The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-03-31

1
G"I:" is, in joshua, IN Job, in the
Psalms, in the prophets, major and
minor. in st. JOhu'S Apocalypse, prac-
tically saying: "WOrlds! worlds,
worlds! Get ready for them" We have
a u!co little world here that we stick
| to, ) though Using that we lose all.
We are afraid of falling off this little
raft OF a world. We are afraid that
some meteoric icOnoclast will some
| to resolve around it, and are diSappOint-
ed when we find that it resolves around
the sun instead Of the sun revolving
around it. What a fuss we make about
| this little bit Of Il world, its existence
| only a short time between two spasmS,
the parOXysm by which it was Eurled
from chaos into order, and the paroX-
ysm of its demolition.
| And | am glad that so many texts call
us to look off to other worlds, many of
them larger and grander and more re-
splendent. Look there" says Job, cat
Nazareth and Arcturus and his sons!"
Look there" says st. John "at the
moon under Christ'S feet!' Look
there" says Joshua, cat the sun stand
ing still above Gibeon." Look there"
says Moses, ''at the sparkling lirma-
ment." Lock there" says Amos, the
herdSman, cat the Seven Stars and
Orion Don't let us be so sad about
those who shove off from this world
under Christly pilotage. Don't let us
lie so agitated about our own going off
this little barge or sloop or canal boat
Of world to get on some Great East
ern of the heavens. Don't let us persist
in wanting to stay in this barn, this
shed, this clubhouse Of a world when all
the kings palaces already occupied by
| nI frin lp
| wide open their gates to let us IN.
When l read, "In my Fathers house
are many mansions" | do not know
but that each world is a room, and as
many rooms as there pre- worlds, stellar
stairs, stellar galleries, stellar Railways,
stella windows, stella domeS. How our
departed friends must pity us shut up
in these cramped apartments, tired If
we walk fifteen miles, when they some
morning, Ivy one stroke of wing, can
make circuit of the whole stellar sys
TEN and be back in time for mathis!
Perhaps yonder twiniling constellation
is the residence Of the martyrs; that
group Of twelve luminarieS is the celeS-
tlal home Of the apostles. Perhaps that
steep of light is the dwelling place of
angels cherubic, seraphic, archangelc.
~ mansion with as many rooms as
worlds, and all their windows illumi-
mated for festivity.
On, how this widens and lifts and
stimulates our expectations. How lit
tie it makes the present and how stu
pendonJ 1t makes the future. How it
consoles us about our pious dead, who,
instead of being boxed up and under
the ground, have the range of as many
rooms aS there are worlds, and welcome
every where, tor it is the Fathers house,
| Whirh thpTI M
Lord God of the Seven Stars and Orion,
how can l endure the transport, the
ecstasy of Sucn a vision, | must obey
my text and seek him. | will seek him
/ seek him now, tor | call to mind that
1t Is not the material universe that is
most valuable, but the spiritual, and
thar each of us has u soul worth more
than all the worlds whicn the inspired
htrd5nan saw from his booth ON the
> hills Of TokOa.
| lad studied it before, but the Calhe-
drdl "l Cologne, Germany, never I'M
pressed me as it did the last time saw
it. 1t IS admittedly the grandcst gothic
structure i'll the world, its foundation
laid in 1913, only eight or nine years
ago completed. More than six hundred
) years in building. All Europe taxed
2 for its construction. It's chapel of the
MaGl with precious stones enough tC
purcha-e Kingdom. It's chapel of st
Agnes with masterpieces of painting
Its splre springng five hundred anG
eleven feet into the heavens. It's stained
glass The chorus Of all rich colors
Statues Cncirclng the pillars and enclr-
cling ali. Statues above statues, until
! sculpture can do no more, but iaints and
J tails lack against carved stalls and
, down on pavemcnts over which the
: kings and queens Of the earth have
walked to confession. Nave and aisles
and transcpL and portals combining the
: splcndors OF sunrise. Interlaced, inter-
lolldtcd, intcrcolumncd grandeur. AS
| stood outside looking at the double
range OF flying buttrcSscs and the forest
OF pnnaclcs, higher and higher and
higher, until | almost rcclcd from diz-
Z ness, | exclaimed: "Great doXology
{ IN stone! Frozen prayer of many ma
, tiOn:!"
But while standing there l saw a poor
man enter and put down his pack and
, kneel beside his burden on the hard floor
of that cathedral. And tears of deep
emotion came into my eyes as | said to
, myself: There is a soul worth more
than all the material surroundings.
That man will live after the last pin
nacle has fallen, and not one stone of
all that cathedral glory shall remain
uncrumbled. He IS now a Lazarus in
rags and poverty and WEAKNESS, but
immortal and a son of the Lord God
, Almighty, and the prayer he now offers,
though amid many superstitions, l be-
leve Goa will hear, and among the
apostles whose sculptured forms stand
IN the surrounding inches he will at
last be lifted, and into the presence of
that Christ whose suiferings are repre-
Sentcd by the cruSilix before which he
bows, and be raised in due time out Of
all his poVeities into the glorious home
built for him and built tor us by Him
who maketh the Seven Stars and
Orion."
Burglars in Lexington.
.IN1,nAAr NIar..l,