Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-01-04

word fifty spoken is like apples of
gold in baskets of silver"
So also is a word of invitation po-
tent and beautiful. Who can describe
the drawing power of that word, so
small and yet so tremendous, "Come!"
1t is short word, but its influence is
as long as eternity. Not a sesqui-
pedalian word, spreading its energy
over many syllables, but monosylla-.
bic. Whether calling in wrong direc'
ton or right direction, many have
found it irresistible. That one word
has filed all the places of dissipation
and dissoluteness. It is responsible
for the denominations that curse the
earth. Inquire at the door of prisons
what brought the offender there, and
at the door of a1mshouseS what
brought the pauper there. and at the
door of the lost world what was the
cause of the Incarceration, and if the
inmates speak the truth they viii
say: 1.-THE word Comet brought us
here" Come and drink. Come and
gamble. Come and sin. Come and
die. Pronounce that word with one
kind Of infection and you can hear in
it the tolling of all the bells of con-
fagration and woe.
The chief baker in prison in Pha-
raoh's time saw in dream something
quite different from apples of gold in
baskets of silver, for he said to Joseph:
81 also was in a dream, and, behold,
I had three white baskets on my head.
and in the uppermost basket there
was all manner of baked meats for
Pharaoh, and the birds did eat them
mt nf he hoe 1yofc hos n
Joseph interpreted the dream and said
it meant that the chief baker should
be beheaded and the birds would eat
his flesh.
But, oh, the power of that word
''Come" when Alright uttered! We do
well when we send young men into
schools and colleges and theological
seminaries and by nine years of in
struction and drill hope to prepare
them to sound Alright that sweet and
| enrapturing and Heaven descended
| word "Come. The Gospel we be-
lieve in is Gospel of "Come."
That word speak all the church
es. That word is now building
| thrones for conquerors and bur-
| nished coronets for kings and queens.
| That word is to sound so clearly and
F.! impressively and divinely that the day
| is advancing when all nations shall re-
spond: 1--WE comet" eve comet"
And while the upper sleeps toward
God and Heaven will be thronged with
| redeemed souls ascending there will
not be one solitary traveller on the
road of sin and death.
In the Kremlin at Moscow, Russia,
is what is called the liking of bells, -
| but it is a ruined bell, and it has rung
no sound for near 200 years. 1t is 81
| feet in circumference, and in height
| it is more than ten times the height OF
| the average man, and it took a score
of men to swing its brazen tongue. 1t
| weighs 200 tons. On the 10th of June,
1905, in a great fire it fell and broke.
It broke at the part which was weak
ened by the jewels which the ladies
of Moscow threw into the liquid metal
at the casting. The voices of that
| bell are forever hushed. - 1t will never
ring again, either at wedding or OBJ
| sequy or coronation. What majestic
and overpowering silence! Enthroned
and everlasting quietude! One walks
around it full of wonder and histor-
| ical "Reminiscences and solemnity. On
| it are figures in relief representing
car and empress and Christ and Mary
and the evangeists. But as I stood
| before it last summer bethought my
self of greater bell and one still
ringing. It is the Gospel bell, ages
ago hung on the beam of the cross.
! It has vaster circumference and with
| mightier tongue sounds across seas
and continents and awakens echoes
amid Alpine and Hima1ayan and Sier
IA Nevadan, ranges. The Jewels of af-
! lection thrown into it at it's casting
| by ransomed souls of earth and
Heaven have not weakened it, but
made it stronger and more glorious.
| Evangelists and apostles ring it, and
martyrs lifted their hands through
the flames to give it another sound
| ing It will ring on until all nations
hear it and accept it's invitation:
| "Come! Comet" It will not fall, as
lid that of Moscow. No storm can
stop it. No earthquake can rock it
| down. When the fires of the last day
blaze into the heavens, amid the crash
of mountains and the groan of dying
seas, its clear, resounding voice will
be heard calling to the last inhabit-
ant of the burning planet: "Come!
Comet"
! But it requires now no great
strength to ring the bell. With this
weak hand, yesterday formed and to-
morrow turned to dust, I lay hold
| that Gospel bell in invitation to all
to whom these words shall come, on
whatever land or whatever sea, in
high places or low. I ring out the
| word: "Come, comet" Come and
have your sorrows solaced. Come and
have YOUR wounds healed. Come and
have your blindness illumined. Come
and have your fatigues rested. Come