Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-01-22


ance against Bibles and churches has
put five young men on the wrong track,
and though the influential man had
spoken only in half jest, the Echo shall
come back to him in five ruined
lifetimes, and five destroyed eter-
mites You see the Echoes are an
octave lower than he anticipated On
the other hand, some rainy day, when
there are hardly any customers, the
Christian merchant comes out from the
counting-room and stands among the
young men, who have nothing to do,
and says: "Well, boys, this is dull
day, but it will clear off after while.
There are good many ups and downs
in business, but there is an over-ruling
Providence. Years ago made up my
mind to trust God and he has always
seen me through. l remember when l
was your age, l had just come
to town and the temptation of city life
gathered around me, but 1 resisted.
The fact is there were two old folks out
on the old farm praying for me, and l
knew it, and somehow / could not do as
some of the clerks did or go where
some of the clerks went. l tell you, boys,
it is best always TO do right, and there
is nothing TO keep one right like the old
fashioned religion of Jesus Christ. John,
where did you go to church last Sunday?
Henry, how is the Young Mems Chris
tian association prosperlng?" About
onOV, tho ,.,ir, onacoe anI tho c,,V, oOrnaa
out and the clerks go to their places,
and they say within themselves:
''Well, he is successful merchant,
and guess he knows what he is talk
ing about, and the Christian religion
must be good thing. God
knows l want some help in this
battle with temptation and sim" The
successful merchant who uttered the
kind words did not know how much
good he was doing, but the Echo will
come back in five lifetimes of virtue
and usefulness, and five Christian death
beds, and five heavens From all the
mountains of rapture and all the noun
tains of glory and all the mountains of
eternity, he will catch what Ezekiel in
my text styles "the sounding again of
the mountains"
And IL it is so hard to destroy nat
ural echo, how much harder TO stop
moral echo, spiritual echo, an immor-
tai echo. You know that the echoes
are affected by the surfaces, and the
shape of rocks, and the depth of
ravines, and the relative position of
buildings? And once in heaven, God
will so arrange the relative position of
mansions and temples and thrones
that one of the everlasting charms
of heaven will be the rolling,
bursting, ascending, descending, chant
ing echoes. All the songs we ever
sang devoutly, all the prayers we have
ever uttered earnestly, all the Chris
.tian deeds we have ever done, will be
waiting to spring upon us in echo. The
scientists tell us that in this world the
roar of artillery and the boom of the
thunder are SO loud, because
they are n combination of echoes
all the hillsides, and the caverns
and the walls furnishing share of the
resonance. And never will we under
stand the full power and music of an
Echo until with supernatural faculties,
able to endure them we hear all the
conjoined sounds of heavenly Echoes
harps and trumpets, orchestras and or
atorics, hosannahs and halleluiahs, east
side of heaven answering TO the west
side. north side to south side, and all the
heights, and all the depths, and all the
immensities, and all the eternities join
wake of echo; in the future state,
whether of rapture or ruin, we will
listen for -everberations of earthly
things and doings. Voltaire standing
amid the shadows will listen, and
from the millions whose goddess
ness and libertinism and de-
bauchery were a consequence of his
brilliant blasphemies will come back
weeping, wailing, despairing, agoniz-
ing million-voiced Echo. Paul will,
while standing in the light listen, and
from all the circles of the ransomed,
and from all the many mansions whom
he helped to people, and from all the
bhiOhOo hOlPSA W ONNuP uhOo, HhA
from all the gates he helped throng
with arrivals, and from all the
temples he helped fill with wor-
shippers, there shall come back to him
"a glorious ever-accumulating, trans
porting and triumphant Echo. Oh,
what will the tyrants and OPP
presso rs of the earth do with the
Echoes. Those who are responsible
for the wars of the world will have
come back to them all the groans,
the shriebs, the cannonades, the
bursting shell, the craclSle of
burning cities, and the crash
Of nations homes
But you know as well as 1 do
that there are some places where the
reverberations seem to meet, and stand
ing there they rush upon you, they
rain upon you, all at once they capture
your ear. And at the point
where all heavenly reverberations
meet, Christ will stand and listen
for the resound of all his signs, and
groans, and sacrifices, and they shall
come back in an echo in which shall
minglc the acclaim of redeemed world