Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-05-10

II.
I am not shocked, as some have been, at
the building of railroads in the Holy Land.
/ wish that all the world might 60 and see
could not afford muleteers now easily buy
tickets from Constantinople to Joppa.
Then let Christians travel! God speed
the rail trains and guide the steamships
this night painting across the deep in the
phosphorescent wake of the shining feet
of Him who from wave cliff to wave cliff
bestormed Tiberius. The japanese come
across the water and see our civilization
and examine our Christianity and 60 bach
and tell the story and keep tnat empire
rocking till Jesus shall reign
''Where'er the sun
Does his successive Journeys run"
And the firearms with which the infdel
traveller brought down the Arab horseman
and the jackals of the desert have been
surrendered to the church, and we reach
forth our hand, crying, "There is none like
that; give it me"
So it has also been with the learning and
eloquence of the world. People say, "Reli-
gion is very good for aged women, it is
very good for children, but not for men,"
But we have in the roll of Christ's host
Mozart and Handel in music; Canova and
Angelo in sculpture; Raphael and Rey-
nolds in painting; Harvey and Boerhaave
in medicine; Cowper and Scott in poetry;
Grotius and Burke in craftsmanship;
Boyle and Leibnitz in philosophy; Thomas
Chalmers and John Mason in theology.
The most brilliant writings OF worldly
nature are all aglow with Scriptural allu.
sions Through senatorial speech and
through essayist's discourse Sinai thunders
and Calvary speaks and Sloan sparkles;
Samuel t. Southland was mighty in the
courtroom and in the senate chamber, but
he reserved his strongest eloquence for
that day when he stood before the literary
societies at Princeton commencement and
pleaded for the grandeur of our Bible.
Daniel Webster won not his chief gar
lands while responding to Hayne nor when
he opened the batteries of his eloquence
on Bunker Hill, that rocking Sinai of the
when, in the famous Girard will case, he
showed his affection for the Christian reli-
gion and eulogized the Bible. The elo-
Quence and the learning that have been on
the other side come over to our side. Cap
tured for God! There is none like that;
give it me-"
So, also, has it been with the picture
making of the world. We are very anx.
ious on this day to have the printing press
and the platform on the side of Christian
ity, but we overlook the engraver's knife
and the painters pencil. The antiquarian
goes and looks at pictured ruins or exam.
ines the chiseled pillars of Thebes and
Nineveh and Pompeii, and then comes
back to tell us of the beastliness of ancient
art, and it is fact now that many OF the
finest specimens, merely artistically consid.
cred, of sculpture and painting that are to
be found amid those ruins are not fit to
be looked at, and they are locked up.
How Paul must have felt, when, stand
ing amid these impurities that stared on
him from the walls and the pavements and
the bazaars of Corinth, he preached of the
pure and holy Jesus! The art of the
world on the side of obscenity and crime
and death
in the possession of the vicious. What to
unclean Henry VIII. was beautiful pic
ture of the Madonna? What to Lord JET
freys, the unjust Judge, the picture OF the
"Iast Judgment" What to Nero, the
Jordan? The art of the world on the
wrong side. But that is being changed
now. The Christian artist goes over to
Rome, looks at the pictures and brings
back to his American studio much OF the
power of these old masters. The Chris
tan minister goes over to Venice, looks
at the "Crucifxion of Christ" and comes
back to the American pulpit to talk as
never before of the sufferings of the Saw
Jour. The private tourist goes to Rome
and looks at Raphaels picture of the
Last Judgment" The tears start, and
he goes back to his room in the hotel and
prays God for preparation for that day
when
"Shriveling like parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll.
So, I remark, it is with business acumen
and tact When Christ was upon earth
the people that followed Him for the most
part had no social position. There was
but one man naturally brilliant in all the
apostleship. Joseph, of Arimathea, the
rich man, risked nothing when he offered
a hole in the rock for the dead Christ.
How many of the merchants in Asia Minor
befriended Jesus? | think of only one
Lydia. How many of the castles on the
beach at Galilee entertained Christ? Not
one When Peter came to Joppa he
stopped with one Simon, tanner. What
power had Christ's name on the Roman
exchange or in the bazaars of Corlnth
None. The prominent men of the day did
not want to risk their reputation for san
ity by pretending to be one of His follow
5.
the mightiest men in our great cities to-
day are the Christian merchants and the
Christian bankers, and If tomorrow, at
the Board of Trade, any man should get
up and malign the name of Jesus, he
would be quickly silenced or put out. In
the front rank of all our Christian work
ers to-day are the Christian merchants,
and the enterprises of the world are COM
ing on the right side. There was farm
willed away some years ago, all the pro-
ceeds of that farm to go for spreading in
fdel books Somehow matters have
changed, and now all the proceeds OF that
farm 90 toward the missionary cause. One
of the finest printing presses ever built
was built for the express purpose OF pub.
fishing infdel tracts and books. Now 1t
does nothing but print holy Bibles.
l believe that the time will come when
in commercial circles the voice OF Christ
will be the mightiest of all voices and the
ships of Tarshish will bring presents and
the queen of Sheba her glory and the wise
men of the East their myrrh and franklin
cense.
/ look off upon the business men OF this
land and rejoice at the prospect that their
tact and ingenuity and talent are being
brought into the service of Christ 1t is
one OF the mightiest of weapons. There
is none like that; give it mel"
Now, if what 1 have said be true, away
with all downheartedness! If science is to
be on the right side and the travelling dis;
position of the world on the right side and
the learning of the world on the right
side and the picture making on the right
side and the business acumen and tact OF
the world on the right side, Thine, o Lord,
is the kingdom! Oh, fall into line, all y,e
people It is a grand thing to be in such
an army and le~ by such commander
and on the way to such victory. If what
I have said is true, then Christ is going to
gather up for Himself out OF this world
everything that is worth anything, an ana