Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-02-18

building up the foremost nations Of mod
ern times, most candid thinkers and stu
dents of history will readily admit. Every
other kind of gospel had been tried and
failed. failed to save men and build up no
BILE and lasting civilizations.
Confucius, the idolized philosopher OF
China, is claimed to have wrought great
| things for China and other nations Of the
east. Confucius lived more than five hun.
dred years before Christ, and his religious
| system, and rules Of correct living, had
| that length of time to ''steal . grand
march" on this coming plan of salvation
through Christ. And granting that Con.
! fucius did more towards elevating the NOR
ais and the character Of that eastern peo-
pie than all other heather philosophers
before or since his day, where are the ripe
fruits of all holy living to be found
, What advancement has China made? Let
the morbid condition Of her people be the
answer. No nation has ever fought so
desperately against the coming in "f any
power to lift them up, as the Chinese.
Content to live as their fathers, content to
die as their fathers, they have. until re-
cent years. been a solid barrier to their
own uplifting or advancement In the scale
of national life.
The great aim of the christian world to-
day is to convert China with her three or
four hundred millions Of people to a no.
bier, purer, subliruer faith and life than
any heather Confucius can give to her
Only Gods great salvation can save China
Turn now from China and visit the land
where Grecisn culture has been the adm-
ration Of ages. And what do We find as the
fruit of the teachings of the Grecian Soc
rates and Plato, or other great men of
letters, that can compare with the fruits
Of love, joy, peace" such as the teach
ings Of John and Peter and Paul have al
ways produced in all nations? The hope
of Greece is that hope which Paul pre-
sented on Mars Hill.
Go over into Imperial Rome" and
study the works Of Cicero, Caesar, and
other noble Romans. Have they built up
individual and national character, and
founded permanent and dever-enlarging civ
llizations that will bear favorable compar-
ison with the best that our gospel has
done: Rome's palmy days are long since
gone. Her eagles were supplanted by the
cross. and only when Rome lives by the
principles which the cross represents will
she rise to the exalted position Of a people
facing towards the light
The history of Buddhism and Moham-
mechanism and kindred eastern religions is
history Of darkness and night. The
earth without Christ is held in chains of
superstition, doomed to wretchedness and
woe.
Turning our gaze upon the christian ma
tions and we see them leading the world.
The wlsest statesmen are there, the ablest
scholars are there, the sweetest-yolced
poets are there. There the arts Of com
merce and trade flourish best More of
the comforts that make life here worth
living abound among christian people.
And here, too, are found the noblest types
Of royal manhood and pure womanhood
that the earth has ever produced These
are not accidents of christianity, but part
Of the legitimate fruitage that grows on
the gospel tree. Time and space would
fail US did We attempt to tell of the indi-
vidual trumphs of the cross. of the in
temperate made sober, of the profane
made to pray and praise, Of the hopeless
inspired to lay hold Of the hopes that are
hig with immortality. We are led to be-
lieve that what has been done is but
faint prophecy of what shall yet be ac-
complshed. He must increase" Inidel-
ity and unbelief may pour forth their dark
venom upon the word of God and the
church of His right hand planting, Christ
shall yet conquer. He claims the world
by His own native right OF the final vic
tory for the cross we have no doubts DR.
Isaac Watts saw the glorious results Of
christianity when he wrote
Jesus shall reign whereer the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His Kingdom spread from shore to shore,
III moons shall wax and wane no more.
From north to south the princes meet
To pay their homage at His feet;
While western empires own their Lord
And savage tribes attend His word"
IL is a great salvation that thus seeks to
lay hold of the vital forces Of the whole
earth aud transform them into forces that
are electric with the very goodness of God
redeemed earth, vocal with the songs of
the pure in heart; an earth where the How-
ers Of chrlstlikeness bloom in every human
soul, is the goal of all true christian am
bition. Such lofty purposes are only born
Of the spirit of an all-conquerng faith
And now turning our thoughts away from
the earth and the things that are earthly, we
attempt to contemplate the results of this
great salvation in the presence Of the great
hereafter.
1t is truly great salvation that prom
ises life after death, that brings in the
light Of an immortal youth while the lights
of earth are growing dim and one by one
are going out Paul could say, For me
to live is Christ and to die is gain. For
am in strait betwixt two. having desire
to depart and to be with Christ, which is
far better" Phil. 1: 2l23. And then,
when standing on the banks of the Jordan
about ready to cross the dark stream OF
death through the pangs Of martyrdom, be
declares, "For am now ready to be offer.
ed and the time of my departure is at hand
l have fought good fight, have finished
my course, l have kept the faith; hence
forth there is laid up for me a crown OF
righteousness, which the Lord the right
eous Judge, shall give me at that day; ant
not to me only, but unto all them also that
love His appearing" II Tim. :7,s.
John Wesley, already past four-scort
years Of age, heard the waters of the same
chilly stream ripping at his very feet anc
exclaimed, 1.-The best of all is God is with
u.s." The sainted Alfred Goodman, wher
dying, said he was sweeping through tn,
gates Of the New Jerusalem, washed IL
the blood of the Lamb" Bishop Haver
declared, while passing to the other land
that there was mo river, it was all glory
Gods people die WE'LL" Bishop Jone.
said in the presence of death, Il am no
disappointed" Even Death is swallowed
up in victory. o, death, where Is thy
sting? o, grave, where Is thy victory