The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-10-11

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people seated and $1,000 standing. and all
for purposes OF cruelty and sin, cannot our
glorious Christianity rear in honor OF our
glorious Christ q structure large enough to
hold SO, 900 Of its worshipers3
| II we 20 cropping now among the ruined
amphitheaters of Verona and Pompeli and
Capua and Puzzuoli and Tarraco, and then
sranu transnxed with anlazement at their I'M
mense sweep that held from 30, 900 to 10O, 900
| spectators gathered for carousal and moral
degradation, could not Christianity afford
one architectural achievement that would
hold and enthrall it's so, 600 Christian disct-
ples2 Do you say no human voice could be
heard throughout such butldingI An!
| then you were not present when at the Bos-
ton peace jubilee Parepa easily with her voice
enchanted $4,000 auditors.
And the time is near at hand when in theo-
logical seminaries. where our young men are
being trained for the ministry the voice will
be developed, and instead Of tho mumbling
ministers, who speak with so low tone you
cannot hear unless you loan forward and
hold your hand behind your ear, and then
are able to guess the general drift OF the SUD-
| ject and decide quite we'll whether 1t ls about
| Moses or Paul or some one olse-instead OF
that YOU will have coming from the theologi-
cal seminaries all over the land young min
| isters with voice enough to command the at
tention of an audience OF 80, 900 people. Thet
is the reason that the Lord gives US two
lungs instead of one. 1t Is the Divine way
OF saying physiolosioally, BE heard:
That is the reason that the New Testament
in beginning the account of Christ's sermon
| on the mount describes our Lords plain
ATTENUATION and resound Of utterance by say
ing, "He opened his mouth" ! In that
mighty concert hall and preaching place
which suggest for this nineteen hundredth
anniversary let music crown our Lord. Bring
all the orchestras, all the oratorios, all the
Philharmonic and Handel and Haydn So
cieties.
Then give US Haydn's oratorio OF the
"Creation," for our Lord took part in uni
verse building and "without him." says
John, ''was not anything made that was
made, - and Handel's "Messiah" and
Beethoven's '.Symphonies" and Mendels-
sohn's "Elijah." the prophet that typifed
our Christ and the grandest compositions OF
German and English and American masters,
living or dead. All instruments that can
hum or roll or whisper or harp or flute or
clap or trumpet or orthunder the praises OF the
Lord joined to all voices that can chant or
warble or precentor multitudinous wor-
shippers. What an arousing when $4,000
Join in "Antioch" or Coronation or
'.Ariel,', rising into halleluiah or subsid-
| ing into an almost supernatural amen
Yea, let sculpture stand on pedestals all
around that buiiding-the forms OF apostles
and martyrs, men and women, who spoke or
| wrought or suffered by headsman's AK or fire.
Where Is my favorite of all arts, this art OF
sculpture that it is not buster for Christ or
that its work is not better appreciatedP Let
It come forth at that worlds jubilee of the
nativity. We want a second Phidias to do
for that new temple what the first Phidias
did for the Parthenon. Let the marble OF
/ Carrara come to resurrection to celebrate
our Lords resurrection. Let sculptors set
up in that auditorium Of Chrlst's celebration
bas-relief and intagio descriptive OF the bat
ties won for our holy religion. Where are
the Canovas of the Nineteenth Century?
Where are the American Thorwaldsens and
Chantreys2 Hidden somewhere, warrant
you.
Let sculpture turn that place into ano ther
Acropolis, but more glorious by as much as
our Christ Is stronger than their Hercules,
and has more to do with the sea than their
Neptune, and raises greater harvests than
their Ceres, and raises more music IN the
heart of the world than their Apollo. "The
gods OF the heather are nothing but dumb
idols, but our Lord made the heavens In
marble pure as snow celebrate Him who
came to make US "whiter than snow" Let
the chisel as we'll as pencil and pen be put
down at the feet of Jesus.
YEA let painting do its best. The foreign
|
| Madonnas, their Angeles, their Rubens, their
Raphaels, their "Christ at the Jordan" or
"Christ at the Last Supper" OF "Christ Com.
ing to Judgment" or ''Chrlst on the Throne
OF Universal Dominion, and our own Morans
will put their pencils into the nineteen hum
dredth anniversary, and our Bierstadts from
sketching "The Domes OF the Yosemite Will
come to present the domes OF the world con-
S1ered for Emmanuel.
Added to all this I would have floral
decoration on scale never equaled. The
fields and open gardens could not furnish 1t,
for II will be winter, and that season appro-
pristely chosen, for it was into the frosts and
desolations Of winter that Christ immigrated
when he came to our world. But while the
fields will be bare, the conseryatories and
lighthouses within 200 miles would gladly
keep the sacred coliseum radiant and aro-
matte during all the convocstions.
Added to all let there be banquets, not
like the drunken bout at the Metropolitan
Opera House, New York, celebrating the
centennial OF Washington's inauguration,
where the rivers OF wine drowned the So
briefly of 30 many senators and governors
and generals, but a banquet for the poor. the
feeding OF scores Of thousands ofpeople OF a
world In which the majority OF the inhabi-
tants have never yet had enough to eat. not
banquet at which few favored men and
women OF social or political fortune shall
sit. but such q banquet 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 whole week OF
legal holiday-at least from Christmas day
to New Years day.
Added to this let there be a: that interna-
tional moral and religious exposition q
| mammoth distribution of sacred literature.
Let the leading ministers from England,
world take the pulpits OF all these cities and
tell what they know OF Him whose birth We
celebrate. At those convocatlons let vast
sums Of money be raised for churches, for
asylums, for schools for colleges, all OF
i 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 do propose America as the country
for this convocation? Because most other
lands have n State religion, and while all
forms of religion may be tolerated in many
lands America is the only country on eartn
l where all evangelical denominations stand
on an even footing, and all would have equal
| hearing in such an international exposition.
Why do select this cluster OF seacoast cit
ies2 Answer-By that time-December %.
19O0-these four cities Of New York, Brook
lyn, jersey City and Hoboken, by bridges
and tunnels. will be practically one and with
an aggregate population Of abont 6, 1000, ,0O0
Consequently no other part Of America will
have such an immensity OF population.
| Why do I now make this nomination OF
time and placer Answer-Because such
| stupendous movement cannot be extempor-
izet 1t will take seven years to get ready
g. ,,o6'