Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-01-23

5Godl by thy c. III
now. that we may gg(
We'll, " says sonll
! of moral, spiritual and
/ is new to me. Is there NJ Is
! of stopping this Echo7"
is. God can, and he only"
a cheerful Echo we do not
stopped; if a baleful Echo we wo,
like to have it stopped. The hardes 3
thing in this world to do is to stop
an Echo. Many an Grafton has been
spoiled and many an orator con-
founded by an Echo. Costly churches,
cathedrals, theaters and music halls
have been ruined byan Echo. Archi-
tects have strung wires across audi
forums to arrest the Echo and hung
upholstery against the walls hoping
to entrap it, and hundreds of thou
sands of dollars have been expended
in public buildings of this country to
keep the air from answering when it
ought to be quiet.
Aristotle and Pythagoras and Isaac
Newton and La Place md our own
Joseph Henry tried to hunt down the
Echo. but still the unexplored realms
of acoustics are larger than the ex-
plored. When our first Brooklyn
Tabernacle was being constructed we
were told by architects that it was of
such shape that the human voice
could not be heard in it, or if heard,
it would be tangled in Echoes.
In state of worriment went to
Joseph Henry, the president of the
Smithsonian institution at Washing
ton, and told him of this evil proph-
ecy, and he replied: II have probar
bly, experimental more with the laws
of sound than any other man, and |
got as far as this, Two buildings may
seem to be exactly alike and yet in
one the acoustics may be good and
in the other bad. Go on with your
church building and trust that all
will be WE'LL And all was well.
Oh, this mighty law of sound Oh,
this subtle Echol There is only one
Being in the universe who thorough
ly understands 1.-THE sounding
again of the mountains.
AWFUL NATURE OF THE IMMORTAL.
And it is SO hard to destroy a nat
ural Echo, how much harder to stop
a moral Echo, a spiritual Echo, an
immortal Echo. You know that the
Echoes are effected by the surfaces.
and the shape of rocks, and the depth
of ravines, and the relative position
of buildings? And once in heaven,
God will so arrange the relative pc
sition of mansions and temples and
thrones that one of the everlasting
charms Of heaven will be the roll
ing. bursting, ascending, descending,
chanting Echoes. 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 lis that in this
world the roar of artillery and the
lroom of the thunder are so loud, be-
cause they are a combination of
Echoes-all the hillsides, and the
caverns, and the walls furnishing a
share Of tho resonance. And never
will we understand the full power
and music of an Echo until with SUI
pernatrllal faculties, able to endure
them, we hear all the conjoined
sounds of heavenly Echces-harps
and trumpets. orchestras and ora
torios, hosannahs and hallelujahs,
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 immensities, and
all the eternities joining in Echo upon
Echo. Echo in the wake of Echo.
In the future state. whether of rap
tru.e or ruin. we will listen for rever-
berations of earthly things and do
ings. Voltaire, standing amid the
shadows. will listen, and from the
millions whose godlessneSs AMI lib
ertinisln and debauchery were con-
sequence of his brilliant blasphemies
will come back a weeping. wailing,
despairing, agonizing, million voiced
Echo. Paul will, while standing in
the light, listen. and from all the cir.
cles of the ransomed. and from all
the many mansions whom he helped
to people, and from all the thrones
he helped to occupants. and from all
the gates be helped to throng with
arrivals. and from all the temples he
helped fill with worshipers, there
shall come back to him "a glorious,
ever accumllating, transporting and
triumphant Echo.
Oh, what will the tyrants and op.
pressors of the earth do with the
Echoesa Those who are responsible
! fo,. +ha wars of the world will have
come back to them all the groans,
the shrieks, the cannonades, the
bursting shells, the crackle of burn,
ing cities and the crash of a nations
homes; Hohenlinden and Salamanca,
Wagram and Sedan, Marathon and
The1mopyl@, Bunker Hill and Lex
ington, South Mountain and Gettys.
burg. Sennacherib. listen! Semirar
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