Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-02

the hard, dry, barren, winter-bleached,
storm-scarred, thunder-slit rock breaking
into floods OF bright water. Deserts into
which dromedaries thrust their nostrils
because they were afraid Of the simoOm /;
deserts blooming into carnation roses and
stVer-tipped lilies. 1t is the old story.
Everybody tells it. Isaiah told il, John
told 1t, Paul told 1t, Ezekiel told il, Luth-
er told it, Calvin told II, John Milton told
1t, every body tells It.; and yet-ahd vet
when the midnight shall fly the hills,
and Christ shall marshal his great army,
and China, dashing her idols into the
dust, shall hear the voice OF God and
wheel into line; and India, destroying
her luggernaut and snatching up her lit
tie children from the Ganges, shall hear
the voice OF God and wheel into line
and vine-covered Italy, and wheat-crown-
ed Russia, and all the nations OF the earth
shall hear the voice of God and fall into
line, then the church, which has been
torlng and struggling through the centu-
ries, robed and gArlanded like bride
adorned tor her husband, shall put aside
her veil and look up into the face Of her
Lord the King and say: "The half-the
half was not told mep'
Well, there is coming greater surprise
to every Christian--a greater surprise
than anything l have depicted. Heaven
Is an old story. Everybody talks about
1t. There is hardly a hymn in the hym-
book that does not refer to It. Children
read about II In their Sabbath school
book. Aged men put on their sDeetacles
to study it. We say IL is a narbor from
the storm. We call it our home. We say
IL Is the house of many mansions. We
weave together all sweet, beautiful, deli
cate, eXhilarant7 words; we weave.them
into letters, and then we spell it out in
rose and lily and amaranth. And yet
that place is going to be surprise to the
most intelligent Christian. Like the
Queen OF Sheba, the report has come
to us from the far country, and
many of us have started. IL Is
desert march, but we urge on the
camels. What though our feet be blls-
tered with the way, we are Fastening
to the palace. We take all our loves and
hopes and Christian ambitions. rs frank
incense and myrrh and cassia, to the great
King. We must not rest. We must not
halt. The night Is coming on and 1t is
not safe out here in the desert. Urge on
the camels. / see the domes against the
sky, and the houses OF Lebanon, and the
temples, and the gardens. See the fOun-
tains dance in the sun, and the gates flash
as they open TO let in the poor
pilgrims. Send the word up to the palace
that we are coming, and that we are weary
of the march Of the desert. The King
will come out and say: "Welcome TO the
palace; battle in these waters, recline on
these banks. Take this cinnamon and
frankincense and myrrh and put it upon
censer and swing it before the altar"
And yet, my friends, when heaven bursts
upon US it VIII be greater surprise than
that-Jesus on the throne and we made
like Him All our Christian friends sur
rounding us In glOryl All our sorrows
and tears and sins gone by fOreverl The
thousands OF thousands, the one hundred
aud forty and four thousand, the great
multitude that no man can number, VIII
cry, world without end: "The halt-the
half was not told us.'