The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-03-02
pations raised SO high, the half-ths
half was not told her.

pations raised SO high, the halt-ths
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 1t with
rattle of chain; martyrs declared l.
with arm Of fire; deathbeds have
affirmed 1t with visions of glory,
and ministers of religion have
sounded 1t 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 IL has been rocited in
the doxology Of great congregations
And yet when man first comes to look
on the palace of Gods mercy, and to SEQ
the royalty Of Christ, and the wealth of
this banquet, and the luxuriance of His
attendants, and the loveliness of His
face, and the Joy of His service, he ex-
claims with prayers, with tears with
sighs with triumphs: "The half-the
half was not told me-"
lappeal to those in this house who
are Christians. Compare the idea you
had of the joy of the Christian life be-
fore you became Christian with the
appreciation of that joy you have now
since you have become Christian, and
you are willing to attest before angels
and men that you never in the days of
your spiritual bondage had any appre-
citation of what was to come. You are
ready to-day to answer, and If gave
you an opportunity in the midst of this
assemblage you would speak out and
say in regard to the discoveries you
have made of the mercy and tho grace
and the goodness of God, 1.-THE half
the half was not told mel"
Well, we hear great deal about the
good time that is coming to this world
when IL is to be girded with salvation
Holiness on the bells Of the horseA The
lions mane patted by the hand of q
babe Ships of Tarshish bringing car
goes for Jesus, and the hard, dry, bar
rem, winter -bleached, storm-scarred,
thunder-split rock breaking into floods
Of bright water Deserts into which
dromedaries thrust their nostrils, be-
cause they were afraid Of the simoon--
deserts blooming into carnation roses
and silver-tipped lilies.
1t the old story. Everybody tells 1t,
Isaiah told it, John told it, Paul told 1t,
'Ezekiel told it, Luther told it, Calvin
told il, John Milton told it--everybody
tells it; and yet-and yet, when the
midnight shall fly the hills and Christ
shall marshal his great army, and China,
dashing 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 chill
dren from the Ganges, shall hear the
voice Of God and wheel into line; and
vine-covered Italy, and the nations Of
the earth shall hear the voice Of God
and fall into line; then the Church
which has been toiling and struggling
through the centuries, robed and gar
landed like bride adorned for her hus-
band, shall put aside her veil and look
up into the face of her Lord and King,
and say: "The half-the half was not
told mep'
Well there is coming a greater sur
prise to every Christian-a greater sur
prise than anything l have depicted.
Heaven is an old story. Everybody talks
about it There is hardly hymn In
the hymnbook that does not refer to 1t.
Children read about it in their Sabbath
school book. Aged men put on their
spectacles to study it. We say it is
harbor from the storm. We call it our
home We say it is the house of many
mansions. We weave together all
sweet, beautiful, delicate, exhilarant
words; we weave them into letters, and
then we spell it out in rose and lily
and amaranth. And yet that place
is going TO be a surprise to the
most intelligent Christian. Like the
Queen of Sheba, the report has come
to us from the far country, and many
of us have started. 1t is desert march,
but we urge on the camels What
though our feet be blistered with the
wayP We are Fastening to the palace.
We take all our loves and hopes and
Christian ambitions, as frankincense
and myrrh and cassia TO the great King.
We must not rest We must not halt
The night is coming on, and It is not
safe out here in the desert. Urge on
the camels. see the domes against
the sky, and the houses Of Lebanon,
and the temples and the gardens. See
the fountains dance in the sun, and the
gates flash as they open TO let in the
poor pilgrims
Send the word up to the palace that
we are coming, and that we are weary
Of the march Of the desert The King
will come out and say; Welcome TO
the palace; bathe in these waters, re-
cline on these banks. Take this cinna-
mon and frankincense and myrrh and
put II upon censer and swing it before
the altar. "And yet, my friends, when
Heaven bursts upon us 1t will be a
greater surprise than that-Jesus on the
throne, and we made like Himl All our
Christian friends surrounding US in
glory All our sorrows and tears and
sins gone by foreverl The thousands
Of thousands, the one hundred and
forty and four thousand, the great null
titudes that no man can number, will
cry, world without end: "The half-the
half was not told us!"
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