Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-10-07

Back from the mountains and the seaside,
and the sprines, and the farmhouse, you3
checks brOnzed and your spirits lighted, I
hail you home again with the words Of
thee? Is 1t we'll with thy husband7 Is 1t
we'll with the child?" On some faces see
the mark OF recent grief, but all along the
track cf tears I see the story of resurrection
and reunion when all tears are done: the
deep blowing Of the keel. followed by the
Hash Of the phosphorescence. Now that I
have asked you In regard to your welfare,
you naturally ask how I am. Very we'll,
thank you. Whether II was the .,racing air
of the mountains, OF bath In the surf OF
Long Island beach, or whether it is the Joy
of standing In this great group Of warm
probation Of the goodness Of God, can not
tell. simply know l am happy.
1t was said that John Moffatt, the great
Methodist preacher. occasionally got fast in
his sermon. and to extricate himself would
cry "Haileluiah!" 1 am In NO such predica-
ment te day. but am full Of the same rhap-
soiiie ejaculation. Starting out this morn
ing on u new ecclesiastical year, 1 want to
give you the keynote OF my next twelve-
months ministry. l want to set 1t to the
tunes OF ''Antioch," "Ariel" and Corona
tion." I want to put n new trumpet stop
into my sermons. We do wrong II we allow
our personal sorrows to interfere with the
elor.o Gus fact that the Kingdom is coming
We are wicked II we allow apprehension Of
National disaster to put down our faith In
God and the mission Of our American peo-
pie. The God who hath been on the side of
this Nation since the 4th of July, 1776. will
see to 1t that this Nation shall not commit
suicide on November 8, 1886. By the time
the unparalleled harvests OF this summer get
down to the sea-bOard, We shall be standing
in a sunburst OF National prosperity that will
paralyze the pessimists, who by their evil
prophesies are disappearing the God who
hath blest this Nation as He hath blest NO
other.
In all our Chris tian work you and I want
more of the element Of gladness. No man
had right to say that Christ never laughed.
Do you suppose that He was glum at the
W ddin9 in Cana of Galilee2 Do you sup
pose that Christ was unresponsive when the
children c,ambered over His knee and
shoulder at His own invitation? Do you
suppose that the Evangelist meant nothing
when he said OF Christ: 'He rejoiced In
spirit2" Do you believe that the Divine
Christ who pours all the waters over the
rocks at Vernal Falls, Yosemite, does not
believe in the sparkle and gallop and tumul-
tuous Joy and rushing raptures Of human
life? l believe not only that the morning
laughs, and that the mountains laugh, and
that the seas laugh. AMI that the cascades
laugh, but that Christ laughed. Moreover,
the outlook of the world ought to stir US to
gladness
Astronomers disturbed many. people by tell
ing them that there WAS danger of stellar
collision. We were told by these astrono-
mers that there are worlds coming very near
together, and that We shall have plaques and
wars and tumul,s and perhaps the worlds
destruction. Do not be scared. II you have
ever stood at a railroad centre, where ten or
twenty or thirty rail tracks cross each other,
and seen that by the movement Of the switch
one or two inches. the train shoots this way
and that, without collidinG, then you may
understand how fifly worlds may come with
In an inch Of disaster. and that inch be
as good as million miles. II
a human sw.tch-tender can shoot the trains
this way and that without harm, cannot the
hand that for thousands Of years has upheld
the universe, keep our little world out Of
harms wayI Christian geologists tell US
that this world WAS millions Of years in
building. Well, now, l do not think God
would take millions of years to build a house
which was to last only six thousand years.
There Is nothing in the world or outside the
world, terrestrial or astronomical, to ex-
cite dismay. 1 wish that some stout
Gospel eroeze might scatter all the malaria
Of human foreboding.
Tho sun rose this morning at about
O'Clock. and think that is just about the
hour ia the worlds history. The day Is at
hand" The first raw OF the dawn I see In
the gradual substitution of diplomatic skill
for human bufchery. Within the last twenty
five years there have been international diff
ferences which would have brought shock
o. arms in any other day, bu: which were
peacefully adjusted. the pen taking the place
OF the sword. The Venezuelan controversy
In any other age Of the world would have
brought shock Of arms, but now Is beng so
quietly adjusted that no one knows just how
It is being settled.
The Alabama question In any other age OF
the world would have caused war between
the United States and England. How was
1t settled? By men-of-war of the Narrows,
or OF the Mersey2 No. A few wise men got
into quiet room at Geneva, talked the
matter over. and teleg. aphed to Washington
and London, "All settled" Peace! Peace!
England pays to the United States the
amount awarded-pays really more than she
ought to have paid. But still, all that Ala.
bama broil is sett.ed-sett,ed for forever.
Arbitration instead Of battle.
So the quarrel about the Canadian fish.
cries in any other age would have caused
30 the Samoan controversy in any other age
would have brought Germany and the
United States into bloody collision. But
oil is settled. Arbitration instead OF battle.
France will never again. think. through
the peccadillo of an Ambassador. bring on a
battle with other Nations. She sees that
God, In punishment at Sedan. bioited out
the French Empire. and the only aspirant
for that throne who had any right OF ex-
peotatt0n dies In war that has not even the
dignity Of being respectable. What is the
leaf that England would like to tear out
Of her history? The Zulu war. Down with
the sword and up with the treaty.
We In this country might better have set
tied our sectional difficulties by arbitration
than by the trial of the sword. Phiian-
thropy said to the North: "Pay down . GER
tain amount OF money for the purchase Of
the slaves, and let all those born after a GER
tain time be born free" Philanthropy said
to the South: "You sell your slaves, and get
hid of this great National contest and trou-
ble." The North replied 81 won't pay Q
cent" The South replied II won't seil."
War! War! A million dead men, and Ma
tional debt which might have ground this
Nation to PowieI. Why did we not let
ander H. Stephens, of Georgia, go out and
spend n few days under the trees cn the
banks of the Potomac and talk the matter
over and settle it, as settle 1t they could.
rather than the North pay in cost Of war
four billion seven hundred million dollars,
and the South pay four billion seven hum
dred and fifty milion dollars, the destroying
angel leaving the flrst-born dead in SO many
houses ali the way from the Penobscot to the
Alabama. Ye aged men whose sons fell in
The strife, do you not think that would have
oeen better! oh. yes! We have come te be-
u0So, j IA tuiS CouutEyp tudt 6kUilEh-
ton is better than battle.
Imay be mistaken, but hope that the last
war between Christian Nations Is ended.
Barbarians may mix their war paint, and
Chinese and Japanese go into wholesale
massacres, and Afghan and Zulu hurl pois-
oned arrows, but l think Christian Nations
have gradually learned that war is disaster
to victor as we'll as vanquished, and that al
most anything bought by blood is bought at
too dear a price. wish to God this Nation
might be q model Of willingness for arbitra-
don. No Feed Of killing another Indian No
need of sacrificing any more brave General
Clusters. Stop exasperating the red men. and
there Will be no more arrows shot out from
the ambushments. AGeneral Of the United
States Army In high reputs throughout this
land. and who, perhaps. had been in more
Indian ware than any other ofi1csr, and who
had been wounded aoain aud again in behalf
of our Government Ia battle against the In
dians, told me that all the wars that had
ever occurred between Indians and white
man had haan nrovnked hv white man. and