Democratic messenger., 1904-09-24

poor sin sick brother. you have long
distance to come back to God. But
You can come 10y divine grace. You
can come now. You can come as quick
ly as the new converts of the church
which Isaiah saw in vision came to
the mercy seat. You can COM. with II
supcrlatiNc swif:ncss. You San come
with the lightning velocity Of Il flying
dove
But why talk about Isaiah's church
Of the future? Why caption this SER
mon with the title. The COMM. Awak-
ening?" When Isaiah saw this migrat-
ing dove and used il as an emblem WAS
he alluding only to Il future church:
think not. | think as the Hebrew
prophet WAS standing there on the
mountain of inspiration looking off on
what WAS TO come he kept saying to
himself. why is il not possible for
this vision of Gods church To be mate
rialiZed now:' Is not God willing to
bring this beatific condition to present
man If the members of the children of
God will today cooperate with the
Holy Spirit: Yes. he can. he will. was
the prophets thought. | know this is
the thought today running through
many II Christians mind. God can and
God will make the prophetic vision of
Isaiah come true now if we. the
church members. will only truly yield
ourselves and conSccrate our minds
and hearts to ChriSt's will. o man.
o woman, the greatest enemy of
Jesus Christ today is not the iniidel
and scoffer outside of the church. 1t is
the man and the Woman inside the
church who do not cooperate with
Jesus in his purpose TO save the world
for Christ through the agency of his
church. If we yield ourselves to his
will even tie smallest and the most
insignificant can become mighty for
God. for. as Joshua hath said: "One
man of you shall chase Il thousand. for
the Lord your God he il is that fight
eth for you. as he hath promised YOU.
Take good heed. therefore. unto your
selves that We love the Lord your God"
ST. Marks of Venice.
The symbol of the dove which Isaiah
uses To describe the church could not
be better illustrated than by the spec
tacle in the great square of Venice.
which is fankcd on the one SIDE by the
famous Cathedral of 81. Mark. With
but few exceptions | have seen all the
great cathctir;ils of the W Drld. | have
seen some as white aS that of st. ic-
.t,rh ',nt
may be hundreds of years old. seem To
be rs white as the whitest of alabaS-
ter have seen some dark as an .ifri-
cans skin. others rel as all Indians.
| have seen some catledralS which i'm
pressed me by their gigantic size. The
higher | climbed Oh the roof of Mil
ans greatest structure the more my
awe and bcwillcrmcnt. I have seen
some that were perfect poems in stone.
But. take il all i'm I'LL. thou.h il c'St
not nearly aS much as some others. the
most impressive cathedral | ever saw
was St Marks of Venice.
Like unto natural scenery. st. Mark s
is the Yellowstone park. not the Yo-
semitic or the Gothard pass, among the
cathedrals. II impressed me not with
its size so much as its exquisite color
ings. its roof its walls. It's arcadeS
all blended as the colors of n rainbow
frozen in stone. The tops of its lofty
columns were not hidcous with griiny
gargoyles. They were chiseled into
flower gardens. which grew ut your
feet or with their leaves hung down
from above. These different flower
gardens were so perfectly chiselcd that
1t seemed as if the winds, sweeping up
from the Venetian canals were gently
swaying them as the roscbushes bend
in your fathers garden.
Over the front doorway were the
four massive bronze horses which Ma
poleon carried away to Paris after his
conquest In Italy. but which the over
throw OF the BOnaparte dynasty re-
stored to their places. With archcd
neck and sincwy limb like creatures of
life they seemed just ready for bat
tlefield charge or n run over the hills
after the hounds or n gentle caress by
mistress or chivalric knight. There.
within those walls. the chancel and au-
ditorium blend In such perfect har-
mOny that when I stood before the al
tar'S picture of the dying Christ felt
for the first time in European cathc-
dral that | was i'm the presence of God
and in the place of prayer.
Gods Fenthcrcd Loved Ones.
But. though | SAW many places i'm
the Venice cathedral that entranced
me. after all. my greatest lesson learn
ed there was outside the cathedral
walls. and not within. learned that
lesson there not from the cold stones
of building. but from the warm
hearts of living doves. There. from
behind the towers and from within the
recesses down from the roof and the
four great bronze horses. from pillars
and vestibules. the doves gather around
you by the hundreds. They came as
fearlessly to my side as my little chill
drcn might come. They pcrc!ied on my
shoulder. on my hat. They fluttered
over my head. They crowded Icy the
hundreds at my feet to eat of the food
I had ready for them. AS they fluttcr-
ed about me said to myself. Would
that Gods sinful children might here
nj,