Woodruff County news., 1901-12-14

break and in glrthS that cannot slip and in buckles that cannot loosen and are driven by reins they must answer. l preach no fatalism. A swarthy engineer at one of the depots at Dakota said: "When will you get on the locomotive and take a ride with us?" Well" I said, ''now, if that suits you" So I got on one side of the locomotive, and Methodist minister, who was also in- vited, got on the other side, and be- tween us were the engineer and the stoker. The train started. The en- gineer had his hand on the agitated pulse of the great engine. The stoker shoveled in the coal and shut the door with a loud clang. A vast plain slipped under us, and the hills swept by, and that great monster on which we rode trembed and bounded and snorted and ragged as it hurled us on. I said to the Methodist min ister on the other side of the loco motives: My brother, why should ministers quarrel about the decrees and free agency? You see that track, that firm track, that iron track; that is the decree. You see this engineers arm; that is free agency. How beautifully they work together! They are going to take us through. We could not do without the track, and we could not do with out the engineer"
 So rejoice day by day. Work for all to do, and we may turn the crank of the Christian machinery this way or that, for we are free agents. But there is the track laid so long ago no one remembers it-laid by the hand of the Almighty God in sockets that no terrestrial or Satanic pres sure can ever affect. And along the track the car of the worlds redemp ton will roll and roll to the Grand Central depot of the millennium. have no anxiety about the track. l am only afraid that for our indo- lence and unfaithfulness God will dis charge us and get some other stoker and some other engineer. The train is going through with us or without us. So, my brethren, watch all the events that are going by. If things seem to turn out right, give wings to your joy. If things seem to turn out wrong, throw out the anchor of faith and hold fast.
 When Titans play quoits, they pitch mountains, but who owns these gigan- tic natural forces we are constantly reading about? Whose hand is on the throttle valve of the volcanoes? Whose foot, suddenly planted on the foot stool, makes the continents quiver? God! I must be at peace with Him. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, this God is mine and He is yours. put the earthquake that shook Palestine at the crucifixion against all tine down rockings of the centuries. This God on our side, we may challenge all the centuries of time and all the cycles of eternity.
 Years ago I was at Fire Island, l.. l., and I went up in the cupola from which they telegraph to New York the approach of vessels hours before they come into port.
 
 the operator puts his telescope through that opening and looks out and sees vessels far out at sea. While I was talking with him he went up and looked out. He said: 'We are ex- pecting the Arizona tonight" said: ''Is it possible you know all those vessels? Do you know them as
 To "Yes. I never make a mistake. Be fore see the hulls often know them by the masts. I know them all have watched them so long" Oh, what a grand thing it is to have ships tele- graphed and heralded long before they come to port, that friends may come down to the wharf and welcome their long-absent ones! So to-day we take our stand in the watch-tower, and through the glass of inspiration we look off and see whole fleet of ships coming in. That is the ship of peace, with the star of Bethlehem floating above the top gallants. That is the ship of the church, mark of salt water high upon the smokestack, showing she has had rough weather, but the Captain of Salvation commands her, and all is well with her. The ship of heaven, mightiest craft ever launched, mil lions of passengers waiting for mil lions more, prophets and apostles and martyrs in the cabin, conquerors at the foot of the mast, while from the .;roinr hands are wayino this way a c if they knew us, and we wave back again, for they are ours. They went out from our own households. Ours! Hail. hail! Put off the black and put on the white. Stop tolling the funeral bell and ring the wedding anthem. CL,,4 m the hearSa and take the