The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-01-22

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,nlarges as it is retold, and by the time
hat the story gets down into the south
srn part of Arabia Felix, and the queen
If Sheba hears it, it must be tremend-
,us story. And yet this queen declares
in regard to it, although she had heard
70 much and had her anticipations raised
80 high, the half-the half was not told
her.
So religion is always surprise to any
one that gets it. The story of grace
an old story. Apostles preached it with
rattle of chain; martyrs declared it with
arm of fire; deathbeds have affirmed it
with visions Of glory, and ministers OF
religion have sounded it through the
lanes, and the highways, and the chapels,
and the cathedrals. 1t has been cut
into stone with chisel, and spread on
the canvas with pencil; and it has been
recited in the doxology of great congre-
cations. And yet when man first
comes to look on tho palace of Gods
mercy, and to see the royalty OF Christ,
and the wealth of this banquet, and the
luxuriance of his attendants, and the
loneliness of his face, and the joy OF his
service, he exclaims with prayers, with
tears, with signs, with triumphs: 1.-THE
half-the half was not told mel"
appeal to those who are Christians
Compare the idea you had OF the JOY OF
the Christian life before you became
Christian with the appreciation of that
joy you have now since you have become
a Christian, and you are willing to attest
before angels and men that you never,
in the days of your spiritual bondage,
had any appreciation of what was to
come You are ready to-day to answer
and say in regard to the discoveries you
have made of the mercy and the grace
and the goodness of God: "The half
the half was not told meH' h.
Well, we hear great deal about the
good time that is coming to this world
when it is to be girded with salvation.
Holiness on the bells of the horses. The
lions name patted by the hand OF a
babe. Ships of Tarshish bringing car
goes for Jesus, and the hard, dry, barren,
winter bleached, storm SCARED, thunder
split rock breaking into floods of bright
water. Deserts into which dromedaries
thrust. their nostrils, because they were
afraid of the simoon-deserts blooming
into carnation roses and silver-tipped
lilies.
It is the old story. Everybody tells
it. Isaiah told it, John told it, Paul told
it, Ezekiel told it, Luther told it, Calvin
told it, John Milton told it-everybody
tells it; and yet-and yet when the mid.
night shall fly the hills, and Christ shall
marshal his great army, and China, dash.
ing her idols into the dust, shall hear
the voice of God and wheel into line
and India, destroying her Jugger
naut and snatching up her little children
from the Ganges, shall hear the voice Of
God and wheel into line; and vine-cov
cred Italy, and wheat-crowned Russia
and all the nations of the earth shall
hear the voice of God and tall into line
then the church, which has been toiline
and struggling through the centuries
robed and garlanded like a bride adorned
| for her husband, shall put aside her vel
and look up into the face of her lore
fthe king, and say: 'The half-tho hal
was not told mel"
Well, there is coming greater surpris'
to every Christians greater surpris'
than any thing / have depicted. Heavel
is an old story. Everybody talks abou
it. There is hardly hymn in the hymn
book that does not refer to it. Children
read about it in their Sabbath-scho
books. Aged men put on their spec
tacles to study it. We say it is harbo
from the storm. We call it home. w
say it is the house of many mansions
We weave together all sweet, beautiful
delicate, exhilerant words; we weav
them into letters, and then we spell
out in the rose and lily and amaranth
And yet that place is going to be SUI
prise to the most intelligent Christian
Like the Queen of Sheba, the report ha
come to us from the far country, an
many of us have started 1t is deser
march. but we urge on the camels
What though our feet be blistered wit
the way? We are Fastening to tn
place. We take all our loves and hope
and Christian ambitions, as frankincens
and myrrh and cassia, to the grea
King. We must not rest. We must nc
halt. The night is coming on, and it
not safe out here in The desert. Urg
on the camels. | see the domes agains
the sky, and the houses of Lebanon, an
the temples, and the gardens. See tn
fountains dance in the sun and the gate
flash as they open to let in the poor pi
grims.
Send the word up to the palace tina
we are coming, and that we are wear
of the march of the desert. The Kin
will come out and say: "Welcome t
the palace; battle in these waters; n
cline on these banks. Take this ohm;
mon and frankincense and myrrh an
put it upon a censor and swing it befor
the altar" And yet, my friends, whe
Heaven bursts upon us it will be
greater surprise than that-Jesus on tn
throne, and we made like Him. A
our Christian friends surrounding us i
glory! All our sorrows and tears an
sins gone by forever! The thousands {
thousands, the one hundred and fort
and four thousand, the great multi
tudes that no man can number, will CT,
world without end: 1.-The half-the. ha
was not told mel"
Parents and Daughters.
There are parents, usually mother
we are sorry to say, who force the