Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-01-20

In this life our soul IS In dry dock.
| The moment we leave this life we are
launched for our great voyage, and we
sail on for centuries quintllion, but the
ship does not change its fundamental
structure after it gets ont of the dry
dock, it does not pass from brig to
schooner or from schooner to man-of-
war What we are when launched from
this world we will be Ill the world to
come. Oh, God by Thy converting and
sanctifying spirit make us right here
and now that we may be right forever!
'Well," says some one, "this idea OF
moral, spiritual and eternal Echo is new
TO me. Is there not some way of stop
ping this Echo?' NY answer is, God
can and He only" Ii it is cheerful
Echo we do not want it stopped if a
baleful Echo we would like to have it
stopped. The hardest thing in this
world to do is to stop an Echo.
Aristotle and Pythagoras and Isaac
Newton and La Place and our own JOS
eph Henry tried to hunt down the Echo
but still the uneXplored realms of acous-
ties are larger than the explored. When
our first Brooklyn Tabernacle was being
constructed, we were told by architects
that it was of such shape that the hui
man voice could not be heard in it, or, if
heard, it would be tangled into Echoes.
In state of worriment ] went to Joseph
Henry. the President of the Smithsonian
Institute at Washington, and told him of
this evil prophecy, and he replied: II
have probably experimental more with
the laws Of sound than any other man.
and | have got as far as this. Two
buildings may seem to be exactly alike
and yet in one the acoustics may be good
Nd i,,f I,ND l. a.
church building and trust that all will
be we'll" And all was well, On, this
mighty law of sound. Oh! this subtle
Echo. There is only one being in this
universe who thoroughly understands it
-''The sounding again of the noun
tains."
And if it is so hard to destroy a natu-
raj Echo, how much harder to stop d
moral Echo, d spiritual Echo an i'm
mortal Echo You know that the
Echoes are affected by the surfaces and
the shape of rocks, and the depths of
raVineS, and the relative position of
buildings? And once 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, ascending,
defending, 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 i'll
Echo.
In the future state, whether of rap
ture or ruin, we Will listen for reverbera-
tons Of earthly things and doings Vol
taire standing amid the shadows will lis
ten, ana from the millions whose god
leSSncSs and libcrtiniSm and debauChery
were a consequence of his brilliant
blasphcmies will come back weeping,
waiing dcspairing. agonizing, million
voiced Echo. Paul WILL while standing
in the light, listen, and from all the cir
cles Of the ranSomcd. and from all the
many mansions whom he helped to pco-
pie, and from all the thrones he helped
to occupants, and from all the gates
he helped tbrong with arrivals, and
from all the temples he helped fill with
worshipers there will come back to him
a glorious, ever accommodating, trans
porting and triumphant Echo
Oh, what Will the tyrantS and Cypress
orS of the earth do with the Echoes?
Those who are responsible for the wars
of the world will have come back to
them all the groans, the shrieks, the
cannonades the bursting shells, the
cracklc Of burning cities and the crash
of nations Hohenlinden and
Salamanca, Wagram and Sedan, Mara
thon and Thermopyl2, Bunker Hill and
Lexington, South Mountain and Gettys-
burg. Sennacherlb listen Semiramis
listen. Mare Antony listen Arta-
XereXeS listen, Darius listen! julius
Caesar listen. Alexander and Napoleon
listen! But to the righteous will come
back the blissful Echoes,
Composers of Gospel Hymns and sing
erS will listen for the return of Antioch
and Brattlc Street, Ariel and Dundee,
Harwell and Woodstock, Mount Pisgah
and Coronation, Homeward Bound and
Shining Shore, and all the melodies they
ever started. Bishop Hcber and Charles
Wesley and Isaac Watts and Thomas
Hastings and Bradbury and Horatius
Bonar and Frances Havcrgal listen.
But you know as we'll as | do that
there are some places where the rever-
berations seem to meet and standing
there they rush upon you, they rain upon
YOU, all ut once they capture your ear.
And at the point where all heavenly
reverberations meet Christ will stand
and listen for the reS0und of all His
signs and groaas and sacrifices and they
shall come back in an echo in which
shall mingle the acclaim OF q redeemed
world, and the ''Jubilata Deo' of a full
Heaven. Echo sanity, cherubic, arch
angelic! Echo of thrones. Echo of pal
aces. Echo of temples! Omnipotent
echo. Everlasting echo! Amen.
Pats Temptation.