The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-10-23

BY all meansi Hundreds Of them. thousands
OF them and the more the better. But let
each one be blaze Of heavenly light making
the world brighter and brighter till the last
shadow has disappeared, and the last of the
suffering children of God shall have reached
the land where they have no need Of candle
| stick or ''of candles, neither light of the sun,
for the Lord God giveth them light and they
shall reign forever and ever"
Turn now in your Bible to the seven stars.
We are distinctly told that they are the minis
tiers OF religion. Some OF them are large stars,
some OF them small stars, some OF them sweep
a wide circuit and some Of them small cir
cult, but so far as they genuine they get
their light from the great central sun around
whom they make revolution. Let each one
keep In his own sphere. The solar system
would soon be wrecked If the stars instead of
keeping their own orbit should 90 to hunting
down other stars. Ministers OF religion should
never clash. But in Gil the centuries Of the
| Christian church some OF these stars have
been hunting an Edward Irving or a Horace
| Bushnell or an Albert Barnes and the stars
that were in pursuit Of the other stars lost
their own orbit and some Of them could never
| again find II. Alas for the hcTesY hunters !!
| The best way 10 destroy error Is 70 preach the
truth. The best way TO scatter darkness is to
strike light There is in immensely room
enough for all the stars, and in the church
room enough for all the clergymen. The
ministers who give up righteous
ness and the truth will get
| punishment enough anyhow, for they are "the
| wandering stars for whom is reserved the
blackness OF darkness forever" But / should
like as a minister whom am dying TO be able
trutfuly TO say what a captain of the English
army, fallen at the head of his column and
dying on the Egyptian battlefield, said to
General Wellesley who came to condole with
him: II lead them straight; didn't lead them
straight, generalY' God has put us ministers
as captains in this battlefield of truth against
error. Great at last viii be chagrin ii we
fall leading the people the wrong way; but
over, we can hand sword back to our
great Commander, saying: "Lord Jesus We
lead the people straight; didn't we lead
them straight" Those ministers who go off
are not stars but comets, and they
flash across the heavens little
while and make people stare, and
throw down a few meteoric stones, and then
go out OF sight If not out of existence. Oh,
brethren in the ministry, let us remember that
God calls us stars, and our business is to shine
and keep our own sphere, and then when we
get done trying 70 light up the darkness of
this world we VIII wheel into higher spheres,
and in us shall be fulfilled the promise "they
that turn many to righteousness shall shine as
the stars forever and ever" All! the misfor-
tunes arc not all Pecksniffs and cantng hypo.
critics, as some would have you think Forgive
me, II having in your presence at other times
glorifed the medical profession aud the legal
profession and the literary profession-I glOr-
ify my own. / have seen them in their homes
and heard them in their pulpits and grander
array Of men never breathed, and the Bible
figure Is not strained when it calls them
stars; and whole consultations OF glorious
ministers have already taken their places on
high, whore they shine even brighter than
they shone on earth: Edward n. Kirk, of the
Congregational church; Stephen III. Tying, of
the Episcopal church, Matthew Simpson, of
the Methodist church John Bowling, of tho
Baptist church: Samuel X Talmage, of the
Presbyterian church; Dr. Dewitt, of the Re-
formed church John Chambers. of the indie
pendent church; and there ! stop. for it SO
happens that have mentioned the seven stars
OF the seven churches.
pass on to another mighty Bible seven, ard
they are the seven seals. st. John in vision
saw scroll with seven seals, and he heard an
angel cry WHO is worthy to loose the seals
thereof2' Take eight or ten sheets OF fools
cap paper, paste them together and roll Thorn
into II scroll and have the scroll at seven diff
erent places sealed with sealing wax. You I'M
roll tho scroll TIL you come TO one q
these seals and then you go no
further until you break that seal; then unroll
again until You come to another seal and You
can go 10 further until you break that seal
then you go on until all the seven seals are
broken, and the cor lents OF the entire scroll ia
revealed. Now, 4 Mt scroll with seven seals
held by the angel Was the prophecy of what
was to come on the earth; 1t meant that the
knowledge of the future was with God, and no
man and no angel was worthy 10 open il but
the seven seals. He broke tho first seal and
unroed the scroll, and there was pantingof
white horse, and that meant prosperity and
triumph for the Roman empire and so it
really came to pass that for ninety years vir-
tuous emperors succeeded each ether
Nerva, Trajan and Antonnus. Christ
in the vision broke the second
seal and unrolled again, and there was q paint
ing of a red horse, and that meant bloodshed,
and so IL really came to pass, and the next
ninety years were red with aSsasSinatons and
wars. Then Christ broke the third seal and
unroled it, and there was a painting of a
black horse, which in all literature, means
famine, oppression and taxation; and so it
really came TO pass. Christ went on until He
broke all the seven seals and opened all tho
scroll Well, the future OF all OF It's is Il sealed
SCROLL and am glad that 40 one but Christ
can open Il. DO not let us Join that class Of
Christians in our day who are trying to break
the seven seals OF the future. They are trying
to peep into things they have no business with.
They try to foretell what is going TO como TO
them, and what is going 10 come en- the
earth They know nothing about it.
Christ is the only one who can
break the seal of the future. Bible
prophecy was not written TO help us tell
things in the future, but to have us. when tho
things actually do,come to pass. compare them
with prophecy and so learn Gods foreknowl-
edge ana the inspiration of tho Scriptures.
But YOU so into the study of the prophecies in
order TO find out what is going to happen a
year loul now OF twenty years from now, or
one thousand years from now, and will make
u prophecy OF my own, and that is that you
will have Your brain added, il you do not pos
itiycly get into public or private iinsane asy-
lum, where the greatest of expoundors and
preachers Of prophesy ended his life few
years since, and where you may regale tho
visitors of the institution by incoherent numb
lings over something from Daniel or
Revelations about the leopard which means
Greece ard the bear Switch means Medic Persia
and the image with the great tees What a
mental wreck did che persistant attempt TO
fonstal events mako OF that rniricle of preach
ers Edward Irving, of London, Ii would take
several mad-houses 10 hold the demented vic
Tins ol the improper use of the prophecies OF
Daniel and Revelations, What are not those
books to be stndiedP Yes. No part of the
Bible Is more important Neither is there
any more important shelf in tho apothecary
shop than the shelf on which are the
belladonna and tho morphine, but be moro
careful IN using them than in the use OF pepper
mint and ginger. Keep your hands of OF the
seven seals. Christ will break them soon
| enough. Don't 20 60 some nccromancer or
= sliritualst or socthsayer or fortune teller 70
! find ont what Is going 10 happen 80 yourself,
! or YOUR family, or Your friends Mint all