The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-05-22

to commerce. But this travelling DISPOSE
ton of the world, which was adverse to
that which is good, is to be brought on
our side. These mail trains-why, they
take our Bibles; these steamers, they
transport our missionaries; these sailors
rushing from city to city all around the
world are to be converted into Christian
heralds and go. out and preach Christ
among the heather nations. The gospels
infinitely multiplied in beauty and power
since Robinson and Thompson and Burck
hardt have ..e back and talked to US
about Sloan and Capernaum and Jerusa
lem. pointing out to us the lilies about
which Jesus preached, the beach upon
which Paul was shipwrecked, the fords at
which Jordan was passed. the Red Sea
bank on which were tossed the carcasses
of the drowned Egyptians. A man said:
II went to the Holy Land an infdel. ]
came back Christian. I could not help
it,"
I am not shocked, as some have been, at
the building of railroads in the Holy Land.
I wish that all the world might 60 and zee
Golgotha and Bethlehem. How many who
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
luIS ulSuI pdHllIlH dCiOSo lHC OSSp III ehS
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 back
and tell the story and keep that empire
rocking till Jesus shall reign
"Where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run"
And the firearms with which the inhdel
traveller brought down the Arab horseman
and the iackals of the desert have been
surrendered to the church, and we reach
forth our hand, crying, "There is none like
that; give it mel"
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;
Bowie 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 L. Southland was mighty in the
courtroom and in the senate chamber, but
he reserved his strongest eloauence 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 eioquence
on Bunker Hill, that rocking Sinai of the
American Revolution, but on that day
when, in the famous Girard will case, he
showed his affection for the Christian reli-
gion and euiogized 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 ergraver'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 q 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 tit 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.
Much of the art Of the world has has been n
unclean Henry VIII; was beautiful PIC
ture of the Madonna? What to Lord JEFF
frevs. the unjust judge. the picture of the
last Judgment?" What to Nero, the
urwashed, a picture of the baptism in 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
tian 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
iour. The private tourist goes to Rome
and looks at Raphaeps 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 acu!nen
and tact. When Christ was upon earth
the people that followed Him for the most
part had no social position. There was
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 Corinth?
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
ers. Now that is all changed. Among
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 CnrlStlan 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 60 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 it
does nothing but print holy Bibles.
believe that the time will come when
in commercial circles the voice Of Christ
will be the mightiest of ali 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.
I look off upon the business men Of this
land and rejoice at the prospect that their