The Globe-republican., 1892-11-11


hiiarity about the present and forget the
fact that there are not only temporal
possibilities far greater than those at
tanned. but higher moral and religious
possibilities The God Of our fathers is
the God Of their children, and His finger
points US to higher nationa. career
than many have yet suspected. For our
churches, our schools, our colleges. our
institutions Of mercy. the best days are
yet to come.
But notice that this finger of Col al
most always and in almost everything
points forward and not backward. All
the way through the Bible, the lamb and
pigeon on the altar. the pillar of fire
poised ABOVE the wilderness. peace offer
Ing. sin offering, trespaSs Offering. fingers
of Joseph and Isaac and Joshua and
David and Isaiah and Micah and Ezekiel,
altogether made the one finger o. God
pointing to the human, the divine. the
gracious, the glorious, the Omnipotent,
the gentle. the pardOning and suffering
and atoning Christ And now the same
finger of Goo is pointing the world up
ward to the same Redeemer and forward
to the time Of his universal domination.
My hearers, get out of the habit Of look
ing back and looking down, and look up
and look forward. 1t is useful once in
awhile to look back, but you had better
for the most part Of your time. stop re-
and begin anticipation. We
have none of us hardly begun yea
If We love the Lord and trust Him
and you may all love Him and trust Him
from this moment on-we no more I'M
derstand the good things ahead Of US
than the child at school studying his A
B C can understand what that has to do
with his reading John .Ruskin's Seven
Lamps of Architecture" or Dante's
'sDivina Commedia. The satisfactionS
and joys We have as vet had are like the
music boy makes with his first lesson
on the violin compared with what was
evoked from his great orchestra by my
dear and illuStriouS and transcendent but
now departed friend, Patrick Gilmore,
when he lifted his baton and all the
strings vibra,ed, and all the trumDets
pealed forth, and all the flutes caroled,
and all the drums rolled, and all the
hoofs Of the cavalry charge, which he
initiated, were in full beat. Look ahead.
The finger Of God points forward.
''Oh, but" saws some one. II am get
ting old, and l have a touch of rheuma-
tism in that foot, and believe something
is the matter with my heart, and l can
not stand as much as used to-" Well,
l congratulate you. for that shows you
are getting nearer to the time when you
are going to enter immortal youth and
be strong enough to hurl off the battle
ments Of Heaven any bandit who by I'M
heard of burglary might break into the
Golden City. ''But," says some one. Il
feel so lonely. The most of my friends
are gone, and the hereavements OF life
have multiplied until this world that was
once so bright to me has lost it's charm
| congratulate YOU, for when you go
there will be fewer here TO hold you back
and more there to pull YOU in. Look
ahead. The finger of God is pointing
forward. We sit here in church, and by
hymn and prayer and sermon and Chris
tian association we try to get into frame
of mind that will be accepted to God and
pleasant to ourselves But what a
stupid thing it all is compared with what
it will be when We have gone beyond
Dsalmbook and sermon and Bible, and
we stand our last imperfection gone, IN
the presence of that charm of the uni
blessed Christ-and have Him
YOU and sympathizing with you
and helping you all these years, and now
YOU are here Go where you please and
Fever know a sorrow and never shed q
tear. There is. your mother now-she Is
coming to greet yOu-and there IS your
father, and there are .yOnr children. Sit
down under this tree of life, and ON the
banks of this river talk it all over"
tell you there will be more JOY in one
minute of that than in fifty years OF
earthly eXultation. Look ahead. Look
at the finest house on earth. and know
that you will have finer one in heaven.
Look up the heaitheSt person you can
find, and know you will yet be healthier.
Look up the one who has the best eye
sight Of any one you have ever heard OF,
and know you will have better vision.
Listen to the sweetest prima donna that
ever trOd the platform, and know that In
heaven you will lift a more enrapturing
song than ever enchanted earthly audi |
forum.
NY friends, do not know how we are
going to stand it mean the full thrush |
Of that splendOr. Last summer l saw |
Moscow, in some respects the most |
splendid city under the sun. The en- |
peror afterward asked me il l had seen |
it, for Moscow is the pride OF Russia
told him yes, and that had seen Moscow
burn. / will tell you what it meant |
After examining 900 brass cannOns which
we're picked out Of the snow after Napo-
con retreated from Moscow, each cannon
deep cut with the letter ~ l assembled
4 tower of some two hundred and fifty |
feet just before sunset, ane on each plat
form there were bells, large and small, |
and climbed up among the bells, and
then as I reached the top all the bells
me began tC ring. and they |
we're joined by the bells of l,4Oo towers
and domes and turrets.
Some of the tells sent out faint
.inkle of sound, a sweet tintinnabul !
hat seemed to bubble in the air, and |
others Numbered forth boom after |
boom, boom after boom, until 1t seemed
20 shake the earth and fill the |
so weird, so sweet, SO
awful, so grand, SO charming, so ire
so soft. SO ripping. so refer
they seemed to wreathe
Ind whirl and rise and sink and burst
Ind roll and mount and die. When Ma
ooleon saw Moscow burn, it could not