thrones he helped to occu-
pants, and from all the gates he helped
throng with arrivals, and from all the tem-
pies he helped I'll with worshipers there
shall come back to him a glorious, ever ac-
cnmulating, transporting and triumphant
Echo.
Oh, what will the tyrants and oppressors
of tho earth do with the Echoess Those who
are responsible for the wars Of the world will
have come back to them all the groans the
shrieis, the canuonaleS the bursting shells
the cracSle OF burning cities and the death
OF nations homes -Hohenlinden and Sala-
manca, Wagram and Sedan, Marathon and
Thermopyle, Bunker Hill and Lexington,
South Mountains aud Gettysburg. Senna-
acherib listen Semlranls listen Marc
Antony listen! ArtaIerexes listen! Darius
listenl Julius C9slr listenl Alexander and
Napoleon listen But to the righteous will
come back the blissfu Echoes
Composers of Gospel hymns and singers
will listen for the return of Antioch and
Brattle Street Ariel and Dundee, Harwell
ard WOODSTOCK, Mount Pisgah and Corona
ton, Homeward Bound ani Shining Shore
and all the melodies they ever started.
Bishop Heber and Charles Wesley and Icaac
Watts and Thomas Hastings and Bradbury
and HoratiGs Bonar and Frances Havergal
listen!
But you know as we'll as I do that there
are some places where the reverberations
seem to meet and standing there they rush
upon you, they rain upon you, all at ones
they capture your ear. And Mt tho point
where all heavenly reverberations meet
Christ will stand and listen for the resound
Of all His sighs and groaus and sacrifices and
they shall come back in an Echo in which
mingle the acclaim of redeemed world, and
the "Jublate Deo" of full heaven. Echo
sanity, cherub;c, archangelic! Echo of
thronesl Echo of palacesl Echo Of tenn
ples Omnipotent Echo! Everlasting Echoi
Amen