Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-29

4 South',-tnat is. this very woman / am
speaking of-"the Queen OF the South shall
rise up in Judgment against tins generatlon
and condemn il; for she came from tne Ut
| termost part of the earth to hear the wlsuom
| of Solomon; and behold greater than Solo,
mon is here"
God help me to break up the infatuation
OF those people who are sitting down IN
1dieness expecting to be saved. strive 20
enter in at the strait gate. ASK, and It snail
be given you: seek and We shall nnQ; KNOCK,
and it shall be opened to YOU" rake the
Kingdom of Heaven by violence urge On
the camels!
Again, my subject impresses me with the
fact that religion is a surprise to any one
that gets it. This story of the new rellSlon
mon, who was the tyne Of Christ-that story
rolls on and on, and is told by every ira
Weller coming back from Jerusalem.
Religion is always surprise TO any one
that gets it The story of grace-an oio
story. Apostles preached it with rattle OF
chain; martyrs declared ft with arm OF nre:
death-beds have affirmed it with visions OF
glory, and ministers OF religion nave
sounded it through the lanes, and the high
ways, and the chapels, and the cathedrals.
1t has been cut into stone with ch1sel, and
spread out the canvas with pencil; ana 1t
has been recited in the doxology of great
congregations.
Appealing TO Ones Own Experience.
Christians. Compare the idea you had of
the joy of the Christian life before you.be-
came Christian with the appreciation of
that joy you have now, since you have be-
come a Christian, and you are willing to
attest before angels ana men that you never
in the days of your spiritual bondage had
any appreciation of what WAS to come. You
are ready to-day to answer. ana if 1 gave you
an opportunity in the midst of this assem-
blage, you would speak out and say in re-
gard to the discoveries you have made OF
of God: "The hslf-the half was not told
me.''
Well, we hear a good deal about the good
time 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 a babe.
1t is the old story. Everybody tells It.
Isaiah told it, John told it, Paul told il,
Ezekiel told it, Luther told it, Calvin told 1t,
John Milton told it-everybody tells IL; and
yet-and yet when the midnight shall ny 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-
from the Ganges, shall hear the voice of God
and wheel into line; and vine-covered Italy
and all the nations of the earth shall hear
the voice of God and fall into line
then the Church which has been to1llng
and struggling through the centuries, robed
and garlanded like a bride adorned for her
husband, 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 me!'
The Greatest Surprise of All.
Well, there is coming a greater surprise to
every Chrfstian-a greater surprise than
anything have depicted. Heaven is an old
story. Everybody talks about it. There is
hardly hymn in the hymn book that does
not refer to it. Children read about it in
their Sabbath school book. Aged men put
on their spectacles to study it. We say 1t is
a harbor from the storm. We call it our
home We say it is the house of many man.
sions. We weave together all sweet, beauti- |
ful, delicate. exhilarant words; we weave |
them into letters, and then we spell it outin |
rose and lily and amaranth.
And yet that place is going to be sur |
prise 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 by the way? We are fastening |
to the palace. We take all our loves and |
hopes and Christian ambitions, as frank |
incense ano myrrh and cassia to the great |
King. |
When Heaven Bursts Upon Us.
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. 1 |
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, recline on these banks Take |
this cinnamon and frankincense and myrrh |
and put it upon a censer and swing it before |
the altar"
And vet INV friends when heaven bursts
upon us it will be greater surprise than
on the throne and we made like
HIM All our Christian friends surrounding
IS in glory! All our sorrows and tears and
sins gone by forever! The thousands of
the one hundred and fortv-and-
four thousand, the great multitudes that no
man can number will cry, world without |
end: "The half-the half was not told usr'