Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-12-18

and carried on the swift wind were
the great pillars of smoke. And helped
by Solomon In the text saw the speed
of the church symbolized. DO you real
ize the momentum the church of God
is under? Why, the smoke Of Chin
ney on the top of Mount Washington
when the wind is blowing 60 miles the
hour Is slow as compared with the
celerity of good influences. For so
centuries the devil had 1t 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 devas-
tation. What great revivals! What
mighty churches! What saved mil
lions!
From the ruins Of Babylon and AS
syria and Nineveh and the valleys of
the Nile combinations have been ex-
humed, proving to all fair minded men
that the Bible is the truest book ever
written. The mythologies of Egypt
were found to have embodied In them
the knowledge of mans expulsion from
paradise and the sacrifice Of n great
emancipator. Moses account of the
creation, corroborated by the hammer
OF Christian geologists; the oldest pro-
fame writers, ,Hiromus, Helanicus and
Berosus, confirming the Bible account
of ancient longevity; Tacitus and Pliny
confirming the Bible accounts Of de-
stroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; Taeitus
and Porphyry telling the same story
of Christ as Matthew and Luke told;
Macrobius telling Of the massacre of
children In Bethlehem and Phlegon
sketching at the crucifiXion.
1t is demonstrated to all honest men
that 1t 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 1t 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 Open Door.
The time Is fastening when there
will be nc infldels left except llbertines
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 ma
1estlc and swift like pillars of smoke.
Oh, come into the church through
Christ the door, door more glorious
than that of the temple of Hercules,
which had two pillars, and one was
gold and the other emerald! Come In
today! The world you leave behind Is
poor world. and 1t will burn and pass
Off like pillars Of smoke. Whether the
final connagration will start in the coal
mines of Pennsylvania, Which in some
places have for many years been burn
ing and eating into the heart of the
mountains, or whether dita shall begin
near the California geysers.- or wheth-
er from out the furnaces tof Cotopaxi
and Vesuvius and Stromboli it shall
burst forth upon the astonished ma
tlons make no prophecy but all geol-
oglsts tell us that we stand on the lid
of IL world the heart Of which Is n rag
ing, ronrlng, awful flame, and some
day God will let the red monsters out
of their imprisonment OF centuries, md
New York on fire In 1885, and Charles
ton on fire In 1865, and Chicago ON fire
In 1872, and Boston on fire In 1873
were only like one spark from black
smiths forge as compared with that
last universal blaze which will be seen
In other worlds. But gradually the
flames will lessen, and the world will
become great living coal. and that
VIII take Cn ashen hue. and then our
ruined planet will begin to smoke, and
the mountains will smoke, and the val
leys will smoke, and the islands will
smoke, and the seas will smoke, and
the cities will smoke, and the five con-
tlnents win be five pillars Of smoke.
But the black vapors will begin to les
sen In height and density, and then
Will become hardly visible TO those
who look upon 1t from the sky gal
leries. and after awhile from just one
point there will curl up thin. solitary
vapor, and then even that will vanish,
and there will be nothing left except
the charred ruins OF burned out
world, the corpse Of dead star, the
ashes of m extnguished planet. q
fallen pillar of smoke.
But that will not interfere with your
Investments II you have taken Christ
as your Saviour. Secure heaven as
your eternal home, and you can look
down upon dsmantled, disrupted and
demolished earth without any per.
turbntion.
When wrapped In nrc the realms OF ether glow,
And heavens last thu nlcrs shake the earth below,
Thou undlsmayed shalt DER the ruins smile
And light thy torch at Natures funeral pile.