The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-11-08

nuIuoer ol lRhtS! Let your ngnt so shlne
before men that they seeing your good works
may gorffy your Father which is in heaven" 1"
Turn now in your Bible to the seven stars.
We are distinctly told that they are the min
listers OF religion. Some OF them are large
stars, some OF them small stars some OF them
sweep wide circuit and some OF them
small circuit, but so far as they are genuine
they get their hight from the great central
sun around whom they make revolution.
Let each one keep his own sphere The
solar system would soon be wrecked II the
stars instead of keeping their own orbit
should go to hunting down other stars.
Ministers Of religion should never clash.
But in all the centuries of the Christ ian
Church some Of these stars have been hunt
ing an Edward Irving or a Horace Bush
nell or an Albert Barnes; and the stars
that were In pursuit of the other
some Of them could never again fini il. 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 a light
There is in immensity room enough for all
tine stars, and IN the church room enough for
all the ministers. The ministers who give
up Righteousness 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 minister when | am dying to
be able truthfuly to say what captain of
the English army, fallen at the head of his col
umn, and dying on the Egyptian battlefield,
said to Gen. Wellesley, who came to condole
with him: ~ led them straight; didn't ! lead
them straight Generall' God hns put us
ministers as captains in this battlefield Of
truth against error Great at last will be our
chagrn il we fall leading the people the
wrong way; but great will be our giadness
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 we lead them straightr
Those ministers who 60 Off at a tangent and
preacn some other gospel are not stars but
comets, and they flash across the heavens
little while and make people stare, and throw
down a lew 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 to
keep our own sphere, and then when we get
done trying to light up the darkness of this
and In us shall be fulfilled the promi ,e
they that turn many to Righteousness
shall shine as the stars forever and
ever" All the ministers are not all Peck
shifts and canting hypocritles, as some
would have you think Forgive me il, hav
ing in your presence at other times gloritied
the medical profession and the legal profess
y
my own. have seen them in their homes
and heard them in their pulpits, and a
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 where they shine even brighter
than they shone on earth. Edward N. Kirk,
OF the Congregational Church; Stephen H.
Tying, of the Episcopal Church; Matthew
of fha of or N
Dowling, Of the Baptist Church; Samuel K.
Talmage, of the Presby terian Church; DR..
Dewitt, 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 scroll with seven seals, and he heard
an angel cry: "Who is worthy to loose the
seals thereof" Take eight or ten sheets
OF foolscap paper, paste them together and
roll them into scroll, and have the scroll
at seven different places sealed with
sealing wax. You unroll the scroll till you
come to one of these seals, and then you can
go no further until you break that seal; then
unroll again until you come to another sea-
and you can go no further until you break
that seal; then you go on until all the
seven seals are broken, and the contents
of the entire scroll are revealed
Now, that scroll with seven seals held by the
on the earth, it meant that the knowledge Of
the future was with God, and no man ana no
angel was worthy to open it, but the Bible
says Christ opened it and broke all the seven
seals. He broke the first seal and un
rolled the scroll, and there was c
painting of a white horse, and that meant
prosperity and triumph for the Roman
empire, and so it really came to pass that fol
ninety years vrtuous emperors succeeded
Christ in the vision broke the second seal anc
unrolled again and there was painting of I
red horse, and that meant bloodshed, anC
so it really came to pass, and the next ninety
| years were red with assassinations and wars
| Then Christ broke the third seal and un
| rolled it and there was painting of a blacl
| horse, which in all literature means fam
| inc, oppression and taxation and so j
| really came to pass. Christ went OF
until He broke all the seven seals ant
opened all the SCROLL Well the future of al
| Of lis is sealed scroll, and am glad that NJ
| one but Christ can open it. Do not let u
| join that class of Christians in our day whit
are trying to break the seven seals of tn,
future. They are trying to peep int
things they have no business with. The,
| try to foretell what is going to com
/ to them and what is going to come on tn
| earth. They know nothing about it, Chris
| is the only one who can break the seal of tn
| future Bible prophecy was not written t.
| help us to tell things in the future, but t.
have us, when the things actually d.
come to pass compare them with prophec!
and so learn Gods foreknowledge and the in
spiration of the Scriptures. But you e
into the study of the prophecies in orde
to find out what is going to happen yeal
from now, or twenty years from now, or ON
thousand years from now, and I vii
make prophecy of my own, anc
that s2an is ,assd that YOU will Ion have DC y9@
positively get into public or private nsan
asylum, where the greatest Of expounder
and preachers OF prophecy ended his life
few years since, and where you may regale thu
visitors of the Institution bv incoherent mum
olings over something from Daniel or kevela
lions about the leopard which means Greece
and the bear which means Medo- Persia
and the image with the great toes. What
mental wreck did the persistent attempt t.
forestall events make of that miracle 0
preachers Edward Irving, of London. J
would take several mad-house to hold tn
demented victims of the improper use o
the Prophecies Of Daniel and Revelation
What are not those books =
be studied Yes. No part of th
Bible is more important Neither IS ther
|
store than the shelf on which are the bella
donna and the morphine, but be more care
full in using them than in the use OF pepper
mint and ginger. Keep your hands off of tn
seven seals. Christ will break them 500
enough Don't go to some necromancer o
spirItualist or soothsayer or fortune teller I
find out what is going to happen to yourself
or your family, or your friends, Wait ti
Christ breaks the seal to find out whether u
your own personal life or the HE o
the nation or the life of the world
it is going to be the white horse o
prosperity or the red horse of war
the black horse of famine. You VIII sooi
enough see him paw and hear him neigh
Take care of the present and the future wa
take care of itself If a man live sevent
years, his biography is in a scroll having a
least seven seals; and let him not during til
first ten years of life try TO look into IN
twentieS, nor the twentits into tn
thlrties, nor the thirties into the fortles no
the forties into the fifties. nor the ffties int
the sixties, nor the sixties into the seventies
From the way the years have got the hahl
of racing along, l guess you will not hay
to wait a great while before all th
seals OF the future ara broken.