Milford chronicle., 1888-10-26

phyry and sixty columns Of green
jasper; nine bronze doors with alto-relevo-
work fascinating to the eye Of any artist;
vases and vestments incrusted with oil man
ner Of precious stones. Four walls on fire
with indescribable splendor. Though labor
was cheap, the building cost one million 1--WE
hundred thousand dollars. Ecclesiastical
structure almost supernatural in pomp
and majesty. But Mohammedanisn tore
down from the walls Of that building all
the sanity and Christly images, and
high up in the dome the figure Of the cross
was rubbed out that the crescent of the bar
barous Turk might be substituted. A great
church, but no Christi a gorgeous candle
stick, but no candlel Ten thousand such
churches would not give the world as much
light as one home made tallow candle by
which last night some grandmother In tho
eighties put on her glasses and read the
psalms Of David In largo type Up with tho
churches by ali meansT Hundreds OF them,
thousands Of them, and the more the better.
But let each one be a 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
candlestiek or "of candle, neither light Of
tho sun, for the Lord God giveth them
light and they shall reign forever
and ever" Seven candlestIcks, the com
pleto number Of lights! LET your light
so shine before mon that they seeing your
good works may glorify your Father which
IS in heaven"
THE SEVEN STARS.
Turn now in your Bible to the seven stars.
We are distinctly told that they are the min
isters Of religion. Some of them are largo
stars, some of them small stars, some OF them
sweep wide circuit and some Of them a
small circuit, but so far as they are 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 be soon wrecked if the
stars instead Of keeping their own orbit should
so to hunting down other stars, Minis
ters Of religion should never clash. But in
all the centuries Of the Christian church
some Of these stars have been hunting an Ed
ward Irving or q Horace Bushnell or an Al
bert Barnes; and the stars that were In pur.
suit Of the other stars lost their own orbit and
some Of them could never again find It. Alas
for the heresy huntersl The best way to de-
stroy error is to preach the truth. The best
way to scatter darkness Is to strike light
There Is in immensity room enough for all
the stars. and in the church room enough for
all the ministers The ministers who give up
Righteousness and the truth will get punish
ment enough anyhow, for they are 'the won
dering stars Or whom is reserved the black
ness Of darkness forever" But should like as
q minister when am dying to beable truth
fully to say what captain Of the English
army, fallen at the head Of his column and
dying on the Egyptian battlefield, said TO
Gen. Wellesley who came to condole with
him; II have led them straight; didn't lead
them straight, GeneralP God has put US
ministers as captains In this battlefield
Of truth against error. Great at last
will be our chagrin If we fall lead
ing tho people the wrong way; but great
will be our gladness IT, when the battle IS
over, We can hand our sword back TO our
great Commander, saying. Lord Jesusl We
led the people straight; didn't VIC lead them
straightr Those ministers who 60 of at q
tangent and preach some other gospel are
not stars but comets, and they flash across
the heavens a little while and make people
stare, and throw down few meteoric stones,
and then go out OF sight if not out of exist
enoe. Oh, brethren In the ministry, let US
remember that God calls US stars, and our
business is to shine and to keep our own
sphere and then when we got done trying to
light up the darkness Of this world, we will
wheel into higher spheres, and in us shall DO
fulfilled the promise ''they that turn many
to righteousness shall shine as the stars for
ever and ever" Ahl the ministers arc not
all Pecksniffs and canting hypocrites, as
some would have you think Forgive me, if
having in your presence at other times glo-
riied the medical profession, and the
legal profession, and the literary profession
glorify my own. have seen them in their
homes and heard them In their pulpits, and
a grander array Of men nSver breathed, and
the Bible figure is not strained when it calls
them stars; and whole consultations Of glo-
rious ministers have already taken their
places on high, where they shine even
brighter than they shone on earth; Edward
n Kirk, Of the Congregational church;
Stephen II. Tying, Of the Episcopal church;
Matthew Simpson, Of the Methodist church;
John Bowling, of the Baptist church; Sam
uel K. Talmage, of the Presbyterian church;
DR.. De Witt, Of the Reformed church; John
Chambers, Of the Independent 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,
and they are the seven seals. st. John in
vision saw a scroll with seven seals, and be
heard an angel cry; "Who is worthy to loose
the seals thereofF' Take eight or ten sheets
OF foolscap paper, paste them together and
roll them into a scroll, and have the scroll at
seven different places sealed with sealing
wax. You unron the scroll till you come TO
one of these seals, and then you can 60 no fur
ther until you break that seal; then unrOl
again until you come to another seal and you
F..-t hot IL
then you 60 on until all the seven seals are
broken, and the contents Of the entire scroll
is revealed. Now, that scroll with seven
seals held by tho angel was the prophecy
Of what was to come on the earth;
it meant that the knowledge Of the future
was Withhold, and no man and no angel was
worthy to open it; but the Bible says Christ
opened it and broke all the soven seals He
broke the first seal and unrolled the scroll,
and there was painting Of q white horse,
and that meant prosperity and triumph for
the Roman empire, and so it really came 10
pass that for ninety years virtuous emperors
succeeded each other, Nerva, Traian and An
tininus. Christ in the vision broke the
second seal and unrolled again and there was
a painting Of a red horse, and that meant
blOOdshed, and SO it really came to pass,
and the next ninety years were red with
assasinations and wars. Then Christ
broke the third seal and unrolled it
and there was painting Of a black horse,
which in all literature means famine, oppres-
sion and taxation; and so it really came to
pass. Christ went on until be broke all the
seven seals and opened all the scroll. Well,
the future Of all Of US Is a sealed scroll, and
am glad that no one but Christ can open it.
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 hsve no business with. They
try to foretell what Is going to come to
them andlwhat is going 70 come on 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 to
tell things in the future, but to
have us, when the things &C
frroflrr 40 r,n,o to v,ncr anr,nara than with