Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-01-05

lance or the cavalry service in battle.
You hear the clatter of the hoofs and
the whirr Of the arrows and the clash
of the shields and the bang of the
carbines as they ride up and down the
centuries. Clear back in time, Osy-
mandyas led twenty thousand mounted
troops in Bactriana. Josephus says
that when the Israelites escaped from
Egypt, fifty thousand cavalrymen rode
through the parted Red Sea. Three
hundred and seventy-one years before
Christ, Epaminondas headed his troops
at full gallop. Alexander, on a horse
that no other man could ride, led his
mounted troops. Seven thousand horse
men decided the struggle at Arbela.
Although saddles were not invented
until the time of Constantine,
and stirrups were unknown until about
four hundred and fifty years after
Christ, you hear the neighing and
snorting of war-chargers in the great
est battles of the ages. AusterlitZ, and
Marengo, and Solferino were decided
By the cavalry The mounted Cossacks
reinforced the Russian snow storms in
the obliteration of the French army.
Napoleon said if he had only had suf-
ficient cavalry at Bautzen and Lutzen
his wars would have triumphantly end
ed. do not wonder that the Duke of
Wellington had his old war horse,
Copenhagen, turned out in best pas
ture, and that the Duchess of yelling
ton wore bracelet of Copenhagens
hair Not one drop of my blood but
tingles as look at the arched neck and
| paving hoof and painting nostril of
Jobs cavalry horse: Hast thou clothed
| his neck with thunder? He paweth in
| the valley: he goeth on to meet the
| armed men. The culver rattleth against
him, the glittering spear and the
Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar
off, the thunder of the captains, and
| the shouting"
Standing as l do, in this National
| Capital, let me say that what We want
in the Senate and House of Represent
atives and the Supreme Court is pen
tecostal blessing that will shake the
continent with divine mercy. There re-
Gently came into nay hands the records
of two Congressional prayer-meetings,
on the rolls Of which were the names Of
| the most eminent Senators and Repre-
| sentatives who then controlled the des-
TIMES OF this republic-the one Con-
| gressional prayer-meeting in 1857, and
! the other in 1866. The record is in the
handwriting Of the philanthropist,
William e. Dodge, then member of
Congress. There are now more Chris
tian men in the National Legislature
than ever before. Why will they not
band together in a religious movement
which before the inauguration of the
next President, shall enthrone Christ
in the hearts of this nation? They have
the brain, they have the eloquence,
they have the influence. God grant
them the grace sufficient, Who in Con-
gressional circles will establish the
Capitoline prayer-meeting in 1897? Let
the evening of the last decade of this
| century be irradiated with such re-
i5Aouo opiCliuOi arc OppOl
tunities for national and information
al charge, all bridled and saddled.
Where are the riders to mount them?
Here also are opportunities all ready
for those who would enter the kingdom
of God. Christ said that the kingdom
of heaven was to be taken by violence.
BY one flash you may enter. Quicker
than any equestrian ever dashed
through castle gate you may pass into
the pardon and hope Of the Gospel.
AS quickly as you can think Eyes" or
NO." as quickly as you can make
choice, so quickly may you decide the
question of eternal destiny. No one
was ever slowly converted. He may
have been thinking about it forty years,
but not one in IN of progress did he make
until the moment of assent, the very
second in which he said II will" That
instant decided ALL Bring out the
worst two thousand men in all the
earth, and here are two thousand op-
portunities of immediate and eternal
salvation. II will deliver thee two
thousand horses, If thou be able to set
riders upon them"
The cavalry suggests speed. When
once the reins are gathered into the
hands of the soldierly horseman, and
the spurs are struck into the TANKS,
you hear the rataplan of the hoofs.
Velocity" is the word that describes
the movement - acceleration, momen-
tum-and what we want in getting into
the kingdom of God Is celebrity. You
see the years are so swift, and the
weeks are so swift, and the days are
so swift, and the hours are so swift, and
the minutes are so swift, We need to be
swift. For lack of this appropriate
speed many do not get into heaven at
all. Here we are in the last Sabbath
OF the year. Did you ever know a
twelfth-month quicker to be gone? The
golden rod of one autumn speaks to the
golden rod of the next autumn, and
the crocus of one springtime to the
crocus of another springtime, and the
snowbanks of adjoining years almost
reach each other in unbroken curve.
We are in too much hurry about most