The Penn's Grove record., 1897-01-22

but for that htndrnnce would step right INTO
the ranks OF the Lords host aud march
henvenward, each one taking a regiment
with him. The mountain OF inehriacy is not
an ordinary mountain, but It Is armed. 1t
IL \ line OF fortresses continually blazing
away Its destructive forces upon all our
neighbour GODS, towns and cities. their vol
leys OF denth poured down upon tho homes
and churches. Under this power more thar
100, 900 men and women are in this country
every year imprisoned, n an army OF eOO,-
600 drunkards almost shake the earth
with their staggering tread. II causes In
this country 800 murders and 400 suicides q
year. This mountain OF inebriaey has not
only assaulted the land, but bombarded tho
shipping Of the sea. and some OF tn. most
appalling shipwrocks on Atlantic and Pncif1c
COASTS have been the result. What sank the
steamer Hothsay Castle, on the way from
Liverpool to Dublin, destroying 100 human
lives7 A drunken sea captain. What blew
up the Bon Sherrod ID the Mississippi aud
sent $50 to horrible dsath2 A drunken crew.
What drove oil the breakels u steamer
making its way fronNew YORK 10 Charleston
and sent whole families on the way home
from summer watering places to the merci-
less depths OF the sea2 A drunken sea cap
tain. Gather up fror. the depths OF the
rivers and lakes and oceans the bones Of
those shtpwrecked BY intoxicated captains
and crews, and you could build out Of them
a temple 81 horrors, ell the pillars and affairs
AMI floors and ceilings fashioned OF human
skulls. Is It possible that such a mountain
OF Inebriaey car ever be made a plain?
Yonder also Is the mountain OF crime, with
Its strata of fraud AM Hialpractiee and NAL
feasance and blackmail and burglary and
piracy aud embezzlement an libertinism
and theft, all its heights manned with the
desperadoes, the cutthroats, the ~pickpockets,
the thimble rigSers, the corsairs, the wreck
"a. <ha I.an,ltta fho Nrialyofaro thu fnruora
the thugs. tho garroters, tho fire flends, the
dynamiters, the shoplifters. the .kleptomani-
acs, the pyromnniac5, the dipsomaniacs, the
smugglers, the kidnapers. the Jack Shep-
pards, the Robert Macaires and the Macbeths
Of v~illniny. The crimes OF the world Am
l not right In calling them, when piled up
together, a mountain? Blu We cannot bring
ourselves to appreciate great heights except
by comparison. You think OF Mount WASH
hgton as high, especially those OF you who as
cended as OF old, on mule back, or more re-
Gently by rail train. TO the Tip Top House.
Oh, mol that IS NOT high. For 1t is only
about 6000 feet, whereas rising on this West
tern Hemisphere are ~Chimborazo, 81 900
feet high, and Mount Sahama, $4,000 feet
high, and Mount Sarato, 24,800 feet high.
But that is not the highest mountain on tho
Western Hemisphere. The highest mouu-
tain Is tho mountain OF crime, AMI is 1t pos
slble that this mountain, bstore our zerub-
baDcl, san ever De made q pluin!
There is also the mountain of war. the
most volcanic OF all mountains the Vesu-
vlus whit b, not content, like the yesuyius OF
Italy, with overwhelming two cities, Hercu-
laneum and Pompeii, has covered with its
fiery scorla thousands OF cities, and would
like to whelm all the cities of both hemis-
phi res. Give this mountain full utterance,
and 1t would cover up Washington and New
York and London as easily as q household
~ with hfa ohnyal nj IN n'rlnaf af MIGHT
banks a crate fire with ashes. This noun,
tain is n pilo of fortresses. barrieades and
armories, the worlds artillery heaped, wheels
above wheels, columbiads above columbiads,
s~eventy-four Founders above seventy-four
Founders, wrecked Nations above wrecked
Nations.
This mountain OF war Is not only loaded
to caunonade the earth, but 1t is also a ceme-
terry, holding the corpses OF $1,000, 00o slain
In the wars OF Alexander and Cyrus, GO, 000,-
900 slain in Roman wars, 49,, 900 900 slain In
with Turks and Saracens and holding
about 81, 000, 600, 900 corpses, not million, but
billion, which was the estimate made by Ed
mund Burke more b 100 years ago OF those
who had been destroyed by war, so that you
would rave to add more millions now.
