Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-29


wondrous. whether God with his finger
curves it into a cloud OF rounds it into
a tome. or points it in Il spire, or
spreads IL IN a wing. or, rs in the text,
HOSTS it in pillar. Watch it wind
ins up from the country farmhouse III
the early morning, showing that the
pastoral industries have begun, or, see
1t ascending from the chinneys of the
city. telling of the homes led. the fac
tories turning out valuable fabrics, the
printing presses preparing book ana
newspaper, and all the ten thousand
wheels of work in motion. On clear
day this vapOr spoken OF mounts with
such 5uoyancy and spreads such del
icdje veil across the sky, and traces
such graceful lines Of circle and semi
circle and waves and losses and sinks
and scars and scatters with such al
huence of shape and color and suggest
iyeneSs, that if you have never no.
ticed it you are like man who has
all his life lived in Paris and vet never
seen the Luxembourg or all his lie Id
Rome and never seen the Vatican. or
all his life at LOckport and never seen
Niagara. FCrty-fOur times the Bible
speaks of the smoke. and il is about
time that somebody preached a sermon
recognizing this strange weird. beau
tiful. elastic, charming. terrific and
fascinating Vapor. Across the Bible SIX,
floats the smoke of Sinai, the smoke OF
SOdOm, the smoke of Al, the smoke OF
the pit. the smoke of the volcanic bills
when God touches them. and in my
text the glorious church of God coming
up ont of the wilderness like pillars OF
smoke.
Ia the 1rst place. these pillars OF
smoke in my text indicate the suffering
the church of God has endured. What
10 mean By the church? l mean not
building. not a sect, but those who
In all ages. and al lands, and of all be
liefs. love God. and are trying to do
right. For many centuries the heav-
ems have been black with the smoke
of martyrdom. IL set side by side you
could girdle the earth with the fires
of persecution. Rowland Taylor burned
AT Hadleigh; I-atimer burned 81 Ok
ford: John Rogers burned at Smith
field: John Hooper burned at Glouces-
ter; Johr Huss burned at Constance:
Lawrence Saunders burned at Coven-
try: Joan of Arc burned at ROuen.
Protestants have represented Catho-
lies as having a monopoly of persecu-
tors, but both Protestant and Catholic
have practiced Infamous pruelties. The
Catholics, during the reign of Hun
heric. were by Prote5tants put TO the
worst tortures, stripped Of their cloth
ing hoisted in the air Icy pulleys with
weights suspended from their feet, then
lee down. and ears and eyes. nose and
tongue were amDutated. and red-hct
plates OF iron were nut against the
tenderest parts Of their bodies
George Bancroft. the historian. says
Of the state of Maryland: In the land
which Catholics had opened to Protest
ants mass might not be said publicly;
40 Catholic priest o. bishop might ut
ter his faith in voice OF persuasion;
no Catholic might teach the young. II
hayward child of Papist would not
become an apOState, the law wrested
for him from his parents . share OF
their property. Such were the meth
DDS adopted to prevent the growth oil
Popery.'
Catholicism as well IS Professionalism
has had its martyrs. 1t does seem a.
If when any one sect gos complete dom
NANCY in any land, the devil Of perse-
cut.on and cruelty took possession oil
that sect. Then see the Catholics after
- los Of l.r
the Jews in TouTaine, where great
OF was dug and fire lighted at the bot.
tom OF the pit. and one hundred and
sixty Jewish victims were consumed
See the Presbyterian parliament OIL
England. more tyrannicai ia theiI
treatment Of opponents than mad beer
the criminal courts. Persecution
against the Baptist by Paedo-Bap
lists. Persecution OF the Established
Church against the Methodist church
Persecution against the Quakers. Per
secution against the Presbyterians. I'm
der Emperor Diocletian one hundred
and forty-four thousand Christians
were massacred. and seven hundred
thousand more OF them died from ban
ishmeDt and exposure.
Witness the sufferings % the Wal
denses, of the Albigenses. Of the Mes
torians. Witness ST. Bartholomew
massacre. Witness the buke of Alv;
driving out of life eighteen thousa u,
Christians. Witness Herod. and Nero
and Decius. and Hii1ebraDd, and Tor
auemada. and Earl OF Montfort, an,
Lord CIavernOuse, who when told tha
ne must give account for his cruelties
said: II have no need to account &
man, and as for God will take him il
my own hands. A red line run
through the church history of ninetee
hundred years, a line of blood. No
by the hundreds of thousands, but b
the millions must we count those slai
for Christ's sake. No wonder job
Milton put the groans of the martyr
TO an immortal tune, writing:
Ayenge, o Lord. thy slaughtere
saints. whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountain
cold
The smoke of martyrs homes an
martyrs bodies if rolling up all at one
would have eclipsed the MONDAY SUI
and turned the brightest day the worl
ever saw into a midnight: who
this mat cometh out OF the wilderness
like u liars of smoker"
Has persecution ceased? Ask thu
young n,ao who Is trying to be Chri.
tian in p store or factory. where fror
paornir.s I'm night no ia the hfitf Of a