Democratic messenger., 1904-12-10

TO me and | will see what can do for
you" That was good advice for Man
uel Garcia to give To Jenny Lind. hut
i; is not good advice for Christian
teacher to give you in reference to your
iearning how TO sing the new song of
Christ. What you need is not rest. not
retirement. not secluSion: you need TO
practice your gospel throat. You need
to learn how to sing the new song by
delving deep in the promises of God,
and then hy singing Gods promises TO
your own life and to the lives of all
around you. Sing. Sing, Keep on
singing, Sing forth the promises of
God Sing what he has done for
others. Sing about what lie has done
and will continue to do for you.
Triumphant Song.
But lastly assert that our new song
for the coming holidays should he a tri
umphant song. In it we should hear
the ring of the coming conquest of the
world for Christ: in II we should know
not only that man as an individual will
be saved. but that there shall come
time when nations and peoples of all
climes shall worship our Christ as their
master and king. When the Sioux In
dians. many years ago. We're about to
rise in revolt and massacre the white
settlers of the far west the Indian com
missioners to prevent that uprising Sc
lected some of the Indian chiefs and
sent them to Washington rs Il delega-
ton to present their grievances before
the Great White Father" the presi
dent of the United States. They sent
them east not to have the president
change the policy of the government
but that these Indian chiefs might
know the immensities of the resources
of the white men and how useless it
was to rise up against them. Those
Indians might slay a few settlers. but
after they had seen the millions upon
millions of white inhabitants beyond
the Mississippi they would know that
ultimately the white man must con-
quer Thus In our new song we want
to catch n glimpse of the power of God
Here and there temporarily one of
Gods disciples may seem to be driven
back: but. after all, the great march of
the Christian army is forward. We
are all marching on to milennial
day when Christ as the leader of the
great army of victory shall have his
standards above every land. waving
over every nation and over every sea
Our .lew song should be triumphant
songt
Would today ! might convince you
of the sureness of Christ's conquest
over all the nations of the world as
vividly as that great dramatic preach
er William Dawson brought ii before
his London hearers nearly Il century
ago. He was man of most remarkable
personality. He had an Imagination all
aglow and on fire. With the power of
q mighty word painter he was describ-
ing the conquest of the world. He por
trayed a grand procession marching be-
fore Christ. the Prophet. Priest and
King. in coronation pageant. First
came the prophets. the priests and the
apostles; then the martyrs. row after
row, line after line, army after army.
Then. after all the redeemed dead had
marched past, there came the living.
First came the earthly princes and
princesses and mobiles. Then there
marched forth millions upon millions
Of the human race. Then, after he had
wheeled into line all generations of all
times and all principalities and pow
ers. the great Methodist preacher sud
denly stopped. Then in stentorian
tones he commenced to sing that grand
old hymn of Edward Perronet:
All hail the power of Jesus name.
Let angels PROSTATE fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown him Lord of all.
whelming was the impression of the
coming conquest of Christ over the
world. that the great audience sprang
to its feet and took up the refrain and
sang it louder and louder and louder
until the very heavens seemed to
shake. Oh. my friends. cannot you
feel that our new song for the coming
Christmas holidays should he tri-
umphant one? Shall 1t not have the
same triumphant ring in 1t as had
Martin Luther's mighty hymn when
the soldiers of Gustavus Adolphus
sang it before the battle of Leipsic.
and also sang 1t again before the bat
tie of Lutzen. where their noble leader
laid down his life? All. yes. man may
live and may die. but Gods workers
always fill in the break and the work
goes on. Our new song must he Il song
of triumph. God can and will conquer
this world and rule the nations of the
earth as his own.
When the musical leader in the old
village choir loft. before the organ and
the piano had forced their way into
the church edifices. wanted to start
the hymn, he would strike his tuning
fork and lift it to his ear. For the new
song of the coming Christmas holi-
days I would strike the tuning fork of
hope and life and eternal conquest
through Christ. May the same angel
which sang over the Christmas man
ger sing for us today over that ritied
tomb new song of salvation for a
dying world and conquest for Christ
of all peoples. both in this world as
we'll aS I'm that which we are to enter