The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1899-12-28
you will be put to many doggerel, and

S~N y SAA OAAOoS oAOCos WHICH, InO Ollu60
at Ashtabula broke, and let down the
most Of the carload of passengers to
instant death, Mr.. P. P. Bliss was
seated on one side of the aisle of the
car writing down Christian song
which he was composing. and on the
other side a group of men were play
Ing cards. Whose landing place in
eternity would you prefer-that of P.
T. Bliss, the Gospel singer, or of the
card-players?
A great complaint comes from the
theaters about the ladies' high hats.
because they obstruct the view of the
stage, and lady reporter asked me
what thought about it, and told
her that II the indecent pictures of ac-
tresses in the show windows were ac-
curate pictures of what goes on in
many of the theaters, night by night.
then 1t would be we'll il the ladies' hats
were mile high, SO as to completely
obstruct the vision. If professed
Christians go to such places during the
week. no one will ever prosecute them
for their religion, for they have none.
and they are the joke of hell. But let
them live consecrated and Christian
life and they will soon run against
sneerins opposition.
For compromise Christian char
acter an easy time now. but for conse-
Grated behavior, grimace and carca-
ture. For the body, thanks to the God
of free America, there are now no
swords or fiery stakes. but for the souls
OF thousands of the good. in a figura-
tive sense, rack and gibbet and Tor
Quemada. The symbol of the domestic
and social and private and public suf-
fering of great multitude of Gods
dear children. pillars of smoke. What
an exciting scene in India. when, dur
ing the Sepoy rebellion, regiment of
H1ghlanders came up and found the
dead body of one of General Wheeler's
daughters. who had been insulted and
mauled and slain by the Sepoys. So
great was the wrath against these
murderers that the Scotch regiment
sat down and. cutting off the hair of
this dead daughter Of Gen. Wheeler.
they divided it among them. and each
one counted the number of hairs given
him, and each one took an oath, which
was executed. that for each hair of
the murdered daughter they would
dash out the life of bestial Sepoy.
But as we look over the story of those
who in all ages have suffered for the
truth, while we leave vengeance to
the Lord. let us band together in one
solemn vow, one tremendous oath,
after having counted the host of the
martyrs, that for each one of those
glorious men and women who died for
truth an immortal shall Twelve with
God ant live forever.
But as l already limited in the first
sentence of this sermon, nothing can
be more beautiful than the figures of
smoke on clear sky. You can see
what you will in the contour of this
volatile vapor, now enchanted castles,
now troops OF horsemen, now hammered
procession. now winged couriers, now
black angel of wrath under spear OF
the sunshine turned to an angel of
light, and now from horizon to hori-
zon the air is a picture gallery filled
with masterpieces of which God is the
artist. morning clouds of smoke born
in the sunrise. and evening clouds of
smoke laid in the FURNISHED sepulchres
of the sunset.
Tie beauty of the TRANSPORTED smoke
is divine symbol of the beauty Of
the church. The fairest of all the fair
is she. Do not call those prosecutors
of whom spoke the church. They are
the parasites of the church. not the
church itself. Her mission is to cover
the earth with a supernatural gladness,
to open all the prison doors, to balsam
all the wounds. to moss all the graves,
to burn up the night in the fireplace
of great morning. to change iron
handouts into diamonded wristlets, to
turn the whole race around. and where
as it faced death, commanding it,
Right about face for heaven!" Ac-
cording to the number of the spires of
the churches in all our cities, towns
and neighborhoods, are the good
homes, the world properties, and the
pure morals and the happy souls.
= 1t is demonstrated to all honest men
that it is not SO certain that William
Cullen Bryant wrote "Thanatopsis," or
Longfellow wrote "Hiawatha" as that
God, by the hand of prophet and apos-
tie, wrote the Bible. All the wise men
in science and law and medicine and
literature and merchandise are grad
ually coming to believe in Christianity,
and soon there will be no people who
disbelieve in it except those conspicu-
GUS for lack of brain or men with two
families, who do not like the Bible be-
cause 1t rebukes their swinish propen-
stiles.
The time Is fastening when there
will be no infidels left except libertines
and harlots and murderers. Millions
of Christians where once there were
thousands. and thousands where once
there were hundreds. What bright
evening this. the evening of the nine
teenth century! And the twentieth
century, which is about to dawn, will.
in my opinion. bring universal victory
for Christ and the church, that now is
marching on with step double-quick.
or, ii you prefer the figure of the text.
is being swept on in the mighty gales
OF blessing, imposing and grand and
majestic and swift like pillars OF
smoke.
Oh, come into the church through
Christ the door-a door more glorious
than that of the temple of Hercules.