Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-12-21

and, when the number OF millions OF dol
lars That would be required for such
purchase was announced, the proposition
was secuted, and the north would not
have made the offer, and the south would
not have accepted it if made. But"
said my military friend, "the war went
on, and lust the number of millions of
dollars that Mr.. Lincoln calculated would
have been enough to make n reasonable
purchase of all the slaves were spent in
war. besides all the precious lives that
were hurled away in the $50 battles" In
other words, there ought to be some 9TH
err way for men to settle their controver-
sizes without butchcry.
The Arbitcr of Nations.
The church of God will yet become the
arbiter of nations. If the world would
allow 1t, it could today step in between
Germany and France and settle the trou-
BILE about Alsace and Lorraine, and be-
tween England and her antagonists, and
between all the other nations that are fly
ing at each others throats and command
peace and disband armies and harness
for the pillow the war horses now being
hitchcd to ammunition wagons or saddled
for cavalry charge. That time must
come. or through the increased facility
and whelmng hosts to instant death, so
that we can kill a regiment easier than
we could once kill n company and kill
brigade easier than we could once kill a
regiment, the patent offices of the world
more busy than ever in recognizing new
engincry OF destruction the human race
will after awhile go fighting with one
arm, and hobhlng with one foot, and
stumbling along with one eye, and some
ingenious inventor, inspired OF the arch
angel of all mischief, will contrive n ma
chine that will bore hole to the earth's
center, and some desperate nation will
throw into that hole enough dynamite to
blow this hulk of planet into frag-
mcntS. dropping the meteoric stones on
surrounding stellar habitations.
But this shall not be. for whatever |
let 60 | hang on to my Bible. which tells
me that the blacksmith's shop shall yet
come to its Rrandcst use when the war
ror md the husbandman shall enter it
side by side. and the soldier shall throw
into its bank of fires his sword, and the
farmer shall pick it up a plowsharc. and
the straightest spear shall be bent into Il
crook Mt each end and then cut in two,
and what was one spear shall be two
pruning hooks. Down with Moloch and
up with Christ. Let no more war horses
eat out of the manger where Jesus was
born.
Pence, Forever roll off the sky the
hlach pillars OF smoke from the Marcn-
Cos and SalamancaS and Borodinos and
Scdans and Gpttyshurgs of earth, And
right after them roll into the heavens the
peaceful vapors from the chmncys OF
farmhouscS and asylums and churches
and capitals of Christian nations, and, as
the sunlight strikes through these vapors.
they will write in letters Of jet and gold
all over the sky from horizon to zenith,
GLORY to God in the highest, and on
earth peace good will to men"
While thins.ng of these things look
ed out from my window, and the wind
was violently blowing. And ! saw from
many chimncys. the smoke tossed in the
air and whirled in great velocity, volume
after volume, fold after fold and car
ried on the swift wind were the great
pillars Of smoke. And, helped by Solo
mon in the text, saw the speed of the
church symbolzed DO You realize the
momentum the church of God is under?
Why, the smoke of chimney on the top
of Mount Washington, when the wind is
blowing 50 miles the hour. is slow as
ences. For 30 centuries the devil had it
his own way among the nations. Nearly
all the great missionary movements have
been started within the century, and see
what one century has done to recover the
world from 80 centuries of devastation.
What great revivals! What mighty
churches What saved millions,
From the ruins Of Babylon and Assyria
and Ninevch and the valleys of the Nile
combinations have been eXhumed prov
ing to all fair minded men that the Bible
is the trucst book ever written. The
mythoogicS of Egypt were found 20 have
embodi U. in them the knowledge Of mans
expulsion from paradise and the sacrifice
of a great Emancipator. Moses account
of the creation, corroborated by the ham
mer of Christian biologists; the oldest
profane writer's, IIiromus. Hclanicus and
Berosus confirming the Bible account Of
ancient longevity; Tacitus and Pliny
confirming the Bible accounts of destroy
ed SOdom and Gomorrah; Tacitus and
porphyry telling the same story Of Christ
as Matthew and Luke told: Macrobus
telling Of the massacre Of children in
Bethlehem, and Phegon sketching at the
crucifXion.
God Wrote the Bible.
1t is demonstrated to all honest men
that it is not so certain that William
Cullen Bryant wrote "Thanatopsis" or
LongfcllOw wrote "IIawatha" as that
God, by the hand of prophet and apostle.
wrote the Bible. All the wise men in sci
ence and law and medicine and literature
and merchandise are gradually coming
20 believe in Christianity. and soon there
will be no people who disbelieve in il ex-
cept those conspicuous for lack of brain
or men with two families, who do not
like the Bible because it rebukes their
swinish propensities.
The time i Fastening when there will
be no inhder left except lbertines and
harlots and murderers. Millions of Chris
tians where once there We're thousands,
and thousands where once there were
hundreds. What bright evening this,
the evening of the nineteenth century.
And the twentieth century, which is
about to dawn, will, in my opinion, bring