St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-07


such QUICK k..~. roar pulses take the same
vibrau1on. But all these things are not
swift in comparison with the motion OF
which I speak. The moon moves fifty
four thousand miles in day. 4onder,
Neptune flashes on eleven thousand miles
in an hour. Yonder, Mercury goes one
hundred and nine thousand miles in
an hour. SO, like the stars, the Christian
worker shall shine in swiftness OF
motion. You hear now Of father, OF
mother, or child sick one thousand miles
away, and it takes you two days to get to
them. You hear of some cases Of suffer-
ing that demands your immediate atten-
ton. but it takes you an hour to get there.
Oh. the joy when you shall, in fulfllment
of tho text take starry speed, and be
equal to one hundred thousand miles ON
hour. Having on earth got used to
Christian work, you will not quit when
death strikes you. You will only take on
more velocity. There is dying child In
London, and its spirit must be taken up
to God: YOU are there in an instant to do
it. There is young man in New York to
be arrested from going into that gate OF
sin: you are there in an instant to arrest
him. Whether with spring Of foot, or
stroke Of wing, or by the force of sons
new law that shall hurl you to the spot
where you would go, know not; but my
text suggests velocity. All space open
before you, with nothing to hinder you Ill
mission of light. and love, and JOY, you
shall shine in swiftness of motion as tho
stars, for ever and ever.
Again, Christian workers, like the stars
shall shine in magnitude. The most
illiterate man knows that these things in
the sky, looking like gilt buttons, are
great masses of matter. To weigh them.
one would think that it would requirs
scales with pillar hundreds Of thousands
of miles long, and at the bottom of the
chains basins on either side hundreds OF
thousands of miles wide, and that then
Omnipotence alone could put the mount
aims into the scales and the hills into the
balance. But puny man has been equal
to the undertaking, and has pulled out his
measuring line and announced that Her,
schel ise thirty-six thousand miles In
diameter, Saturn seventynine thousand
miles in diameter, and Jupiter eighty
nine thousand miles in diameter, and
that the smallest pearl on the beach OF
Heaven is immense beyond all imaglna-
ton. So all they who have toiled for
Christ on earth shall rise up to magni-
tude Of privilege, and magnitude OF
strength. and magnitude of holiness,
and magnitude of joy; and the weakest
saint in glory become greater than all we
can now imagine of an archangel.
Brethren, it doth not yet appear what
we shall be-. Wisdom that shall know
every thing; wealth that shall possess
every thing; glory that shall scircumscrlbe
every thing! We shall not be like taper
set in sick mans window, or bundle
of sticks kindled on ehe beach to warm
shivering crew; but you must take the
diameter and the circumference of the
world if you would get any idea OF the
greatness Of our estate when we shall
shine as the stars, forever and ever.
Lastly, and coming to this point nay
mind almost breaks down under tho con-
templation-like the Stars, all Christian
workers shall shine in duration. The
same stars that look down upon US looked
down upon the Chaldean shepherds. Ths
meteor that | saw flashing across the sky
the other night, wonder if it is not the
same one that pointed down to where
Jesus lay in the Manager, and If, having
pointed out his birthplace, it has aevsr
since been wandering through the
heavens, watching to. see how the world
would treat him. When Adam awoke In
the garden in the cool of the day he saw
coming out through the dusk of the even
ing the same worlds that greeted US On
our way to church to- night.
In Independence Hall is an old cracked
bell that sounded the signature OF tho
Declaration of Independence. You can
not ring it now; but this great chime Of
silver bells that strike in the dome Of
night ring out with as sweet q tone as
when God swung them at the creation.
Look up at night, and know that the
white lilies that bloom in all the hanging
gardens Of our King are century plants
not blooming once in hundred years,
but through all the centuries.
The star at which the man liner looks to-
night was the light by which the ships OF
Tarshish were guided across the Medi-
terranean and the Venetian fiotilla found
its way into Lepanto. Their armor Is as
bright o-night as when, in ancient bat
tle, the stars in their courses fought
against Sisera. To the ancients the stars
were symbols of eternity. But here the
figure Of my text breaks down-not in de-.
feat, but in the majesties of the judgment.
The stars shall not shine forever. The
Bible says they shall fall like autumn al
leaves. 1t is almost impossible for
q man to take in a courser going mile In
three minutes; but God shall take in tho
worlds, flying hundred thousand miles
an hour. by one pull of his little finger.
AS, when the factory band slips at night
fall from the main wheel, all the smaller
wheels slacken their speed, and with
slower and slower motion they turn until
they come to a full stop, SO this great ma
chinery of the universe, wheel within
wheel, making revolution Of appalling
speed, shall by the touch Of Gods hand
slip the band Of present law and slacken
and stop. That is what will be the mat
ter with the mountains. The chariots
in which they ride shall halt SO suddenly
that the kings shall be thrown out.
Star after star shall be carried out
to burial amid funeral torches AMI
| burning worlds. Consultations shall
throw, ashes on their heads. and all up
and down the highways of space there
shall be mourning. mourning, mourning,
because the worlds are dead. But the
Christian workers shall never quit their
thrones-they shall reign forever and
ever. If, by some invasion from hell, the
attempt were made to carry them off into
captivity from Heaven, the souls they
| have saved would rally for their defense,
and all the angels of Gos would strike
with their scepters, and the redeemed, on