The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-07-08

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 on the
fishing smacks Of Lake Gallilee, and
in the bleak air of Assyrian mount
aims. l am told that throughout all
our American cities the second Sab
bath service in the majority of church
es is sparsely, yea, disgracefully at
tended, is the distress of the con-
secrated and eloquent pastors who
bring their learning and piety before
pews CHASTITY for their inoccupancy.
What is the providential 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
1t seems to me all the churches which
cannot secure sufficient evening audi
enceS ought to shut up their buildings
at night Il go where the people are.
and invite them to come to the gospel
banquet.
What has this dying nineteenth CEN
fury to tell lis before he goes: We all
love to hear s2ptuagcnar.ans, octoge-
narlans, nOpagenari1rs and centena-
rians talk. We gather around the arm
chair and listen till it is far on into the
night. aud never weary of hearing their
experiences. But Lord Lyndhurst, at
SO years Of age. pouring into the ears
or the House of Lords. in a four hours
address, the experiences of Il lifetime,
and Appollonius, at 100 years Of age.
re~counting his travels to thrilled lis
teners, and Charles Macklin. at 107
years of age. absorbing the attention
of his hearers. and Ralph Farnham. of
our country. at 107 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:
Il saw Thomas jefferson riding in un-
attended from Monticello. only a few
steps from where you stand, dismount
from his horse and hitch the bride to
Il post, and on yonder hill take oath
OF the presidential office. | saw yon-
der capitol ablaZo with incendiarism.
| saw the puff of the first steam engine
in America. ! heard the thunders Of
Waterloo. of Sebastopol, and Sedan,
and Gettysburg. l was present at all
the ccrOnations of the kings and queens
and emperors and expresses now in
the worlds palaces. have seen two
pillows roll across this continent and
from ocean to ocean; a billOw Of re-
vival JOY in 1857 and ii billow of blood
in 1864. l have seer four generations
of h hL..lan race march across this
world II disappear. | saw their era
dies rocked and their graves dug. l
have heard the wedding bells and the
death knells of Il hundred years. l
have claDped my hands for millions Of
joys anc wrung them in millions of ag-
on;es. 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
Bancrofts History, and the first verse
of BryantS 'Thanatopsis," and the
first word of Victor Hugo's almost su-
pernatural romance. | heard the mu-
sic Of all the grand marches and the
lament of all the requiemS that for
nigh ten decades made the cathedral
windows shake. | have seen more
moral and spiritual victories than all
of my predecessors put together. For
all you who hear or read this valedic-
tory l have kindled all the domestic
firesides by which you ever sat. and
reused all the halloos and r%oundelays
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 | go, take this admOnitiOn
and benediction of Il dying century:
The longest life, like mine, must close.
Opportunities gone never come back,
as 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
their days. as | have seen in ten thou
sand instances. The only influence for
making the W0rld happy is an infiu-
ence that |. the nineteenth century,
inherited from the first century of the
Christian era-the Christ of all the
centuries. Be not deceived by the fact
that I have lived so long. for Il century
is a large wheel that turns a hundred
smaller wheels, which. are the years:
II each one of those years turns 1863
smaller wheels. which are the days;
and each II of the 365 days turns
tw~enty-fOur smaller wheels. which are
the hours; and each one of those twen-
ty-four hours turs sixty smaller wheels,
which are the minutes; and those six
ty minutes turn still smaller wheels.
which are the seconds. And all of
this vast machinery is in perpetual mo-
ton. and pushes us on and on toward
the great eternity whose doors will. at
- o'clock of the winter night between
the year 1900, and the year 1901, open
before. me. the dying century. l quote
from the three inscriptions over the
three doors of the cathedral of Milan.
Over one door, amid Il wreath of Sculp-
tured roses. | read: All that which
pleaSes is but for Il moment Over
another door, around Il sculptured
cross, l read: "All that which troubles
us Is but for a moment" But over the
central door | read: THAT only Is
important which Is eternal" O. Eter-
nifty. Eternity, Eternity.
My hearers. as the nineteenth cen
fury was born while the face of this
nation was yet wet with tears because
of the fatal horseback ride that Wash
ington took, out here at Mount Vernon.
through a December snow storm, l
wish the next century might be born at
a time when the face of this nation
shall be wet with the tears of the lit
eral or spiritual arrival Of the great
Deliverer Of Nations. of whom st.
John wrote with apocalyptic pen: And
! saw, and behold a white horse; and