The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-12-10
THLNHGE's SERMON,
.eThus saith the Lord, set thine house In
order; for thou shalt die and not live. I'll
kings. Xxx. /. II 3$ Z

azlcG of this text, for in the healthy
glow of your conntena nces Lind cause.
only for cheerful prophecy; but shall
apply the text as spoken in the ear f
Hezekiah, down with a bad ca rbunele,
i'm the nineteenth century, now closing.
Tt win take only four more long
breaths, each year a breath, and the
cenfury will expire. My theme is THE.
Dying Century discuss it at an
hour when our national legislature is
about to assemble, some of the mem.
hers now here present, and other soon
TO arrive from the North, South, Nast
and West All the public conyeyances
coming this way will bring important
additions Of public men, SO that when,
On December Z, at high noon. the CAV
els of senate and house Of representa-
tives shall lift and fall, the destinies of
this ration, and. through it, the destl-
s.ies OF all nations struggling TO be free,
sEIIl be put on solemn and tremendous
trial Amid such intensifying circum-
stances stand by the venerable cent
NrY and address it in the words Of my
text: Thus saith the Lord, set thine
house. in order, for thou shalt die, and
mot live
Eternity is too big a subject for us
to understand. Some one has said it is
a great clock, that says Tick in one
century and s"Tanck' in another. But
NC can better understand Old Time,
who has many children, and they are
the centuries, and many grandchildren,
and they are the years.
With the dying nineteenth century
we shall this morning Lave IL plain
talk, FelIing him some. of the good
things Ire has done, and then telling
AIm some of the things he ought to adj
just before he quits this sphere and
passes on to join the eternities. We
generally wait until people are dead
before we say much in praise of them.
Funeral eulogium is generally very pa.
ahetie and eloquent with years that
ought TO have been said years before.
We put on cold tombstones what we
ongsit to have put in the warm ears Of
the living. We curse Charles Sumner.
'sshile he is living, and cudgel him into
spinal meningitis, and wait until, in
flIs. rooms where have been living the
last year, he puts his hand on his heart
and cries, ooh" and is gone. and then
NE make long procession sin his honor.
1)r. Sunderland, chaplain of the Ameri-
can senate, accompanying; stopping
hong enough to allow the dead senator
to lie in state in Independence Hall,
Philadelphia, and halting at Boston
State House, where, not long before,
,damnatOry resolutions had been passed
I'm regard to him, and then move on,
amid the tolling bells and boom of
minarte guns, until we bury him at.
Mount Auburn and cover him with
flowers five feet deep. What a pity he
could not have been awake at his own
70 hn OF Of 70
nation! What a pity that one green
leaf could not have been taken from
each one of the mortuary garlands and
put upon his table while he was yet
alive ut the Arlington! What a pity
that out Of the great choirs who chant
cd at his Obsequies one little girl clad
in white, might not have sung to his
living ear complimentary solo! The
post nortem expression contradicts the
ante-mOrtem. The nation could not
have spoken the truth both times about
Charles Sumner. Was it before OF
after his decease it lied?
No sucli injustice shall be inflicted
uiion this venerable nineteenth cent
tsry- Before he goes, we recite in his
hearing some Of the good things he has
accomplished. What an addition to the
worlds intelligence he has made?
Look ut the old schoolhouse, with the
Snow sitting through the roof. and the
filthy tin cup handing over the water.
pail in the corner, and the little vic
Tins on the long benches without
backs, and the illiterate schoolmaster
with his hickory CAD, and then look at
OUR modern palaces of free schools. I'M
der men and women cultured and re-
fined to the highest excellence, so that,
whereas, in our childhood we had to
be whipped to go to school. children
now cry when they cannot go. Thank
you- venerable century, while at the
same time we thank God.
What an addition to the worlds in
Nenflons! Within our century the cot
ton gin The agricultural machines
The telegraph. The photograph. capa-
bile of preserving a human voice from
generation to generation. The type
writer, that rescues the world from
Verse and worse penmanship. And
StcssOSraphy, capturing from the lips
OF the swiftest speaker more than 200
words per minute. Never was so
amazed at the facilities Of our time as
When, few days ago.. [ telegraphed
FROM Washington to New York. a long
and elaborate manuscript, and, a few
minutes after, to show it's accuracy, it
WIS read to me through the long-dis-
lance telephone, and it was exact down
to the last senlicclon and comma.
What hath God wrought! Oh, am so
glad was not born sooner For the
talI0w candle, the electric light. For
the writings of the surgeons table,
tsod-giyen anaesthetics, and the whole
physical organism explored by sharp
est instruments. and giving not so
much pain as the taking of a splinter
from under child's finger nail. For
the numbering stage coach. the limited
express train. And there is the spect-
roscope of Fraunhofer, by which our
modern scientist feels the pulse Of
other worlds throbbing with light.
-yenner's arrest by incubation of one
of the worlds greatest plaques. DR..
Keeley's emancipation from inebriety.
InfimafiOn that the virus OF ma ddened
canine, and cancer and consumption
are yet to be baked BY magnificent
medical treatment. The eyesight of
the doctor sharpencd until he can look
Through thick flesh and find the hiding
place of the bullet. What advancement
IN geology, or the catechisn of the
L p. - =