The Penn's Grove record., 1896-10-02

AHN u DuS ~ i'"he'
Back from ths mountains and the seaside,
aud tine springs, and the farmhouse, your
cheeks bronzed and your spirits lighted, !
hail you home again with the words OF
Gehazi to the Shunammite: as 1t we'll with
thetf Is it well with thy husband3 Is 1t
well with the chilG?' On some faces l see
the mark OF recent grief, but all along the
track al tears l see the story of resurrection
and reunion when all tears are done: the
deep plowing Of the keel, followed by the
fash of the phosphorescence. Now that l
have eskel you in regard to your welfare,
you naturally ask how l am. Very well,
thank you. Whether it was the tracing air
of the mountains, or a bath in the surf OF
Long Island beach, or whether it is the Joy
OF standing In this great group OF warm
hearted friends, or whether 1t Is a new APP
probation of the goodness of God, / can not
tell. j 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 wouid
cry "Halleluiah!" 1 am in nc such prediea-
ment to-day, but l Am full of the same rhap-
sodic ejaculation. Starting out this morn
ing on u new ecclesiastical year, I 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
ton 1 want to put a new trumpet stop
into my sermons. We do wrong II we allow
our personal sorrows to interfere with the
glorious 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, l776, will
SEQ to 1t that this Nation shall not commit
suicide on November 8, 1896. By the time
the unparalleled harvests OF this summer get
down to the sea-board, we shall be standing
d. 4. n.,1 l,@. - So EawtI
p~aralyze 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 | want
more of the element Of gladness, No mar
had a right to say that Christ never laughed.
Do you suppose that He was glum at the
W dding in Cana of Galilee? Do you sup
pose that Christ was unresponsive when the
children clambered 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
spirit?" Do you believe that the Divine
Christ who pours all the waters over the
rocks at Yernal Falls, Yosemite, does not
believe in the sparkle and gallop and tumuf-
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. and that the cascades
hthShg bhA una tuhhhOt AAOA0ONohn
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 tumults 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,
aud seen that by the movement of the switch
one or two inches, the train shoots this way
aud that, without colliding, then you may
understand how hfly worlds may come with
in an inch Of disaster, and that inch be
as good rs a million miles. III
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 way? Christian biologists tell us
that this world was millions Of years In
building. Well, now, I do not think God
would take millions Of years to build ahouse
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. / wish that some stout
Gospel broeze might scatter all the malaria
Of human f~oreboding.
The sun rose this morning at about 6
O'Clock, and I think that 10 just about the
hour In the worlds history. '.The day Is at
hand" The first ray OF the dawn I see in
the gradual substitution OF diplomatic skill
for human butchery. Within the last twenty
five years there have been international Diff
ferences which would have brought a shock
o. arms In any other day, Blu. 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 being SO
quietly adjusted that no one knows just how
1t 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 settled2 By men-of-war off the Narrows,
or off the Mersey2 No.. A few wise men got
into a quiet room at Geneva, talked the
matter over, and telegi aphed to Washington
and London, IAN settled" Peaee! PeaceI
England pays to the United States the
amount aw~arded-pays really more than she
ought to have paid. But still, all that Ala,
bama broil is s~ettied-settled for forever.
Arbitration instead of battle.
So the quarrel about the Canadian fish.
cries in any other age would have caused
war between the United States and England.
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, l think, through
the peccadillo Of an Ambassador, bring on a
battle with other Nations. She sees that
God, In punishment at Sedan, blotted out
the French Empire, and the only aspirant
for that throne who had any right of ex-
pectation dies In a war that has not even the
dignity Of being respectable. What is the
leaf that England would like to tear out
Of her history2 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. Philan-
| khronp, oafd 10 Tho North. tfpav dawn a nar.
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
rid of this great National contest and trou-
ble." The North replied: ~ won't pay a
sent" The South replied 81 won't sell"
War; War! A million dead men, and a Ma
tional debt which might have ground this
Nation to powder. Why did we not let
william H, Seward, of New York, and Alex
ander H. Stephens, Of Georgia, go out Inc
spend a few days under the trees on the
banks of the Potomac and talk the matter
over and settle it, as settle it they could,
rather than the North pay In cost Of wal
four billion seven hundred million dollars,
and the South pay four billion seven hun.
dred and fifty million dollars, the destroying
angel leaving the frst-bornd dead in so many
houses all the way from the enobscot to the
Alabama. Ye aged men whose sons fell in
the strife, do you not think that would have
been better2 oh, yesl We nave come to be-
lieve, l think, in this country, that arbitra-
ton is better than battle,
Imay be mistaken, but l hope that the last
war between Christian Nations Is ended.
Barbarians may mix their war paint, and
Chinese and Japanese go into Wholesale
MEASURES, and Afghan aud Zulu hufl pois-
oned arrows, but / think Christian Nations
have gradually learned that war is disaster
to victor rs well as yanquished, and that al.
most anything bought by blood Is bought at
too dear a price. I wish to God this Nation
might be a model of willingness for arbitra-
ton. No reed of killing another Indian. No
ufed Of sacrificing any more brave General
Clusters. Stop exasperating the red men. and
there will be no more arrows shot out from
the adjustments. AGeneral Of the United
States ArmyIn high repute throughout this
land, and who, perhaps. had been in more
Indian wars than any other oficer, and whv
had been wounded again and again In behalf
OF our Government Ia battle against the In
dians, told me hat all the wars that had
ever occurred between Indians and white
men had been provoked by white men, and
that fhara WaR no QrrantfOn to the rui0L