"Son of God, thy people's shield;
Must we still thine absence mourn?
Let thy promise be fulfilled;
Thou hast said, I will return.
"As a woman counts the days
Till her absent lord she see,—
Mourns and watches, weeps and prays,
So thy church will weep for thee!"
As the father led my horse out for me to mount, he said, "We thank you
for coming." Then, as I was gathering up the reins, "I suppose you have
never noticed what the Bible says about the railroad cars being a sign
of the times? Our ministers are dreadfully in the dark about the day we
live in!"
"Ah! is it possible that the cars are predicted; what prophecy is that?"
"In Nahum, second chapter, third and fourth verses," he answered,
taking out his well-thumbed pocket Bible, and proceeding to expound,
with much inward comfort, as he read,—
"'The chariots,' that's the cars, 'shall be with flaming torches,'—that
describes them as they appear at night; 'the chariots shall rage in the
streets,'—the tracks are laid right in the street; 'they shall jostle
one against another in the broad ways,'—how they strike together when
they are about to stop, or to start again, being hitched one to the
other; 'they shall seem like torches,'—in the night; 'they shall run
like the lightnings,'—going at the rate of twenty or more miles an
hour; 'he shall recount his worthies,'—that means the conductor taking
the tickets, and making sure that all have paid their fare; 'they shall
stumble in their walk,'—none who have rode in the cars have failed to
see and experience how difficult it is to go about when the train is in
motion. And this," he added, triumphantly, "is to be fulfilled,—when?
'In the day of his preparation,'—that is, when God is preparing to
judge the world."
"But are you sure," said I, "that the prophet meant to paint the
steam-cars of our day?"
"Certainly; doesn't he say—"
"How, then, does it happen that he announces that this prophecy relates
to the city of Nineveh, which has been destroyed thousands of years?
as in the first verse, he calls it 'The burden of Nineveh.' And how is
it that these 'chariots,' or cars, as you term them, he describes as
having wheels, and being drawn by horses, driven by the whip, as in the
third chapter, second verse? 'The noise of a whip, and the noise of
the rattling of wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping
chariots.'"
He stood in silence a moment, then said, "I don't know. I haven't had
any light on that yet."
"Well," said I, "when you get the light, don't hide it under a bushel,
but be sure and let the clergy have the benefit of it!" And consenting,
at his request, to preach at his house in a fortnight, I rode on.
"Well, elder," said my Methodist friend, as I alighted at his door on
my return, "not a limb broken, eh? But you had to swim the river! Guess
you didn't get much of a fee though, did you?"
"Never better paid in my life,—what's my bill for Black Hawk?"
"Well, seeing you feel so 'rich,' I think I shan't charge you any thing
this time. All is, I'm glad you've got back safe and sound."