The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-12-04

utput oH dttpuHt 81 us great size LaO
10 he used in place of a church. Thou
sands upon thousands found Christ In
the reyiyals Of the seventeenth century
under the preaching Of the puritans
Thousands upon thousands found
Christ in the Methodist REVEALS Of the
eighteenth century. Thousands upon
thousands found Christ in the first part
of tile nineteenth century. when
Charles q, Finney had such power over
sinners that Il dying blasphemer said,
Don't let Charles &. Finney preach
my funeral sermon, or he win preach
my soul into heaven in spite Of my
/ own desires"
Flight of Doves.
The selection of the figure OF fight
| Of doves is significant 1t Is, above
/ other things, suggestion of immense
/ mnltltudes But few people realize tie
marvellous numbers and propagatins
| powers of the doves of oiden times.
Biberg the ornith0logist estimated
that if a common pair of domesticated
pigeons Matched nine times a year
which number of hatclllngs Is not ex-
traordinary for an average pair of
/ these birds-and if these pigeons laid
two eggs at one time, and all the
hedgelings which were Matched should
live and batch in turn. that single pair
Of pigeons would produce in four years
nearly fifteen thousand descendants.
The 1ecundity of the dove Is about az
great as the reproductive powers Of the
English sparrow or the Australian
rabbit The most graphic description
ever written OF the innumerabe multi
. tudes of the doves was penned by
Alexander Wilson, the naturalist
Statements made by this Scottish
American traveller were Endorsed by
John Audubon. Among the ornitho-
logical authorities there can be no bet
ter Endorsement than this: Mr. Will
son wrote that down in Kentucky, In
Il place which migrating doves used 10
visit annually. their mutitudes were
50 great that they literally destroyed
whole forest regions In this tract
about which he wrote the branches
of every tree were filled with dove
nests wherever nest could be built.
In many trees over one hundred nests
had been constructed. Above the trees
the multiludcs Of the pigeons wings
were SO great that their Mapping wings
sounded like the boomings OF torna-
do So great was the noise OF their
tapping wings that the horses OF the
farmers in that region often became
Interchangeable and could not be
driven Near Frankfort, Ky. Alexan-
der Wilson saw flock Of migrating
doves. The naturalist estimated that |
this single dock was two hundred and |
forty miles long and bad an enrolment /
of nj least 2,230,UO0212 birds
Isaiah describing the consccrated !
worshipers hocking to the millcnnial /
church could not have chosen more |
expressive figure. These that fly as /
4 cloud and as doves to their win |
dows." The readers of his time would !
realize by It what countless throngs of |
men he saw in prophetic vision hasten.
ing into the kingdom OF God. Migrat
ing doves OF old were So many In num- /
bers that Alexander Wilson said their
moving wings often formed ii curtain
able to shut ont the light Of the sun
ana changed midn0on into the twilight I
of evening The church of God is now
great in membership, but, church mem
bers do you not look forward in holy
ecstasy to the time when the thou
sands who are woFshplng Christ now
shall be changed into the millions? Do
Won not long for the millennial day
when Christ's disciples shall flock
through The church's doors in innumer-
able multjtldes las the doves fly to
heir windows?r
Men Of Living Faith.
The figure IS expressive not Only OF
but of spiritual qualities
rhe church Of the future is not TO have
padded roll. 1t is not to be composed
If n lot Of members who. as the five
foolish virgins of ChriSt's parable.
ounged around and slept aud had no
iii for their spiritual lamps. II is not
% be composed of men and women
who occupy their church ..cws only on
Sunday and then when the benedic-
lon Of the sermon is given turn and
hut their pew doors and say: Good
", religion / must 20 home now. You
ust stay here for week. aud next
sunday morning / will come back ana
zee you and pat YOU OH the back for
IN hour AGAIN while the choir sings
md the pastor prays." Bot in that
hurch which Isaiah saw in prophecy
lot only shall there be multitudes Of
v0rshipers. but all these multitudes /
hall be consecraied worshipcrs These
many worshipers shall be men OF llv-
ng faith. to whom the presence Of God
3 an abiding reality. influencing them /
wherever they go and in every moment
# their lives. As Ilr Josiah Strong
Erate in bis opening chapter: "The SUI
rene need of the world is Il real God:
lot great perhaps bat the great
m. not a God of yesterday or toolor.
ow, but OF today; not an absentee God.
nj one who is precisely here not q
'unday God. but an everyday Cod "
iuch shall be the spiritual quality Of
he inultituies of worshipers seen by
saiah in the symbol Of tie flying
oYes
The symbol of the dove is also sig
ticant on account Of the habits and