Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-02-14

why may not |, one Of the Lords sery-
antsl By proyidential arrangement, l
am every week in sermonic communica-
tion with every city, town and neigh
borhood Of this country, and | now give
the watchword to north and south and
east and west. Hear and see it, all peo-
ple-this call to a forward movement,
this call to repentance and faith, this
call to q continental awakening
Mighty Men OF the Past.
This generation will soon be ont Of
sight. Where are the mighty men Of the
past who trod your Pennsylvania avenue
and spake in yonder national legislature
and decided the stupendous questions Of
the supreme judicatory? Ask the sleep
ers in the Congressional cemetery. Ask
the mausoleums all over the land. Their
tongues are speechless, their eyes closed,
their arms folded, their opportunities
gone, their destiny fixed. How soon
time prorogues parliaments and adjourns
senates and disbands cabinets and emp
ties pulpits and dismisscs generations !
What we would do we must do quickly
or not do at all. call upon people who
cannot come forth from their sickbeds
to implore the heavens in our behalf
from their midnight pillows, and call
upon the aged who cannot, even by the
help Of their staff, enter the churches
to spend their last days on earth in sup
plicating the salvation Of this nation,
and l call upon all men and women
who have been in furnaces Of trouble, as
was Shadrach, and among lions, as was
Daniel and in dungeons Of trouble, as
was jeremiah, to join in the prayer, and
let the church of God everywhere lay
hold Of the Almighty arm that moves
nations. Then senators Of the United
States will announce to the state legis-
latures that sent them here, and men,
bers Of the house Of representatives will
report to the congressional districts that
elected them, and the many thousands
Of men and women now and here en-
gagged in the many departments OF na-
tional service will write home, telling
all sections Of the country that the Lord
is here and that he is on the march for
the redemption Of America. Halleluiah,
the Lord is coming l hear the rumbling
Of his chariot wheels. feel on my
cheeks the breath Of the white horses
that draw the Victor see the fash Of
his lanterns through the long night Of
the worlds sin and sorrow
We want in this country, only on
larger scale, that which other centuries
have seen Of Gods workings, as in the
reformation Of the sixteenth century,
when Martin Luther and Philip Me
lanchthon led on I; as in the awakening OF
the seventeenth century, when Bunyan
and Flayel and Baxter led on as in the
awakening Of the eighteenth century,
when Tenant and Edwards and the
Wesleys led on; as IN the awakening OF
1857. led on by Matthew Simpson, the
seraphic Methodist, and Bishop Mac
Ilvaine, the apostolic Episcopalian, and
Albert Barnes, the consecrated Presby-
terian, and others just as good in all
denominations. Oh, will not some OF
those glorious souls Of the past come
down and help Us? Come down off your
thrones, Nettleton and Finney and Daniel
Baker and Edward Payson and Truman
Osborne and Earle and Knapp and In
skip and Archibald Alexander-that Al
exander the Great Of the Christian
churches. Come down. How can You
rest up there when the world is dying
for lack Of the gospel? Come down and
agonize with US in prayer. Come down
and help US preach in our pulpits. Come
down and inspire our courage and falth.
Heaven can get along without you bet
ter than we can. But more than all, and
overwhelmed with reyerent emotion, we
ask it, come, thou Of the deeply dyed
garments Of Bozrah, travelling in the
greatness Of thy strength, mighty to
save Lord God Of Joshua, Jet the sun
of this century stand still above Gideon
and the moon above the valley Oh
Aialon until we can whip out the five
kings of hell, tumbling them down the
precipices as the other five kings went
over the rocks to Bethhoron. Ha Ha!
1t will so surely be done that l cannot
restrain the laugh Of triumph.
4 Call to the Pulpits.
From where the seaweed is tossed on
the beach by the stormy Atlantic to
the sands laved by the quiet Pacific tnis
country will be Emanuel's land, the
work beginning at Washington, if we
have the faith and holy push and the
conservation requisite. First Of all, we
ministers must get right. That was
startling utterance Of Mr.. Swinnock
when he said. 1T is doleful thing to
fall into hell from under the pulpit but,
oh. how dreadful a thing to drop thither
ont of the pulpit" That was an all sug-
gestive thing that Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, Lest that by any means,
when have preached TO others, l myself
should be a castaway. That was an IN
spiripg motto with which Whiteheld
sealed all his letters, "We seek the
stars. -" Lord God, wake up all our pull
nits. and then it will be as when Nenn
preached, and it was said that men leli
before the word like Stacked lime. Let
MS all, laymen and clergymen' to the
work What Washington wants most OF
, all is an old fashioned revival Of reli
oion. hut on a yaster scale, SO that tn
world will never be compelled to say a
Of old. 1--WE never saw it on this fash
ION" But remember there is human
side as we'll as a divine side to reviv
al Those Of us brought up in the conn
try know what is called "a raising =
the ~eighbors gathered together to III
the neavy frame for a new house aite
the timbers are ready to be put in'
their places. 1t is dangerous work. an
there are many accidents. The neign
! bors had gathered for such raising
, and the beams had all been htted
,, their places except one, and that yer
heavy. That one, on the long pixies
. the men. had almost reached its plaC
when something went wrong, and u
men could hoist it no higher. But II
, did not 90 in its place it would fall oac
npon the men who were lifting It.
had already begun to settle back. II
boss carpenter shouted: Lift, men,