The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-12-20
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surrender to It's cOnventlOnal1tleS ana IL
may let you alone, but all who will live
godly in Christ Jesus must suffer perse-
cution. Be a theater going, card play
ing, wine drinking, round dancing Chris
tan, and you may escape criticism and
social pressure. But be an up and down,
out and out follower of Christ, and
wording will wink to wording as he
speaks your name, and you will be put
in many a doggerel and snubbed by
those not worthy to blacken your oldest
shoes.
Removing DISTINCTIONS.
For a compromise Christian character
an easy time now, but for conSecrated
behavior grimace and caricature. For
the body, thanks to the God Of free
America, there are now no swords or
fiery stakes, but for the souls of thou
sands Of the good, in fgurative sense,
rack and gibbet and Torquemada. The
symbol Of the domestic and social and
private and public suffering of a great
multitude Of Gods dear children, pillars
of smoke. What an exciting scene in
India when during the sepoy rebellion
regiment of highlanders came up and
found the dead body of one Of Gen.
Wheeler's daughters, who had been in
suited and mauled and slain by the Sc
poys. So great was the wrath against
these murderers that the Scotch regi-
ment 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 took an oath, which was
executed, that for each hair Of the MUIR
Il thnv nc
life Of bestial sepoy. But as we look
over the story of those who III all ages
have suffered for the truth, while we
leave vengeance to the Lord, let us band
together in one solemn vow, one ire
mendous oath, after having counted the
host of the martyrs, that for each one
of those glorious men and women who
died for the truth an immortal shall live
live with God and 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 a black angel of
wrath under a spear of the sunshine
turned to an angel of light, and now
from horizon to horizon the air is a pic
ture gallery filed with masterpieces Of
which God is the artist, morning clouds
of smoke born in the sunrise and even
ing clouds of smoke laid in the FURNISH
edasepulchers of the sunset.
A Divine Symbol.
The 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 of the church. They are the para
sites 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 n great morning,
to change iron handouts into diamonded
wristlets, to turn the whole race around,
and whereas 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
worldly properties, and the pure morals,
and the happy souls.
Meet me at any depot the world over,
and with my eyes closed take me by the
hand and lead me SO that my feet will
not stumble, and without my once look
ing down or looking on the level take me
to some high roof or tower and let me
see the tops of the churches, and l will
tell you the proportion of suicides, of
arsons, of murders, of thefts. Accord
ing as the churches are few the
crimes are numerous. The most
~ ~
saw or ever will see is the much maligned
church, the friend of all good, the foe Of
all evil, fair as the moon and clear as
the SUM- Beautiful in her Author, beau
tiful in her mission, the heroine Of the
centuries, the bride OF Christ, the queen
of the nations!
Men may desecrate it, as Cromwell
when he stabbed his cavalry horses in st.
Paul's cathedral or break off the image
of Christ, as did the iconoclasts in York
minister; or hurl against it august liter
airy antipathies, as did Gibbon; or plot
it's overthrow, as do some in every COM
munity whose pride and hate and de-
bauchery are reproved by the Ten Com
mandments which it thunders and the
sermon on the mount which it breathes.
But it will stand as long as the earth
stands, the same unique and wonder
working and beatific and miraculous
thing for which God decreed it. Small
wits tax their brain to say things that
will put her at disadvantage, but many
of them will send for it's coincidence
when dying, and their children will be
gathered up under it's benedictions after
the parental curse has been removed.
Through her gates will march ali the
influences for good that shall ever reach
our world. Take her membership as
mass, not speaking Of the acknowledged
exceptions they are the noblest grand
est, kindest, best men and women of the
ages. But for them the earth would long
ago have been burned out volcano.
They have been the salt that has kept
the human race from putrefaction in
siderable either TO human Or angelic OIL
factories.
The Best Institution.
You lying and hypocritical world, shut
up those ISLANDERS about the church Of
Christ, an institution which, far from
being what it ought to be, and never
pretending to be perfect, is 500 times
better than any other institution that the