The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-12-10

8llIIeu TO lnJelllgen hanks
to this century for the Improved condi--
ton of most nations. The reason that
Napoleon made such a successful
sweep across Europe at the beginning
OF the century, was that most of the
thrones of Europe were occupied by
imbeciles or profigates. But most of
the thrones Of Europe are to-day occu-
pied by kings and queens competent.
public, and about thirty free constitu-
tons, II am told, in Europe Twenty
million serfs of Russia manumitted
On this Western continent am to call
the roll of many republics Mexico
Guatemala, San Salvador, Costa Rica,
Paraguay, Uruguay, Honduras, New
Granada, Venezuela, Peru, Scuador.
Bolivia, Chill, Argentine Republic, Bra
I'll. The once struggling village Of
Washington, to which the United
States government moved its entire
baggage and equipment packed up in
seven boxes which got lost in the
woods near this place, now the archi-
tectural glory of the continent and adj.
miration Of the world.
The money power, so much de-
nounced and often justly criticised, has
covered the continent with universi-
ties, and free libraries and systems Of
mercy. The newspaper press which,
at the beginning of the century, was
an ink-roller, by hand, moved over one
sheet of paper at time, has become
the miraculous manufa cturer of four
or five or six hundred thousand sheets
for one daily newspaper issue. Within
your memory. O, dying century, has
been the genesis of nearly all the great
institutions evangelistic. At London
Tavern, March z, 1902, the British and
& Foreign Bible society was born. In
1916 the American Bible society was
born. Iii 1924 the American Sunday
School union was born. In 1910 the
American Board Of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, which has put it's
saving hand on every nation of the
round earth, was born, at O. haystack
in Massachusetts. The National Tenn
peraLoe society, the WoInen's Temper
ance society, and all the other temper
ance movements born in the century.
Africa, hidden in other lnenturies by
exploration in thi:: century has been
put at the feet of civiliza ton, to BE- oc-
cupied by commerce and Christianity
The Chinese wall, once an impossible
barrier, now is a useless pile of stone
and brick. Our American ma ton at the
opening Of this century only a slice oe
land. along the Atlantic coast, now the
whole continent in possession Of our
schools and churches and missionary
stations Sermons and religious intel
ligence which, in other times, if.noticed
at all by the newspaper press, were
allowed only a paragraph of three or
four lines, now find the columns of the
secular press in all the cities thrown
wide open, and every week for twenty
six years, without the omission OF a
single week, have been permitted to
preach one entire gospel sermon
through the newspaper pre- IS. thank
God for this great opportunity, glorious
old century! You shall not be entombed
until we have, face to face, extolled
you. You We're rocked in rough era
die, and the inheritance you received
was for the most part poverty, and
struggle. and hardship, and poorly-cov-
cred graves of heroes and heroines of
whom the world had not been worthy,
and atheism, and military despotism,
and the. wreck of the. French RevolJ-
ton. You Inherited the influence that
resulted in Aaron Burr's treason. and
another war with England and battle
of Lake Erie. and Indian saya gerry. and
Lundy's Lane, and Dartmoor massa-
ere, and dissensions, bitter and wild
beyond measllrem ent and African slay-
cry, which was yet to cost a national
hemorrhage of four awful years and a
million precious lives Yes, dear old
century, you had an awful start, and
you have done more than well, cOnsid-
ering your parentage and your early
environment. 1t is q wonder you did
not turn out to be the vagabond centu-
~ OF all time. You had 4 bad mother
and bad grandmother. Some of the
preceding centuries were not fit to live
in-their morals were so bad. their
fashions were so outrageous their ig-
nOrance was so dense, their inhumani-
ty SC terrific.
0. dying nineteenth century! Before
you go we take this opportunity of tell
ing you that you are the best and
the mightiest Of all the centuries of
the Christian era, except the first
which gave us the Christ, and YOU rival
that century in the fact that you, more
than all the other centuries put to-
sether, are giving the Christ to all the
world. One hundred and twelve thou
sand dollars at one meeting a few days
ago contributed for the worlds evan
geliZatiOn. Look at what you have done
O, thou abused and deprecated CEN
fury. All the Pacific isles, barred and
bolted against the gospel when you be-
gan to reign, now all open, and some
Of them more Christianized than Amer
lea. No more, as once, written over the
the church doors in Cape Colony, Dogs
and Hottentots not admitted The
late Mr.. Darwin contributing $25 to
the Southern Missionary society. Cam
nibalism driven off the face of the
earth. The gates Of all nations wide
open for the gospel entrance when the
church shall give up it's intellectual
dandyism and quit fooliEg with higher
criticism, and plunge into the work, as
at a life-saving station the crew pull
out with the life boat to take the sail
ors off ship going to pieces in the
Skerries.
But my text suggest that there are
some things that this century ought
to do before he leaves u.s. Thus saieth
the Lord. Set thine house in order;
for thou shalt die, and not live" We
ought not to let this century go before
two or three things are set in order.
For one thing, this quarrel between la