Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-09-22
Calnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Tslmsse. ID. ID.


OF autumn, and finds in them a lesson
OF Gods strength and providence and
the love and care he has for all his
children. The text is Amos Nv, 13, "He
that formefh the mountains"
Have you ever visited the Schroon
lake Of the Alpsf Have you ever slept
under the shadows OF the snow capped
Rigi. with its horizon sweep OF 900
miles In circumference? Then you
have visited Lake Lucerne, one of the
most romantic, and picturesque lakes
that ever Tapped the foot OF a hill or
nestled to sleep like a smiling babe in
lap OF gigantic mountain. The old
poet sings OF the charms OF Lake Ge-
.'neya. another of SwitEsrland's scenic
wonders. with Its battle SCARED castle
standing sentinel over II, a castle
whose walls are scanned with defyIns
the carEnonndlng OF the elements, as
well AZ resisting the attacks OF man.
This Is his song:
A thousand feet In depth below
The massey waters meet and now:
So far the fathom line was sent
From Gibbons snow white battlsment.
But, though others may sing about
the beauties OF Lake Geneva or Lake
WIndermere or Lake SANTA OF Fin
land or Lake George OF New York or
the Lake OF the Woods OF Mime
sofa, ali OF them beautiful lakes, still
believe THAI Lake Lucerne is the queen
OF romantic lakes for many Of us.
There we not only saw some of the
most beautiful OF all scenes, but we
also stood before Thorwaldsen's great
est masterpiece. 1.-The Lion OF Luz
cerns" Most or you know the history
OF that marvellous piece OF statuaTy.
When the French throne was totterIng
amid the upheaval Of the awful reyo-
luton which has made the names of
RobespieTre and Marat and Barere
Infamous for all time, Louis WI and
Marie Antoinette dare not trust their
lives and those OF their children to the
loyalty OF their own soldiers. They
sent across the northern border and
hired some Swiss soldiers to be their
bodyguard. Eight hundred OF these
were Quartored In the Tuileries. Fatal
Aug 10, 1892, came, and the mob
broke loose and started for their royal
prey. They battered down the gates
and doors OF the kings residence.
They slew the Swiss soldiers wher-
ever their hated uniforms were seen as
mercilessly as the Sioux Indians toma-
hawked, Custer and his little handful Of
followers on the Little Big Horn river.
They literally annihIlated thR whole
band In order to got at their hated
rulers. ThorwRldsen, the great Danish
sculptor, 20 commemorate the death Of
81 these brave soldiers of the Swiss
guard. chiseled into the solid rock of
Lucerne the colossal form OF the dying
Swiss lion struck 10 the heart by a
spear. yet In his death agony stu de-
Tending the lilied shield OF France.
What a wonderful statue Is that, which
thousands OF tourists every year travel
miles and miles to study
But as I stood before that marvellous
piece or stone under the shadow OF the
overtowering Rigi said to myself this:
Yes. many Swiss soldiers have been
struck down by foreign bullets, but
more. far more. have brooded their
lives away because their hearts have
Dined under Inconsistencies when they
have been removed from the sight OF
yonder hills" When Nebuchadnezzar
took his bride. Amytis. TO the glorious
capital or Babylon, she could not get
over her longing for the hills OF her
childhood. Babylon was built In n fat
country. 10 satisfy her longing for
the mountain scenes OF her youth her
loving husband erected for his queen
the famous Hanging gardens" But
what earthly king could erect for his
loved ones such gigantic hills as those
which cradle the youth OF the Swiss
psaSantryg We who were born In the
mountainous countries OF the west
or east can sympathizs with those
Swiss peasants II we have been CON-
peeled 60 i've on prairie lands and can
nsver overcome our longing for the
mountains. AS the hills, the mighty
hills, have spoken OF God to Amos, the
herdsman, they have also spoken TO US
living among the mountains OF the
western hemisphere. thought today
1 would try to ind God among the
mouarains.
TAs Strength of God.
The gigantic hills In the first place
teach US the omnipotent strength OF
the God who created them. They seem
70 speak to US something Ike this: 20
man. why wilt thou not look upon me
sven as thou wouldst regard the works
OF human hands? When thou Standest
before the huge pyramids OF Egypt
with their great blocks OF stone thou
dost not say they were built by race
or pygmies. about whom Homer and
Hesiod wrote. Thou dost not go in
the moonlight and dream dreams upon
the Acropolis overlooking old Athens
and see there visions OF its ancient
spiendor, with Its Parthenon and it's
columns and Its statuary and its mar
BILE OF purest white, and say there lived
not giants In those days. Thou dost
not walk through the corridors OF the
Aihambra, with Its mosaic floors and
Its magnificent walls, and say that the
ancient Moors were not master archi-
tscts and master designers and master
workmen. Thou canst not study the
footprints OF the Aztecs without seeing
there the indentation OF a great race
Is not matchmaker greater than his
Own watch? Is not the naval cor
structor greater than the iron and stec,
wership he sets afioat? Is not the
creator greater than the thing he Gre
aatsss Therefore, o man, Is not the
Creator OF the mountains a mighty. an
omnipotent God, because he has Gre
ated mer yes, yes" we answer.
tie God OF the hills must be an omnip-
Lqteqt God, for none but omnIpotence
could have laid their Foundations and
erected their heights"
Great s. the omnipotent power of
God. No one man and no one race of
2 msa could live long enough to do what
~ necessary to do foT the creation OF
the hills. We look with amazement
upon ths great cathedra. called st.
: 1sters OF Rome. This cathedral was
supposed TO have been begun by
Michael Angelo in 1884. Every gen.
erstion since then has had part in its
construction. But though St. Peters
OF Rome was building for 500 years.
the seven hills upon which Rome was
~