The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-07-06

OuTlsBldn dQmOnALlOu- DO not WalE until
You can make formal speech. Address
the one next to you. You will not go
home alone to-day. Between this and
your place of stopping you may decide
the eternal destiny of an immortal spirit.
Just one sentence may do the work. Just
one question. Just one look. The formal
talk that begins with sigh and ends with
a canting shuttle is not what is wanted,
but the heart throb of a man in dead
earnest. There is not a soul on earth that
you may not bring to God if you rightly
go at it. They SAID Gibraltar could net
be taken. 1t is q rock one thousand six
hundred feet high and three miles long.
But the English and Dutch did take it.
Artillery, Snd sappers and miners, and
fleets pouring out vOlleys of death, and
thousands Of men, reckless Of danger, can
dc any thing. The stoutest heart OF sin,
though it be rock, and surrounded by an
ocean of transgressiOn, under Christian
Commandment may be made to hoist the
flag of redemption.
But is all this admOnition, and prayer,
and Christian work for nothing9 My
text promises to all the faithful, eternal
Iuster
They that turn many t. righteousness shall
shine as the stars forever.
As stars, the redeemed have a borrowed
light What makes Mars, and Venus, and
Jupiter so luminOusS When the sun
throws down his torch in the heavens, the
stars pick up the scattered brands, and
hold them in procession as the queen Of
the night advances; so all Christian work
ers standing around the throne will shine
in the light borrowed from the sun of
righteousness in their faces, Jesus
i'll their songs, Jesus in their triumph.
Christ left Heaven once for tour of re-
demptiOn on earth, yet the glorifed ones
knew He would come back again. But let
Him abdicate His throne, and go away to
stay forever, the music would stop, the con-
gregation dispense, the temples of God be
darken5 the rivers of light stagnate.
and every chariot would become hearse,
and every bell would toll; end there
would not be room on the hillsides to
bury the dead of the great metropolis, for
there would be pestilence In Heaven.
But Jesus lives, and so all the redeemed
live with Him. He shall recognize them
as His comrades In earthly toll, and re-
member what they did for the honor OF
His name and for the spread of His
kingdom. All their prayers and tears
| and work will rise be. Nre Him as He
| looks into their faces, and He will divide
| His kingdom with them; His peace, their
| peace; His holiness, their holiness; His
| JOY, their joy. The glory of the central
| throne reflected from the surrounding
! thrones, the last spot of sin struck from
a-tremble and a-hash with light, they
/ shall shine as the stars forever and ever.
Again, Christian workers shall be like
| the stars IN the fact that they have light
| independent of each other. Look up at
| the night, and see each world show its
| distinct glory. 1t is not like the cOnfa-
| grafton, - which you can not tell where
one flame stops and another begins.
| Neptune, Herschel and Mercury are as
( ct Of he
! only star; so our individualism will not be
| lost in Heaven. A great multitude-yet
| each one as observable, as distinctly rec
| ognized, as greatly celebrated, as if in all
/ the space, from gate to gate, and from
/ hill. to hill he were the only inhabitant;
no mixing up-nO mOb--no indiscriminate
| rush, each Christian standing illustrious
all the story of earthly achievement
| adhering to each ono; his self-denials
| and pains, and services, and victories
| published. Before men went out to the
| war the orators told them that they
/ would all be remembered by their coun-
/ try, and their nam es be commence
| rated in poetry and song; but go to the
| graveyard in Richmond, and you will find
| there six thousand graves, over each one
| of which is the inscription: unknown"
/ The world does not remember its heroes,
1 but there will be no unrecOgnized Chris
! tian worker in Heaven. Each one known
| by all, grandly known; known by accla-
/ nation; all the past story of work for
| God cleaning in cheek, and brow. and
| foot, and palm. They shall shine with
| distinct light as the stars, forever and
| ever.
Again, Christian workers shall shine
/ like the stars in clusters. In looking up,
| you find the worlds in family circles.
| Brothers and sisters-they take hold Of
each others hands and dance in groups.
| Orion in a group. The Preiades in a
| group. The solar system is only COM
| pany of children, with bright faces, gath
cred around one great fireplace. The
worlds do not struggle off. They go in
squadrons and fleets, sailing through i'm
mensity.
/ So Christian workers in Heaven will
| dwell in neighborhoOds and clusters. am
/ sure that some people I will like in Heaven
a great deal better than others. Yonder
is a constellation of stately Christians.
| They lived on earth by rigid rule. They
never laughed. They walked every hour,
| anxious lest they should lose their Dig
| nifty. But they loved God; and yonder
| they shine in brilliant constellation. Yet
1 shall not long to get into that particular
| group. YOnder is a constellation of
| small hearted NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in
the eternal astronomy. While some souls
go up from Christian battle, and blaze
| like Mars, these asteroids dart feeble
| ray like Vesta. YOnder is a conste llation
| of martyrs, of apostles, of patriarchs.
| Our souls, as they go up to Heaven, will
seek out the most cOngenial So
! ciety. Yonder is a constellation almost
merry with the play of light. On earth
they were full Of sympathies, and songs,
| and tears, and raptures, and cOngratuIa-
tions. When they prayed their words
took fire; when they sang, the tune could
/ n OF hold them; when they wept over a
/ worlds woes, they sobbed as If heart
! broken; when they worked for Christ,
| them famed with enthusiasm. Yonder
! they are-circle of light! Constellation
| of ioyl Galaxy of fret Oh, that you and
| /, by that grace which can transform the
worst into the best might at last sail in
| the wake Of that fleet, and wheel in that
! glorious group, as the stars, forever and
ever.
! Again, Christian workers will shine like
! the stars in swiftness of motion. The
! worlds do not stop to shine. There are
| no fixed stars save as to relative position.
The star most thoroughly fixed flies thou
sands of miles minute. The astronomer,
using his telescope for an Alpine stock,
| leaps from world crag to world crag, and
finds no star standing still. The chamOis
hunter has to fly to catch his prey, but not
so swift is his game as that which the
| scientist tries to shoot through the tower
Of observatory. Like petrels, mid-Atlan-
tic, that seem to come from no shore and
/ be bound to no landing place-fying, fly
ing-sO these great hocks of worlds rest
not as they go-wing and wing-age after
| age-fOrever and ever. The eagle hastes
to its prey, but we shall in speed beat the
| eagles You have noticed the velocity Of
| the swift horse under whose feet the miles
! slip like a smooth ribbon. and as he
! passes the four hOOfs strike the earth in
! such quick beat your pulses take the same
| vibration. But all these things are not
swift in comparison with the motion of