The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-01-17
daughter they would dash out the IFS OF

having counted the host Of the martyrs,
that !or each one Of those glorious men
and women who died for the truth IN i'm
mortal shal. live, live with God and live
forever.
But, as 7 already hinted 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 horse
men, now hammered procession. now
wrath under spear oil the sunshine
turned to an angol OF. light, and now from
horizon to horizon the air is a picture
gallery filled with masterpieces OF which
God is the artist, burning clouds OF smoke
born In the sunrise and evening clouds
OF smoke laid In the burni:hed sepulcher5
OF the sunset.
The beauty Of the transagured 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
smoke the church. They are the parasites
OF the church, not the church itself. Her
mission Is to cover the earth with q superna.
tural gladness, to open all the prison doors,
to balsam all the wounds, to moss all the
graves,t burn up the night In the fireplace
OF q great morning, to change iron hand
cuffs into diamonded wristets. to turn the
whole ruce around and whereas it faced
death, commanding it, "Right about face
for heaven!" According 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 STUN
BILE, and without my once looking down or
looking on the level take me to some high
roof or tower and let me see the tops OF
the churches, and will tell you the pro-
portion OF suicides, of arsons, of murders,
Of thefts. According as the churches are
numerous are the crimes few. According
rs the churches are few tho crimes ure nu.
merous. The most beautiful Organization
the world ever saw or ever will see is the
much maltgned church, the, friend OF all
good, the foe Of all evil "fair MS the N Don
and clear as the SUM-" Beautiful In her
Author, beautiful in her mis- ion, the hero
inc OF the centuries, the bride OF Christ, {
the queen Of the nations!
Men may desecrate 1t, as Cromwell. when
hesthbled his cavalry horses in st. Paul's
Cathedral; or break Off the image OF
Christ, as did the iconoclasts in York min
ster; or hurl against it august literary nn-
tipathies, rs did Gibbou; or plot its over
throw, as do some in every community
whose pride and hate and debauchery are
reproyed by the Ten Commandments
which 1t tbunders and the sermon on the
mount which its brenthes. But 1t will
stand as long US the earth stands, the
same unique, and wonder working and
beatiGcy and miraculous thing .ior
which God decreed it. Small wits tax
their brain to say things that will put
I,,, h,,S - ],
will send for its coincidence when qY.
ing, and their children will be gathered up
under its benedictions after the parental
curse has been removed. Through her
gates will march all the Influences for good
that shall ever reach our world. Take her
membership rs u mass. not speaking OF the
acknowledged exceptions, they are the
noblest, grandest, kindest, best men and
women Of the ages. But for them the
earth would long ago have been Il burned
out volcano. They have been the salt that
has kept the human race from putrefac-
lion insufrerable either to human or angelic
olfactories.
You lying and hypocritical world, shut
up those SANDERS about the church OF
Christ, an institution which, far from being
what 1t ought to be and never pretending
to be perfect, Is 500 times better than any
ether Institution that tho world ever saw
81 eyer dreamed OF. The highest honor
ever hadSand the highest honor I shalt
ever receive and the, highest honor 1 ever
want is to have my name on her records
Haz&Eember. At her altars / repented.
at sHefsacraments:I / believed. In her SER
EHfc6 let ma dtHs From her doors let me be
hurled. O'church or Godt Thou home Of
the Hghtsous! Thou barbor from. tempest
ESThou refuge for theNweary! Thou light
Ehouse Of many; nations! Thou type OF
Eheayenl I could kiss thy very dust With
Becstasy OF affection. a.
es:eFcr her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend,
Es$% To her my tolls and cures be given
Till tolls and cares shall end.
{Emed sEo ka," says Solomon fh the
n following my text. Not like the
|8z ll ycoughed up from the throat OF o
q 8Dfpe, or poisoned with the gases OF
|:eae 1tsaF factories, or floating in black
the conhugration OF home
ior sulphurous from blazing bat
but sweet rs burning grove Of Gin
|>Sdmd or jungle OF sassafras, or the odors
et8 stemple censer. "Wno Is this that
|cometfiso OF the wilderness like pillars
of smoks, iperfumed with myrrh and frank
I.lncense?@ Hear it, men and women every
where, that the advance OF the genuine
church Of Christ means peace for all nations.
ig Victor Hugo, in his book entitled
.iNinety-three," says: Nothing calmer
than smoke, but nothing more startling.
Ther6 peaceful smokes, and there are
evil 4s The thickness and color OF q
linHs 81 8mSks ma ke; the whole difference
bel war and peace, bet fraternity
| and hntrhd The hole hap ppinessof man
Of his eompl lets misery 10 sonel13ng ex-
pkessst In tliiS In por which tSe wind
A6&tt8IB az The great Exefehm ma u
FIT hut go further andsgB Thar rs
ffA6 III dod adj Rnce9 448A pillars
1 III slncke the B}4ck volume AS. from
Ea5tefies ofwar and pouring ont 3orts
Ehples Of ships will vanish. ~
"A distinguished general OF our Civil War
ttf0td me that Abraham Lincoln proposed to
fay0id our civil conflict by purchase OF all
tth6slayes OF the South and setting them
iiree He calculated what would be q
reasonable price for them, and when the
number OF millions OF dollars that would
| be required for sucha O purchase was
announced the proposition was secuted,
and the North would not have made the
offer, and, the South would not. have
accepted It II made. But" said my mill
| tary friend, "the war went on and just the
number OF millions OF dollars that Mr..
EEihcoln calculated would have been
1enough to make a reasonable purchase OF
Inii the slaves was spent in war, besides all
| the precious lives that were hIyled away
| in the $50 battles. In other words, there
ought to be some other way TOR men to
settle their controversies without butchery.
Oh, come into the church through Christ
the door, q door more glorious than that
OF the temple OF Hercules, which had two
pillars. and one was gold and the other
emeraldl Come in to-day! The world
you leave behind is 4 poor world, and II
will burn and pass of like pillars oil
smoke. Whether the final conflagratiou
will start, In the coal mines OF Pennsyl
vania, which in some places have for many
years been burning and eating into tue
heart Of the mountains, or whether 1t shal
begin near the California geysers, o,