The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-12-02

up In these cran1ped apartments, tired II We
walk fifteen miles, when they some morning
by one stroke of wing can make circuit OF the
whole solar system, and be back in time for
mathis. Perhaps yoDder twinkling constel-
lation is the residence OF the martyrs. Per-
haps that group Of eleven luminaries Is the
celestial home Of the eleven apostles. Per-
haps that steep Of light IS the d~welling-place
Of angels cherubic, serapbic, archangelic. A
mansion with as many rooms as worlds. and
all their windows illuminated for festfvity.
Ga, how this widens and Lifts and stimulates
our expectation. How little it makes the
present, and how stupendous 1t makes the flu.
fure. How it consoles US about our pious
dead. that instead of being boxed up and
under the ground, they have the range Of as
many. rooms as there are worlds, and vel.
come everywhere, for it is the fathers house
IN which there are many mansions, Oh,
Lord God Of the Seven Stars and Orion, how
can l endure the transport, the ecstasy Of such
a vision. l must obey my text and seek him.
I will seek him. I seek him now, for I call to
mind that it Is not the material universe that
is most valuable, but the spiritual, and that
each Of US has a soul worth moro than all the
worlds which the inspired herdsmen saw away
from his booth on the hills of Tekoa. I had
stndied it before, but the cathedral at Cologne,
Germany, dever impressed me as 1t did this
summer. 1t is admittedly the grandest
Gothic structure in the world, its foundation
laid in 124S, only two or three years ago com.
pleted. More than 600 years in building. All
Europe taxed for its construction. Its chapel
Of the magi with precious stones enough to
purchase a kingdom. Its chapel Of st. Agnes
with masterpieces Of painting. Its spire
springing sill feet into the heavens. Its
stained glass the chorus Of all rich colora.
Statues encircling the pillars and encircling
all. Statues above statues, until sculpture
can do no more, but faints and falls back
against carved stalls and down on pavements
over which the kings and queens Of the earth
have walked to confessional; nave and aisles
and transept and portals combining the
%splendors Of centuries; interlaced, interfoli
ated, inter-columned grandeur. As I stood
outside looking at the double range of flying
buttresses and the forest Of ~pinnacles, higher
and higher until I almost reeled from dizzi-
ness, I exclaimed: ''Great doxology in stonel
Frozen prayer Of many nationsp But while
standing their I saw q poor man enter and
put down his pack and kneel beside his
burden on the hard floor of that cathedral
And tears Of deep emotion anne into my
eyes as Isaid to myself: ''Ihere is soul worth
more than all the material surroundings.
That man will live after the last pinnacle has
fallen and not one stone Of all that cathe-
draled glory shall remain uncrumbled. he
Is now q Lazarus in rags and poverty and
WEAKNESS, but immortal, and a son Of the
Lord God Almighty, and the prayer he now
offers, though amid many superstitions, I be-
lieve God will hear, and among the Apostles
whose sculptured forms stand in the surround
ing inches, he will at last be lifted and into
the presence Of that Christ whose sulferings
are represented by the cruciix before which
he bows, and be raised in due time out of all
his poverties into the glorious home built for
him and built for us by Him who maketh
the Seven Stars and OriOn.n g..