The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-15

lie men in this century," THANK you,"
I reply. Il can easily understand how
gospelization would improve individual
life and social life and commercial life.
but I would like to see what ii can do
for political life" Let me tell YOU
says the spirit of the twenty-first Gen.
fury, that I have read about political
| chicanery and corruption OF more than
a hundred years ago-the nineteenth
entury in which you lived hare-bUI
the low political caucus has gone from
the face of the earth, and the stufed
ballot box. and the bribery by mon-y
and by promise Of office, and the jobs
go through legislatures and congresses
by lobbyists. Tire last corrupt judge
| of election was buried 50 years ago. the
| preacher officiating at the o~bsaquies
| taking for his tex Proverbs Y, 4, The
name of the wicked shall rot or Jere-
miah xxi, 10, He shall be buried with
the burial Of an ass. drawn ana cast
forth beyond the gates Of Jerusalem"
"Our laws are good and well axe-
cuted. Men do not in our century Ease
to wade chin deep through moral slush
in order to gain office"
END OF INFIDELITY.
AS in ompany with our escort we
pass down from the heights on which
these buildings stand, L see a dis
mounted cannon planted on the side OF
the hill, and / go to examine il, and l
read the inscription, cut in letters of
bronze: This is the last gun that was
fired in the last battle of the last war
that will ever be fought. Presented
by the last regiment of wal JUS before
~disbanding. Glory to God in the high
es-, and on earth peace, goot VIII 10
men," Then l look up. and our escort
says: DO you see th1Jc la ~c.~L.ture
on our right? That was a fortress, but
now it is a college, and instead of guns
aiming out of the portfolios are looking
the students of a higher literature and
a wiser science and a grander civiliza-
ton than the world ever before imag-
ined. And those students are laugh.
by a prOfessorate of men as renowned
for piety as for science. A~rChaGUiU-
gist's hammer and biologists crowbar
and chemists laboratory and explorers
journey have joined in a confirmation
of the truth of the Holy Scriptures I'M
til there is not an unbeliever IN ell the
earth. The through his tel
escOpe has seen the Morning Star of
the Redeemer, and the geoiOgis- has
found the Rock of Ages, ana the geo.
metrican has demonstrated that heaven
is the city which 'lieth -four square, and
the length and the breadth and the
height of it are equal"
What" I say to our escort, No
skeptics? No infidels? No agnostics?"
1L1o INP1S - jill iiC
last fool who said in his heart there is
no Cod was buried a half century ago
without any l~iturgical service"
In response to my question as to
what had wrought all his change
obliterated all the evil and fully in
a~ugurated all the good-our escort, the
spirit of the t~wenty-first century, tells
me hat gospelization had directly or
indirectly done it. 1t was a practical
gospel that had not only changed The
heart, but made the man honesc-a
practical religion, which did not ex-
pend all its energy in singing Fly
abroad, thou mighty gospel" but gave
something to make it fly.
SIN OBLITERATED.
The good work was helped on by 1lic
fact shat it became a general habit
among m~illiOnair and m~ultimiliion-
aires to provide churches and scnoulS
and institutions of mercy, not to be
built after the ~testators were deaf,
but built so that they might be present
at the laying Of the cornerstone and at
the dedication and leave less induce
ment for the heirs at law to prove III
orphans court that when the testators
made their last will and testament
they were crazy. The Geographic wires
n the air and the cables under the sea
thrill with Christian invitation. Pho
nographs charged with gospel m
stand in every neighbOrhOOd. The
5000, 00O, 900 of the worlds inhabitants
in that century are 5000, 600, 900 disci-
piles.
But" I say to our escort, the spirit
of the tWenty-first century, you have
shown us much. But what about in
ternational conditions? When we lived
on earth, it was a century that bled
with Marengo n Chalons and Lodi
Bridge and Lucknow and Solferino
nn1 nincio onI Nofar1oo o-I Co.
Juan" Our escort replies, Come with
me to his building Of white marble
and glittering DOME" AS we pass up
and on we are taken into a room where
the mightieSt and best representatives
of all nations are assembled to settle
International controversies. AS we en-
ter 1 hear the presiding officer opening
the council of arbitration, reading the
second chapter of Isaiah: "They shall
beat their swords into plowshares and
their spears into pruning hooks; ma
tior shall not lift up sword against ma
ton, neither shall they learn war any
more" Questions which in our long
past nineteenth century caused quar-
rel and bloodshed, as when Germany
and France were deciding about Alsace
and Lorraine, as when the United
States and Spain were deciding about
Cuba-such questions in this twenty
first century settled in five minutes,
one drop of INK doing more than once
could have been accomplished by a
river of blood.
But we cannot stay long in this hall
Of arbitration, for it is almost time for
us to retrace our way heavenward.
This voluntary exile must soon end.
But" I say to u escort, the spirit
of the t~wenty-1rst century, and you
inc I say to each other, I'VE must go
home now, back again to heaven. We
have staid long enough on this terres-
trial visitation to see that all the best
things foretold in the Scriptures and
which we read during our earthly resi-
dence have come to pass, and all the
Davidic, Solomonic and Paulinian and
J~ohannean prophesies have been full
filled, and that the earth, instead of
being a CHASTITY failure, is the might
est success in the universe. A star re-
deemed! A planet rescued. A world
saved! 1t started with a garden, and
it is going to close with a garden.
What a happiness that we could have
seen this old world after it was righted
and before it burned. for it's internal
fires have nearly burned out to the