The Monitor-register., 1897-01-22

| gregation of breads, molten horrors,
sulphurous abysms, swirling mystery OF
| all time, infinite turbulence, chimney
Of perdition, wallowing terrors, 10 acres
| of threats, glooms insufferable and Dan
| tesque. caldron stirred by the cham
pion witch of pandemonium, campfire
of the armies of Diabolus, wrath of the
mountains in full bloom, shimmering
incandescence, pyrotechnics of the plan
ct, furnace blast of the ages, Kilauea!'
| But, my friends, mightier, higher, vast
er, hotter, more raging is the volcanic
mountain of war. 1t has been blazing
| for hundreds of years, and will keep on
| blazing until, until-but I dare not
hazard a prophecy. Can it be that its
fires will ever be put out? Can it be
that its roar will ever be silenced? Can
! it be that before our Zerubbabel that
blazing mountain will ever become a
plain?
| Argus Eyed Abomination.
There is also the long range of noun
tains, longer than Appalachian range,
| longer than Caucasian range, longer
than Sierra Nevada range-the piled up
opposition of bad literature, bad homes,
| bad institutions, bad amusements, bad
centuries, bad eligions-Paganism,
| Hindooism, Buddhism, Mohammedan
ism and buttressed and enthroned god
| lessness, devoted to ambition and lust
and hydra headed, Argus eyed abomina-
| tion, as it stands with lifted fist and
mocking lips, challenging Jehovah upon
| the throne of the universe to strike if
he dare Oh, it is great mountain, as
my text declares. There is no use in de-
] nying it. The most authentic statistics
| declare it, The signs of the times prove
| it. All Christian workers realize it. 1t
| is a mountain. ''The mountain can
| never be brought down." says worldly
speculation. "The mountain can never
be made plain" says small faith in the
churches. Well, let us see. Let us look
about for the implements we can lay
our hands on. Let us count the number
| on our side who are willing to dig with
| shovel or bore tunnel Or blast rock
Let US see if there is any foreign help
| that will come in to re-enforce us. do
not want to make myself absurd by at
tempting an impossibility. If it is only
one spade at the foot of Mont Blanc,
| if it is only one arm, capable of lifting
but few pounds, against a meuntaln
| that weighs 100, 900, 900 tons, let US
quit before we make ourselves the trav-
| esty and caricature of the universe. II
we are to undertake this job, first of all
| we-must have a competent engineer,
| one who knows all about excavations,
| about emhankments, about tunnels,
about mountains. know engineers who
have carved up mountains, cut down
mountains, removed mountains. l will
| do nothing unless / know who is to be
| our engineer. Zerubbabel led at the re-
building of the ancient temple, and
Matthew Henry, the greatest of COM
mentators, declares that our Zerubbabel
is the Lord Jesus Christ The Zerubba-
bel of my text was only type Of the
| glorious and omnipotent Jesus, and as
Look up into the face of this divine en-
| gineer and see it glow with all the
splendors of the godhead, and see that
in his arm is the almightiness that flung
out at the worlds that glitter in the
| midnight heavens, and that to lift the
| Himalayas would cost him no more
sffort than for me to lift an ounce, my
| courage begins to rally, and my faith be-
| gins to mount, and my Enthusiasm is
all afame, and the words of my text
this moment just fit my lips and ey-
| press the triumph of my soul, and rrF
out: "Who art thou, o great mountahi?
| Before Zerubbabel thou shalt beco1ns
plain"
| s The Mountain of Sin.
/ My experiences with the eacvel are
| of that implement, and that after you
have been digging with it an hour what
you have accomplished seems very lit.
tie, but just go along by the place where
they are building a railroad through
mountain and see what a great work
| 1000 shovels can do and know that
while there are 1000 shovels at work
on this side of the mountain there
are 1000 shovels busy on the other
side, and all have to do is to manage
my own particular shovel. 1t cheers me
to think that against this old mountain
of sin there are hundreds of thousands
and millions of shovels this moment
busy, and we are all at work under the
one engineer who came down from his
throne in heaven to oversee and help
the removal of that mountain, and who
has contracted to have it done. I have
seen the contract, and he is well paid
for 1t. The compensation promised by
the throne of heaven is, "I will give
| thee the heather for thine inheritance
and the uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession. The reason so many of
us are idle is that we want bigger
shovel or we would like to manage some
great hydraulic engine No, brother.
Stick to your shovel. Dig away in your
Sabbath classes. Dig away in your mis-
s1ons. Dig away in your homes Dig
away in your pulpits Do the work next
to you. Do not spend too much time
looking at the great size of the noun.
talns or at the way others use their
shovels. All thaty you can accomplish to-
ward the removing of that mountain
will be with your own particular shovel.
Remember little David, with Saul's
helmet on him, dropping clear down
over his ears even unto his shoulders.
But when he got in his hand the boys
sling, how we'll he used it! If you dc
not understand Greek, do not attempt
to tell the people what the text is in
the original. If you do not understand
Latin, attempt no drafts upon Latinity,
You who want to help in the removal
OF the mountain hold on to your shovel.
Much time has been lost by the fact
that many of the sharpest shovels, in.
stead of being used for the removal of
| no faj, hau
ing each other.
Old and New School Shovels,
The great Presbyterian church was
nightly hindered by the fight that for
| years went on between old school shov-
els and new school shovels, and it was
not until the meeting of the general as
sembly at Pittsburg 80 or 40 years age
that many good men made up their
minds that shovels are not made to fight
with, but to dig with. Many of the OLD
| theologlans went around with bandaged
foreheads which had not been struck by
the swords in the battle for God, but by
the shovels of ecclesiastical imbroglio
They had special admiration for that
psalm of David which said, blessed be
the Lord which teacheth my hands te
war and my fingers to fight So also
the Methodist church had battle of
shovels over the questions Of lay dele
cations and womanly representation. |
am glad to say that most Of the ecclesi-
astical pugilists in ali denominations
are dead and that they had big fu-
nerals. But there are SO many shovels
now rightly engaged that no statistics