Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-03-20


| the land so appalling? BIT I cannot name
more than one-half the battlements, the bas-
| tions the jntrenchments, the redoubts, the
| Notifications to be stcrmed and overcome II
| This country is ever taken for God. The sta
| tistics are 80 awful that If we had nothing
\ hnt thH MULTIPLICATION table and the arith-
metic the attempt to evange!i5e America
would be an absurdity higher than the tower
OF Babel before 1t dropped on the plain OF
| Shinar. Where are the drilled troops 10
march against those Notifications as long as
| the continent? Where are the batteries tnat
can be unlimbered against these wallsP
| Where are the guns Of large enough callber
to storm these gates2 Well, let US look
around and see, the first of all, who is our
| leader and will be our leader until the work
| is done, Garibaldi, with 1000 Italians,
| could do more than another commander
| with 10, 900 Italians. General Sherman, on
| enc side, and Stonewall Jackson, on the
| other, each with 10000 troops, could do
more than some other generals with 10000
| troops The rough boat in which Washing
| ton crossed the icy Delaware with a few
half fozen troops was mtghtier than the ship
| of war that during the American Revolu-
| ton came through the NarroRs, gun at
| each portfolio, and eank in He'll Gate.
Our leader, like most great leaders, was
| born in an obscure place, and it was an
humble home, about five miles from
! Jerusalem. Those who were out OF doors
| that night said that there was stellar COM
| motion, and music that came out OF the
clouds, as though the front door Of heaven
had been set open, and that the camels heard
| His first infantile cry. Then He came to the
| fairest boyhood that mother was ever proud
| Of and from twelve to thirty years OF age
was off in India, If traditions there are accu-
rate, and then returned to His native land,
! and for three years had His pathway sur
rounded by blind eyes that He illumined,
| and epileptic patients to whom He gave
rubicund health, and tongues that He
| loosed from silence into song, and those
whose funerals He stopped that He might
| give back to bereaved mothers their only
| bows, and those whose fevered pulses He had
| restored into rhythmic throb; did whose
| paralytic limbs He had warmed into health
| full circulation-pastor at Capernaum, but
| flaming evangelist everywhere, hushing
| crying tempests and turning rolling seas
| into solid sapphire, and for the rescue of a
| race submitted to courtroom fllei with
| bowling miscreants, and to a martyrdom
at the sight which tho sun tainted and fell
back in the heavens, AMI then treading the
clouds homeward, like snowy mountain
peaks, till heaven took Him back again,
more favorite than He had ever been; but,
coming again, He is on earth now, and the
Nations are gathering to His standard. Fol-
lowing Hin were the Scotch coyenanters,
tde Thsbian legion. the victims of the
London HaymarSet, the Piedmontess
sufferers, the Pilgrim fathers, the Hu-
gueno!s, and uncounted mutitudes of
the past, Joined By about 400 900, 900 Of the
present, aud with the certainty that all Ma
lions SHALL huzza at His chariot wheel He
goes forth, the moon under His feet and the
stars Of heaven for His tiara-the mighty
leader, Re of Drumclog and Boutwell,
Bridge and Daunockburn and the one who
whelmed Spanish Armada. Coming up from
Edom. with dyed garments from Bozrah;
travelling In the greatness of His strength,
mighty to save" and behind whom we fall
into line to-day and march in the campaign
that is to take America for God. Hosannahl
Hosannahl Wave all the palm branchesl At
His feet put down your silver and your gold,
as In heaven you will cast before Him your
coronets.
With such leader, do you not think we
can do it? Say, do you think we can? Why,
many ramparts have already been taken.
Where is American slavery Gonel and the
South, as heartily as the North, prays,
"Peace to its ashes" Where is bestial
polygamy? Gone by the fat of the United
States Government, urged on by Christian
sentiment, and Mormonism, having retreated
in 1880 from Fayette, N. Y, to Kirkland, o.,
and in 1888 rerreated to Missouri, aud In
1916 retreated to Salt Lake City, now
divorced from its superfuity of wives, will
| soon retreat into this Pacific, and no basin
| smaller than an ocean could wash out Its
| polldtioDs. Illteracy going down under the
work of Slater and Peabody funds and Sab
| bath schools of all the churches of all demo-
| limitations! Pugilism, now made unlawful by
| Congressional enactment, the brutal custom
| knocked out in the first round! Corruption
| at the ballot box, by law of registration and
| other safeguards, made almost impossible!
| Churches twice as large as the old onssj the
| enlarged supply to meet the enlarged de-
mand! Nihiism, getting stunning stroke
by the summary execution of its opponents
after they had murdered the policemen in
| Chicago, received its deathbloW from the re-
cent treaty which sends back to Russia the
blatant criminals who had been regurgitated
on our American shore. Tle very things
| that have been quoted as perils to this Nation
are going TO help It's salvation. Great cities,
so often mentioned az great dbstae,es-the
center OF crima and the reservoirs of all
iniquities -are to lead in the work of
gospelzation. Who give most to home
missions, to asylums, to religious edu-
| ton. to all styles Of humanitarian
and Christian institutions? The cities. From
what places did the most relief go at the
time of Johnstown food, and Michigan fires,
and Charleston earthquake, and Ohio
freshets? From the cities. From what place
did Christ send out His twelve apostles to
gospelize the word? From q city. What
place will do more than any other place, by
| its contribution of Christian men and women
and means. in this work of taking America
for God? New York City. The way Paris
goes. goes France. The way Berlin goes.
goes Germany The way Edinburgh goes,
goes Scotland. The way London goes, goes
England. The way New York and couple
other cities 60, goes America, May the
Eternal God wake us up to the stupendous
| issue.
Another thing quoted pessimistically is the
vast and overlapping fortune in this country,
and they say it means concentrating wealth
and luxuriousness and display and moral
| ruin. 1t is my observation that it is people
who have but limited resources who make
| the most sp,urges, and 1 ask you, Who are
endowing colleges and theological semi-
naries? Did you ever hear of Peter Cooper
and james Lenox, and sainted William Z.
Dodge, and the. Lawrences, Amos and Ab-
bott. while refrain from mentioning living
henefactors who, quite as generous and
Christian, are in this assembly at this mo-
ment planning what they can DO IN tnese
DAYS, and in their last will and testament in
this campaign that proposes taking America
for God? The WIDOWS mite, honored oil
the Lord. is 20 have its part in this con-
tinental capture, but We must have more
than thai, and more right away. Many OF
the men that expect TO get the blessing for
bestowing the widows mite will not get the
blessing In the first place, they are not
widows, and in the next place they have no