Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-09-28


1dded 70 AL, let there Be banqusts, not
Hike the drunken bout At the Metropolitan
Opera House. New York. oslsbrating the
where the rivers Of wine drowned the
sobriety Of 20 many senators and govern
ors and generals, but q banquet for the
poor, the feeding Of scores Of thousands Of
people Of q world In which the majority
Of the inhabitants have never yet had
enough TO eat. Not q banquet at which q
few favored men and women Of social or
political fortune shall sit, but such q ban
qust as Christ ordered when he told his
servants to go out into the highways and
hedges and compel them TO come In" Let
the mayors Of cities, and the governors of
states. and the president Of the United
States proclaim o whole week Of legal hol.
iday, at least from Christmas day to New
Years day.
Added to this let there be at that inter
national moral and religious exposition q
mammoth distribution of sacred literature.
Let the leading ministers Of religion from
England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Ger.
many and the world take the pulpits of all
these cities and tell what they know Of him
whose birth we celebrate. At those convo-
cations let vast sums Of money be raised for
churches, for asylums, for schools, for col.
leges, all Of which institutions were born
in the heart Of Christ. On that day and in
that season when Christ gave himself to
the world, let the world give itself to him.
WHY AMERICAi
Why do propose America as the eoun-
try for this convocationi Because most
other lands have state religion, and while
all forms Of religion may be tolerated In
many lands America is the only country
on earth where all evangelical denomina-
tions stand on an even footing, and all
would have equal hearing in such an inter.
national exposition. Why do select this
cluster Of seacoast citiesi Answer-By that
time-Dec. Is, 1o00-these four cities of New
York. Brooklyn, Jersey City and Hoboken,
BY bridges and tunnels, will be practically
one. and with an aggregate population Of
about 100000. Consequently no other
part Of America will have such immensity
of population.
Why do now make this nomination Of
time and placer Answer-Because such
stupendous movement cannot be extern
porized. It will take seven years to get
ready for such an overtowering celebra-
tion, and the work ought to begin speedily
In churches, In colleges, in Legislatures, in
congresses, In parliaments, In all styles of
national assemblages, and we have no
time to lose. It would take three years to
make q programme worthy of such com
ing together.
Why do take 1t upon myself to make
such a nomination of time and place? An
swer-Because it SO happens that In the
mysterious providence Of God, born in
farmhouse and of no royal or princely de-
scent, the doors of communication are open
to me every week by the secular and reli-
gious printing presses and have been open
to me every week for many years, with all
the cities and towns and neighborhoods of
Christendom, and indeed in lands outside
of Christendom, where printing presses
have been established, and / feel that il
there is anything worthy in this PROPOSE
tion it will be needed and adopted.
On the other hand, if it be too sanguine
or too hopeful or too impractical, am
sure it will do no harm that / have ex-
pressed my wish for such an international
jubilee, celebrative of the birth of our I'm
manuel. My friends, such birthday cele-
bration at the close of one century and |
reaching into new century would be |
something in which heaven and earth |
could join. It would not only be interna-
tional, but interplanetary, interstellar, in
Reconsideration. II you remember what |
on the first Christmas night, you
know that it was not joy confined to our |
world.
The choir above Bethlehem was import
ed from another world. and when the star
left its usual sphere to designate the birth
place all astronomy felt the thrill. If there be
anything true about our religion, 1t is that |
other worlds are sympathetic with this |
world and in communication with 1t. The
glorified of heaven would join in such cele- |
bration. The generations that toiled to have |
the world for Christ would take part in such |
jubilation and prolonged assemblage. The |
upper galleries of Gods universe would ap. |
plaud the scene, whether we heard the clap |
Of their wings and the shout Of their voices |
or did not hear them.
ProphtN who predicted the Messiah, and |
apostles who talked with him, and martyrs |
who died for him would take part in the |
scene, though to our poor eyesight they |
might be invisible. The old missionaries !
who died in the malarial swamps of Africa, |
or were struck down by Egyptian typhus |
or were butchered at Lucknow, or were
slain by Bornesian cannibals, would come |
down from their thrones to rejoice that at |
last Christ had been heard of, and SO speed |
lily in all nations. At the first roll of the |
first overture of the first day of that meet. |
Ing ell heaven would cry: "Hearl Heari''
MIGHT HASTEN THE LORDS COMING.
Ayel ayel bethink myself such vast
procedure as that might hasten our Lords |
coming, and that the expectation of many |
millions of Christians, who believe in the |
second advent, might realize then at that |
conjunction of the nineteenth and |
twentieth centuries. ! do not say it would |
be, yet who knows but that our blessed |
and adored Master, pleased with such |
plan of worldwide observance, might say |
this wandering and rebellious |
planet, "That world at last shows dispo- !
Bition to appreciate what have done for |
It, and with one wave Of my SCARED hand |
will bless and reclaim and save it."
That such a celebration Of our Lords |
birth, kept up for days and months, would |
please all the good of the earth and might |
lly speed on the gospel chariot and please |
all the heavens, sanity, cherubic, seraphic,
and divine, is beyond question. |
Oh, get ready for the worlds greatest fes.
tivityl Tune your voices for the worlds
greatest antheml Lift the arches for the |
worlds mightiest processionl Let the ad-
vancing standard of the army of years,
which has inscribed on one side of it "l9OO'' |
and on the other side 1901" have also in
scribed on 1t the most charming name Of |
Ill the universe-the name Of Jesus.
Whether this suggestion of worlds |
celebration of the nativity be taken or not,
It has allowed me an opportunity in a I
unusual way Of expressing my
love for the great central character Of all |
time and all eternity. He is the infinite |
The armies of heaven drop on \
their knees before him. After Bourdaloue,
before overwhelmed audiences, has preached |
him, and Milton in immortal blank verse
mas sung him, and Michael Angelo has
glorfed the ceiling of the Vatican with |