The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-12-10
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Is1AS5g 81 SStCll OluCE# - IllTOa Us nm
Another thing that needs to be SET III
order before the veteran century quits
us is a more thorough and eall -embrac-
| ing plan for the worlds gardenization.
We have been trying to save the world
from the top, and it cannot be done
that way. It has got to be saved from
the bottom. The church ought to- Be
only a West Point to drill soldiers for
outside battle. w hat il a Hillary sac-
Eademy should keep its students from
age to age in the mess room and the
barracks No. no they are wanted
South Mountain, and Missionary
Ridge, and the church is no place for..
a Christian to stay very long. He Isl
wanted at the front. He8is needed in
the desperate charge Of. taking the par
pets. The last great battle for God
is to be fought on the campus of a col
I@lege6 or the lawn Of q church. 81 lis to-
be fought at Missionary Ridge. Before
this century quits us let us establish
the habit of giving the forenoon of
the Sabbath to the churches and the
afternoon and the evening of the Sab
bath to gospel work in the halls, and
theaters, and streets, and fields, and
Sums, and wilderness Of sin and sor-
TOW. Why do Christians who have
stuffed themselves with the strong
meat of the world, !" and all gospel vi
ands on Sabbath forenoons want to
come to come up to a second service
and stuff themselves again? These old
gOrmandizers at the gospel feast need
to get into outdoor work with the out
door gospel gospel that was preached
on the banks of the Jordan and onsthe
fishing smacks Of Lake Gallilee, and
in the bleak air Of Assyrian mount
aims. am told that throughout all
our American cities the second Sab
bath service in the majority of church
es is sparsely, yea, disgraceful1y at
tended, is the distress Of the CON
secrated and eloquent pastors who
bring their learning and piety before
pews CHASTITY for their inoect1pancy.
What is the proYidential meaning?
The greatest Of all evangelists since
Bible times recently suggested that the
evening services in all the churches
be turned into the most popular style
of evangelistic meetings for outsiders.
Surely that is an experiment. worth
making. If that does not succeed, then
it seems to me all the churches which
cannot secure sufficient evening audi
ences ought to shut UP their buildings
at night and go where the people are,
and invite them to come to the gospel
banquet S I
What has this dying nineteenth cen
tury to tell us before he goes? We all
love to hear septuagenarians, Octoge-
! narians, nOnagenarians and centena-
rians talk. We gather around the arm
chair and listen till it is far. on into the
night, and never weary Of hearing their
experiences. But Lord Lyndhurst,t at
8S years of age, pouring into the ears
Of the House of Lords, in a four hours
address, the experiences of lifetime,
and Appollonius, at 100 years of age,
recounting his travels to thrilled lis
teners, and Charles Macklin, at 1O7.
years of age, absorbing the attention
Of his hearers, and Ralph Farnham, Of.
our country, at 1O7 years, telling the.
Prince Of Wales the story of Bunker
Hill, can create no such interest as this
dying centenarian if he will only speak.
Tell us, O nineteenth century, before
you go, in a score of sentences, some
of the things you have heard and SEEN
The veteran turns upon us and says:
II saw Thomas Jefferson riding in UNI
attended from Monticello, only a few
steps from where you stand dismount
from his horse and hitch the bride to
a post, and on yonder hill take oath
of the presidential Office. / saw Won
der capitol ablaze with incendiarism.
/ saw the puff Of the first steam engine
in America. / heard the thunders Of
/ Waterloo, Of Sebastopol, and Sedan,
and Gettysburg. I was present at all
the coronations of the kings and queens
and emperors and expresses now III
the worlds palaces. have seen two
pillows roll across this continent and
from ocean to ocean; a billOw Of re-
viyal JOY in 1857 and a billow Of blood
in 1864. II have seer four generations
Of the human race march across this
world and disappear. / saw their era
have heard the wedding bells and the
death knells Of a hundred years. 1
have clapped my hands for millions Of
joys and wrung them in millions of ag-
onies. saw Macready and Edwin
Forrest act, and Edward Paysonp
pray heard the first chime of Long
fellows rythms, and before anyone
else saw them read the first line of
Bancroft's History, and the first verse
| Of Bryant's "Nhanatopsis," and the
first word of Victor Hugo's almost SUI
| pernatural romance. I heard the mll-
sic Of all the grand marches and the
lament Of all the requiems that for
nigh ten decades made the cathedral
! windows shake. I have seen more
moral and spiritual Victories than all
lEof my predecessors put together. For
all you who hear or read this yalelic-
tory / have kindled all the domestic
fresides by which you ever sat. and
reused all the halloos and roundelays
! and merriments you have ever heard,
and unrolled all the pictured sunsets
| and starry banners of the midnight
| heavens that you have ever gazed at
But ere I go, take this admonitjon
and benediction Of a dying century:
! The longest life, like mine, must, close.
| Opportunities gone never come back,
as I could prove from nigh a hundred
years Of observation. The eternity
that will soon take me will soon take
| you. The wicked live out not. half
4 their days, as I have seen in ten thou
sand instances. The only influence for
making the world happy is an infiu-
ence that /, the nineteenth century,
i inherited from the first century, Of the