The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-11-09

will be fewer here to hold you back and
more there to pull you in. Look aheaf!
The finger of God is pointing forward. We
sit here in church, and by hymn aud prayer
and sermon and Christian assoclatlon @ On, we we
try to get into frame Of mind that will oe
acceptable to God and pleasant to ourselves.
But what stupid thing it all is COM
pared with what it will bs when we have
gone beyond psalmbook AMI sermon and
Bible. and we stand, our last imper-
fection gone, in the presence OF that charm
of the uuiverse-the blessed Christ-and
have Him look in our face and say: II have
been watching you and sympathizing with
now YOU are here. Go where you please and
never know a sorrow and never shed tear.
There is your mother now-she is coming to
greet you-and there Is your father, ana
there are your children. Sit down under
this tree of life, aud 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
exuitation. Look ahead! Look at the finest
house on earth, and know that you will have
q finer one in heaven. Look up the healthtest
be healthier. Look up the one who has the
best eyesight 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 more enrapturing song
than ever enchanted earthly au htorium.
Ny friends, do not know how we are go.
Ing to stand it mean the full thrush OF
that splendor. Last summer saw Mos-
COW. in some respects the most spendid cley
under the sun. The emperor Rfterward
asked me if had seen it for Moscow is the
pride of Russia. told him yes, and that
had seen Moscow burn. I will tell you
what meaut After examining nine hun
dred brass cannons which were picked out
Of the snow after Napoleon retreated
from Moscow, each cannon deep
cut with the letter IN" I assembled q tower
Of some two hundred and fifty feet just be-
fore sunset and on each platform there were
bslls large and small, aud I climbed up
among the bells, and then as reachedAthe
top all the bells underneath me began to
ring, and they we're Joined by the bells OF
fourteen hundred towers and domes and tur-
rets.
Some Of the bells sent out faint tinkle OF
sound, q sweet tintinnabuls tlon that seemed
to bubble in the air, and Others thundered
forth boom after boom, boom after boom,
until it seemed to shake the earth and I'LL
the heavens-sounds so weird, 80 sweet 30
awful, so grand. so charming, so tre
mendous so soft, 80 ripping. 80 re-
and wbirl and rise and sink and
burst and roll and mount and die.
When Napoleon saw Moscow burn, 1t
could not have been more brilliant than
when saw all the fourteen hundred turrets
aaame with the sunset roofs OF gold and
walls OF malachite, and architecture OF all
colors mingling the brown OF autumnat Tor.
ests, and the blue OF summer heavens ana
the conhagration Of morning skies, and the
green Of rich meadows, and the foam OF
tossing seas
The mingling of so many colors with 50
many sounds was an enhancement almost
too much tor human nerves, or human eyes,
or hu man ears. I expect to see nothing to
equal it IN til you and I see heaven. But that
will surpass tand make the memory OF what
I saw that July evening in Moscow al
most tame and insipid. All heaven aglow
and all heaven airing, not In the sunset,
but in the sunrise. Voices of our own kim
dred mingling with the doxologies Of en-
pires. Organs Of eternal worship respond
Ing to the trumpets that have wakened the
dead. Nations in white. Centuries in cor
onation. Anthems like the voice Of many
waters. Circle, OF martyrs. Circle OF
apostles. Circle OF prophets. Thrones Of
oherubim. Thrones Of seraphina. Throne
of archangel. Throne OF Christ. Throne
Of God. Tnronesl fnronesl Toe finger Of
God points that way. Stop not until you
reacn that place. Through the atoninS
Christ all / spsak OF and more may be
yours and mine. Do you not now hear the
chime OF the bells of tnas metropolis OF the
universes Do you not sea the shimmering
OF the towerss Good morning.