The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-09-27

| for asylufns for schools, for colleges, 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 America.
Why do propose America as the coun-
try for the convocation? Because most
| other lands have state religion, and
while all forms Of religion may be toler-
ated in many lands, America is the only
country on earth where evangelical de-
nominations stand on an even footing,
and all would have equal hearing in
such an international exposition. Why
do | select this cluster OF seacoast cities?
Answer-By that time, Dec. 25, 1900, these
four cities Of New York. Brooklyn, Jer-
sey City and Hoboken, by bridges and
tunnels. will be practically one, and with
| an aggregate population of about six
! million. Consequently no other part of
| America will have such immensely Of
| population.
Why do 1 now make this nomination
| Of time and place? Answer-Because
| such a stupendous movement cannot be
| eXtemporized. 1t will take seven years
/ to get ready for such an overtowering
! celebration. and the work ought to be-
| gin speedily in churches. in colleges, in
/
| mentS. in all styles of national assem-
| blages. and we have no time to lose 1t
| would take three years to make a pro-
gram worthy Of such coming together.
| Why do l take it upon myself to make
| such nomination of time and placer
| AnsWer-Because 1t so happens that in
| the mysterious providence Of God, born
| in farmhouse and of no royal or
| princely descent, the doors of commu-
| nication are open to me every week by
the secular and religious printing press
| es and have been open to me every
| week for many years, with all The cities
and towns and neighborhoods of Chris
| tendon, and indeed in lands outside of
| Christendom, where printing presses
| have been established, and l feel that if
there is anything worthy in this propo-
| sltlon 1t Will be needed and adopted.
On the other hand, if it be too san
| guine or too hopeful or too impractical
I am sure it will do no harm that 1
| have expressed my wish for such an in
! ternational jubilee, celebrative of the
| birth Of our Emmanuel My friends,
such birthday celebration at the close
/ Of one century and reaching into a new
| century would be something in which
| heaven and earth could join. 1t would
| not only be international, but interplan-
| etary, 1nterStellar, MISREPRESENTATION. If
you remember what occurred on the
| first Christmas night. you know that
/ 1t was not a joy confined to our world.
The choir above Bethlehem was inn
| ported from another world, and when
| the star left its usual sphere to deSig-
nate the birthplace all astronomy felt
| the thrill If there be anything true
| about our religion, it is that other worlds
| are sympathetic with this world and in
| communication with it. The glorified of
| heaven would join in such a celebration
| 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 applaud the scene, whether we
heard the clap of their wings and the
| shout of their voices or did not hear
| them.
Prophets 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 We're 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 speedily in
! all nations. At the first roll of the first
| overture of the first day of that meet
| ing all heaven would cry: Hear!
Hear!'
Might Hasten the Lords Coming.
| Aye! aye! I bethink myself such vast
| procedure as that might hasten our
Lords coming, and that the expectation
| Of many millions Of Christians, who be
| lieve in the second advent, might realize
then at that conjunction of the nine
teenth and twentieth centuries. I do
not say it would be, yet who knows but
that our blessed and adored Master,
| pleased with such a plan of worldwide
| observance, might say concerning this
wandering and rebellious planet, THAT
world at last shows disposition to APP
/ preciate what L have done for it, and
| with one wave of my SCARED hand L
will bless and reclaim and save it."
That such celebration of our Lords
birth, kept up for days and months
| would please all the good of the earth
and nightly speed on the gospel chariot
and please all the heavens. sanity.
cherubic, seraphic, archangelic and
divine, is beyond question. Oh, get
ready for the worlds greatest festivity!
| Tune your voices for the worlds great
est anthem! Lift the arches for the
worlds mightiest processioni Let the
| advancing standard of the army of
| years, which has inscribed on one side
| OF ii 1900" and on the other side 1901"
/ have also inscribed on Ii the most
charming name of all the universe-the
name Of Jesus.
| Whether this suggestion OF a worlds
4 ttlGDIdllOu VI the 1ldNiNlly DC taken OF
not, it has allowed me an opportunity in
| a somewhat unusual way of expressing
| my love for the great central character
/ of all time and all eternity. He is the
| infinite nonesuch. The armies of heaven
drop on their knees before him. After
| Bourdaloue, before overwhelmed audi
| ences, has preached him, and Milton in
| immortal blank verse has sung him and
| Michael Angelo has glorifed the ceiling
| of the Vatican with his second coming,
\ and martyrs while girdled and canopied
/ with the flames Of the stake have with
/ burning lips kissed his memory, and in
| the hundred and forty and four thou
| sand Of heaven. with feet on seas Of
| glass intershot with sunrise, have with
| uplifted and down swung baton and
| sounding comets, and waving banners and
| heaven capturing doXOlogies, celebrated
| him, the story of his loneliness and his
| might, and his beauty and his grandeur,
| and his grace and his intercession and
| his sacrifice, and of his birth and his
| death, will remain untold. Be his name
| on our lips while we live, and when we
| die, after we have spoken farewell to
| father and mother and wife and child,
let us speak that name which is the
| lullaby of earth and the transport Of
| heaven.
Before the crossing of time on the
midnight between Dec. 81, 1900. and the
| LIST of January, 1901, many of us will
| be gone. Some Of you will hear the
clock strike IL of one century and an
| hour after It hear 1t strike / Of another
| century, but many of you will not that