The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-03-16
pations raised so high the naif-the

half was not told her.
So religion is always n 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 il has been recited in
the doxology of great congregations
And yet when a man first comes to look
on the palace of Gods mercy, and to see
tho 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 ex-
claims with prayers, with tears, with
signs, with triumphs: 1.-THE half-the
half was not told me-"
appeal 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 a 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 l 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 the grace
and the goodness of God, "The half
the half was not told mel"
Well, we hear great deal about the
good tina 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 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 simeon
deserts blooming into carnation roses
and silver-tipped lilies.
1t 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
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 init
fline; and India. destroying her Jugger'
naut and snatching up her little chill
dren from the Gauges, 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: 1.-THE kalf-the half was moi
told mev'
Well, there is coming greater sur
prise to every Christians greater sur
tttprise than anything / have depicted
Heaven is an old story. Everybody talk.
about it. There is hardly a hymn II
the hymnbook that does not refer to it
Children read about it in their Sabbath
school book. Aged men put on theil
spectacles to study it. We say it is q
harbor from the storm We call it our
home. We say it is the house of many
mansions. We weave together al
sweet, beautiful, delicate, exhilarant
words; we weave them into letters, an(
then we spell it out in rose aud lily
and amaranth. And yet that place
is going to be surprise to the
most intelligent Christians Like the
Queen of Sheta the report has come
to us from the far country, and raany
of us have started. 1t is desert march
but we urge on the camels. Nha
though our feet be blistered with the
way? We are Fastening to the palace
We take all cur loves and hopes nn(
Christian ambitions, as frankincenst
and myrrh and cassia to the great King
We must not rest We must not halt
The night is coming on, and it is no
safe out here in the desert. Urge or
the camels. I see the domes agains
the sky, and the houses of Lebanon
and the temples and the gardens. SCI
the fountains dance in the sun, and th'
gates flash as they open to let in tn
poor pilgrims.
Send the word up to the palace tina
we are coming, and that we are weary
of the march of the desert The Kins
will come out and say: "Welcome t.
the palace; battle in these swaters, re
cline on these banks. Take this CHINA
mon and frankincense and myrrh ant
put it upon a censor and swing it before
the altar. "And yet, my friends, wheI
Heaven bursts upon us it will be I
!. greater surprise than that-Jesus on th'
throne, and we made like Him! All ou
) Christian friends surrounding us il
glory! All our sorrows and tears ant
sins gone by forever! The thousand
of thousands, the one hundred ant
forty and four thousand, the great mul
titudes that no man can number, will
cry, world without end: "The half-th,
half was not told u.s."
-------------
) silence Is Golden.
There are schools of elocution; Their,
, ought to be schools of silence. It is i'm