St. Landry democrat., 1885-11-14

half-the half was not told her. So religion
is always a surprise to any n that gets
il. The story of ~grace-an old story
Apostles preached it with rattle OF
chains; martyrs declared it with arm
of fire; death-beds have affirmed it
with visions of glory, and ministers OF re-
Iigion have sounded it through the lanes
and highways and the chapels and the
cathedraIs. 1t has been cut into stone with
chisel, and spread on the canvas with pen
Gil: and it has been recited in the doxology
of great congregations. And yet when a
man first comes to look on the palace Of
Gods mercy, and to see the royalty OF
| Christ and the wealth of this banquet, and
the luxuriance of his attendants, and the
loneliness Of his face, and the joy of his
| service, he exclaims, with prayers, with
| tears, with ongs, with triumphs: '"The
| half-the half was not told mel" l APP
peal to those in this house who are Chris
tians. Compare the idea you had Of the
ioy of the Christian life before you be-
came a Christian with the apprecla-
ton of that joy you have now since you
have become a Christian, and you
are willing to attest before angels and men
that you never in the days of your
spiritual bondage had any appreciation of
what was to come. You are ready to-day
to answer, and if l gave you an opportunl-
ty in the midst of this assemblage, you
would speak out and say in regard to the
discoveries you have made of the mercy,
and the grace, and the goodness of o
1.-THE half-the half was not told mew
| Well, we hear a great deal about the good
time that is coming to this world, when it
is to be girded with salvation. Holiness
on the bells of the horses. The lions name
patted by the hand of a babe.
Ships of Tarshish bringing cargoes
for Jesus, and the hard, dry, barren,
winter bleached, storm-scarred, thunder
split rock, breaking into floods OF
bright water. Deserts into which drome-
daries thrust their n~ostrils, because they
were afraid of the simoo m; deserts bl loom
ing into carnation roses and silver-tipped
lilies. 1t is the old story. Everybody tells
it. Isaiah told it, John told it, Paul told
it. Ezekiel told it, Luther told it, Calvin
told it, John Milton told it, everybody tells
it: and yet-and yet when the midnight
shall fy the hills, and Christ shall marshal
his great army, and China, flashing her
idols into the dust, shall hear the voice of
God and wheel into line; and India, de-
stroying her iuggernaut and snatching up
her little children from the Ganges, shall
hear the voice of God and wheel into line;
and v~ine-covered Italy and wheat
crowned Russia, and all the nations of
the earth, shall hear the voice of
God and fall into line; then the Church,
which has been toiling and strug-
Cling through the centuries, robed and
garlanded like a bride adorned for her
husband, shall put aside her veil and look
up into the face of her Lord and King and
say: s'The half-the half was not told
me!n
Well, there is coming a greater surprise
to every Christian-a greater surprise than
anything / have predicted. Heaven is an
old story. Everybody talks about it.
There is hardly a hymn in the h%ymn-book
that does not refer to it. Children read
about it in their Sabbath-school book.
Aged men put on their spectacles to study
it. We say it is a harbor from the storm.
We call it our home. We say it is the
house of many mansions. We weave to-
gether all sweet, beautiful, delicate, ex-
hilarant words; we weave them into LETT
tiers, and then we spell it out in rose and
lily and amaranth. And yet that place
is going to be a surprise to the most
intelligent Christi In. Like the Queen of
Sheba, the report has come to us from the
far country, and many of US have started.
1t is a desert march, but we urge on the
camels. What though our feet be blistered
with the way? We are Fastening to the
palace. We take all our loves and hopes
and Christian ambitions, as frankincense
and myrrh and ~cassia, to the great King.
We must not rest. We must not halt. The
night is coming on, and it is not safe out
here in the desert. Urge on the camels.
see the domes against the sky, andgthe
houses of Lebanon, and the temples, and
the gardens. See the fountains 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 n franklin
cense and myrrh, and put it upon a censor
and swing it before the altar" And yet
my friends, when Heaven bursts upon us
it viii be q greater surprise b that-Je'
sus on the throne and we made like him
All our Christian friends surrounding MS
in glory! All our sorrows and tears and
sins gone by forever! The thousands Of
thousands, the one hundred and forty and
four thousand, the great multitudes that
no man can number, viii cry world with
!, out end: 4sThe half-the half was not told
usw
A Delicate Insinuation.
Texas siftings.1
Mrs. Longcofin, of Austin, has beer
limiting to Judge Pennybunker, who is Ole