Twenty years z a careful author estimated
thnt about fourteen times the then popu-
lation OF the world had gone down In battle
or In hospital after battle. All, this noun
tain Of war is not like an ordinary mountain!
1t 10 like Kilauea, Que of the Sandwich ISL
ands, which holds the greatest volcano In all
the earth, and concerning which 1 wrote
from the Sandwich Islands u few years ago:
"What n hissing, believing, tumbling soar
ing force Is Kiiaueai Lake of unquenchable
fire; convolutions and paroxysms of fame;
elements Of nature in torture; torridity and
lurldity; congregation OF dreads; molten
horrors; s%ulphurous abysms; swirling mys-
faru of ali TINA In nffa furhuIanpa, ahfpanoxy
of ~perdition; wallowlng ~terrors; fifteen acres
OF threats; glooms insuferable and Dant-
esque; caldron stirred blythe champion witch
OF pandemonium; campfire OF the armies of
Diabolus; wrath of the mountains In full
bloom; shimmering incandescence; pyrotech-
mics OF the planet; furnace blast Of the ages;
Kilauea!' But. my friends. %mightier, high
er, vaster. 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 l dare not hazard q proph-
ecy. Can 1t be that its fires will ever be put
oat2 Can II be that its roar will ever be ST.
fenced? Cnn 1t be that before our Zerubba-
bel thai blazing mountain will ever become
a plain2
There is also the long range oil mountains,
longer than Appalachian range, longer than
Caucasian range, longer ina Sierra Nevada
range-tbe piled up opposition of bad litera-
ture, bad homes, bad Institutions. bad amuse-
ments, bad centuries, bad religions-Pagan-
ism, Hindooism, Buddhism. Mohammedan-
ism and buttressed and enthroned goddess
ness, devoted TO ambition and lust and hydra
headed, argus eyed a~bomination, as 1t stands
With lifted fist and mocking lips, challenging
Jeh5yah upon the throne OF the universe to
strike IL BE dare. oh, it Is a great mountain.
as my text declares. There is no use in deny
ing II. The most authentic statistics declare
II. Tho signs of the times prove 1t. All
y rfctfnN rrFArGara raalfVa 10 IL 10 n IN
tain. 1.-THE mountain can never be brought
down." says worldly speculation. ''The
Gun never be made a piain," says
a small faith in the churches. Well, lot US
see. Let us look about for the implements
we can lay our hands on. Let US count the
on our side who are willing to dig
with q shovel or bore n tunnel or blast Il
lock. Let MS see II there is any foreign help
that will come in to r~e-enforce US. / do not
10 make myself absurd by attempt
ing an ~impossibility. II 1t Is only one
spade at the foot OF Mount Blanc, II II is
only one arm, capable OF lifting but a few
pounds, against "a mountain that weighs
100. QUO 900 tons, let US quit before we make
ourselves the travesty and caricature Of the
universe. II we arc to undertake this job,
first Of all we must have a competent engi-
neer, ono who knows oil about excavations,
about embankments, about tunnels, about
mountains. 1 know engineers who have
carVcu up mountains, cut DOWN mOuHlhinSp
mountains. / will do nothing I'M
less ! know who is to be our engineer.
led at the rebuilding of the an
cient temple, and Matthew Henry, the great
est OF commentators. declares that our
Zerubbabel is the Lord Jesus Christ. The
ZerubbAbel OF my text was only "A type OF the
glorious and ~omnipotent Jesus, and as /
look up into the face OF this divine engineer
and see il glow with all the ~splendors Of the
Godhead, ind see that In His arm is the al
mfghtiness TINT flung out all the worlds that
glitter in the midnight heavens, aud that to
lift the HimalAyns would cost Him no more
effort than for me TO lit IN ounce. my cour-
ago begins to rally. and my faith begins to
mount, and my enthusiasm Is all aflame,
the words OF my text this just
ut my lips aud express the triumph OF my
soul, and ! cry out; "Who art thou, o great
mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain?"
l tell you the mountain Is coming down.
1t is coming down rapidly. 1t will oil come
There are those who hear or read
these words who viii, gaze upon its com
plete prostration, for what is the use OF my
keeping back any longer the full statement
the fact, which ! have somewhat delayed
through lawful sermontc strategy. the fact
that the Lord God Almighty, In the full
play OF His omnipotenee, will accomplish