ermanent civilization
astonishingly wonderful not only in the development of this great land
of liberty but revolutionizing the whole commercial and social system of
the world.
Who hath known the mind of the Lord? We have been taught, that His
purpose is to glorify Himself through human agency, and we know that all
the great movements in history were originated in an insignificant way
by insignificant persons at the beginning. Who could say, at the time,
when the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and
there she drew out of the water an ark with a child in it, that that
child would be the chosen one of God to deliver his people from the
Egyptian bondage? Or, when, a poor carpenter with his wife went up from
Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea in a small village of
Bethlehem, and Mary brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in
swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room
for them in the inn; that that baby was the King of Kings, Christ the
Lord and Saviour of all mankind?
That, humble fishermen would be the heralds of glad tidings, to those
who accept Christ as their Saviour? That an altruist monk should leave
his monastery, thus violating his vows to Pope and the church, to be the
mouthpiece of the Truths of Christ's Gospel, and become the father of a
Reformation that brought down the Romish pride, for all time and raised
the banner of personal liberty in Him who is the Only One to save every
soul that cometh unto Him without the necessity of a priest? That such
men as John Wesley, Moody, and a number of others, to accomplish great
things for the advancement of God's kingdom? And the greatest religious
living man, General William Booth, who, with his ingenious and prototype
system, is doing more for God and humanity, than all religious bodies
put together? Their beginning was insignificant.
These names, a few of the many, I thought to mention for the
encouragement of those who always try to find some excuse, for not doing
all they can, to realize that for which they every day pray, "Thy
Kingdom come." As for me, I know, that there is nothing impossible with
Jesus, and it is only according to our faith, and the work which we put
in it, that we reap the results of our efforts.
When I left New York, I made a short stop-over at New Jersey, and one
snowy morning I went to the R. R. station and purchased my ticket for
Athens, Ohio, because, in st
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