St. Paul daily globe., 1890-08-25
THE SEVEN WONDERS
Contrasted with the Wonders of

Christianity of To-Day.
At Westminster Presbyterian church
last evening Rev. D. j. Bulrell preached
from the text: Mediate on these
things" l Tim, iv:15.
+ The speaker began by referring to
the seven wonders of the world, namely:
The pyramids, the mausoleum, the
statue of Jupiter at Olympia, the tenn
pie of Diana at Ephesus, the hanging
gardens of Semiramls, the Colossus of
Rhodes and the Pharos of Alexandria.
He used these, however, merely by way
of illustrating the fact that in the prov
ince of spiritual things there are won
ders beyond all comprehension. Of
these, seven were enumerated and
dwelt upon.
v FirSt-A crown without claimant.
Whose? Yours. Every man is born to
inherit kingdom; but there are multi
tudes who, unmindful of their native
nobility, spend their lives in sordid pur-
suits. With the possibilities of king
dom before them they live mean, un-
worthy life.
SecOnd-A secret sin. 1t is great
wonder that we should be continually
doing things that will not bear the
light, when we know, on moments re-
Fiction, that there is nothing hid that
our iniquities before him, our secret
sins in the light of his countenance."
Third-A bad mans laugh. We hear
1t on every side; the merry-making of
those about to perish. Prisoners do not
crack jokes on the way to execution,
but hang their heads and give tokens
Of fear and remOrse. How is it then
that impentent sinners, going to judg-
ment, condemned already" and with
out hope. can be light-hearted and ap-
parently unconscious of danger?
Strange delusiOn.
Fourth-A Christians groan. There
Is nothing stranger than that. One
would suppose that man who believed
his sins to be forgiven and heaven as
sured to him for ever and ever would be
as happy as happy could be; but there
are some most melancholy people among
the professed followers of Christ. How
shall we account for it?
Fifth-A tattered livery. Whose is
this? 1t belongs to man who is eX-
pectlng to attend a marriage supper at
the palace of the great king. Does he
propose to wear it on that occasion?
Oh, yes; he has prepared and is taking
special care of it for that purpose. Has
he nothing better to wear? He might
have, for the king himself has provided
robes Tor the wedding; DuC this man
prefers his own. And what is this tat
tered livery? Self-righteousness. There
are some self-righteous people in the
church, and many more out of it, The
most self-righteous people in the world
are those who decline to 60 into the
church because protesting Christians
are so inconsistent. They are too good
to associate with these wretched follow
ers of Christ.
Sixth-A specter; 'the King of Ter
Iors." 1t is a great wonder that men
born to live forever in world of higher
tasks and pleasures should malign the
good angel who comes to take them
Fhither. "Why should we start and
fear to die?" There is something
wrong. Let us live we'll, that we may
welcome our promotion.
Seventh-An averted face. My face,
and yours, averted from the Christ who
came to redeem US. Strangest wonder
of all 1--WE hid, as it were, our faces
from Him, The spirits of the lost must
be lost in amaZement at their folly in
rejecting Christ. Let us turn our faces
toward Him. 10 see Him is to know
Him as the chiefest among ten thou
sand and the one altogether lovely"