The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-10-26

most always and In almost everything
points forward and not backward. All
tho way through the Bible, thr lamb
and pigeon on the altar, the pillar OF
fire poised above the wilderness, peace
offering, sin offering, trespass offering,
fingers Of Joseph and Isaac and Joshua
and David and Isaiah and Micah and
Ezekiel, all together made the one
finger Of God pointing to the human,
the divine, the gracious, the glorious,
the omnipotent, the gentle, the pardon
ing and suffering and atoning Christ
And now the same finger Of God is
pointing the world upward to the same
Redeemer and forward to the time OF His |
universal domination. My hearers, get |
out Of the habit of looking back and
looking down, and look up and look for
ward. 1t is useful once in awhile to look
back, but you had better, for the most
part Of your time, stop reminiscence
and begin anticipation. We have, none
of us, hardly begun yet. II we love the
Lord and trust Him-and you may all
love Him and trust Him from this mo-
ment on-we no more understand the
good things ahead of us than child at
school studying his A can under
stand what that has to do with his
reading John Ruskin's "Seven Lamps
of Architecture" or Dante's "Divina
Commedia." The satisfactions and joys
we have as yet had are like the music
boy makes with his first lesson on the
violin compared with what was evoked
from his great orchestra by my dear
and illustrious and transcendent, but
now departed friend, Patrick Gilmore,
when he lifted his baton and all the
strings vibrated, and all the trumpets
pealed forth, and all the flutes caroled,
and all the drums rolled, and all the
hoofs OF the cavalry charge, which he
initiated, were in full beat Look
ahead! The finger of God points for
ward
10, but" says some one, 81 am get
ting old and have touch Of rheumatism
in that foot, and believe something is
the matter with my heart, and cannot
stand as much as / used to-" Well, l
congratulate you, for that shows you
are getting nearer to the time when
you are going to enter immortal youth
and be strong enough TO hurl off the
battlements of Heaven any bandit who,
by unheard Of burglary, might break
into the Golden City. "But" says some
one, 81 feel so lonely The most OF
my friends are gone, and the bereave.
ments of life have multiplied until
this world that was once so bright to
me has lost its charm" congratulate
you, for, when you go, there will be
fewer here to hold you back and more
there to pull you in. Look aheadl The
finger of God is pointing forward. We
sit here in church, and by hymn and
PRAYER and sermon and Christian asso-
citation we try TO get into frame OF
mind that will be acceptable to God
and pleasant to ourselves. But what q
stupid thing it all Is compared with
what it will be when we have gone
beyond psalm book and sermon and
Bible, and we stand, our last imperfec-
ton gone, in the presence Of that charm
OF the universe-the blessed Christ
and have him look in our face and say:
81 have been watching you and SYM
pathizing with you and helping you all
these years, and now you are here. Go
where you please and never know Q
sorrow and never shed q tear. There ID
your mother now-she Is coming "a
greet you-and there Is your father,
and there are your children. Sit down
under this tree Of life, and on the banks
of this river and talk IL all over" tell
you there will be more joy In one min
ute of that than in fifty years OF earth
ly exultation. Look aheadl Look al
the finest house on earth and know
that you will have finer one In Heaven:
Look up the healthiest person you cat
find and know you will yet be healthier
Look up the one who has the best eye
sight OF anyone you have ever heard OF,
and know you will have better vision
Listen to the sweetest prima donna tha
ever trod the platform, and know tina
In Heaven YOU will lift more enrapt
uring song than ever enchanted earthly
auditorium.
NV friends, do not know how ",
are going to stand It'll mean the ful
thrush Of that splendor Last summel
/ saw Moscow, in some respects Tn
most splendid city under the sun Tn,
emperor afterward asked me II ha'
seen IL, for Moscow is the pride o
Russia. told him yes, and that | ha'
seen Moscow burn. l will tell yo'
what mean. After examining min
hundred brass cannons which wer
picked out OF the snow afte
Napoleon retreated from Moscow
each cannon deep cut with tn
letter IN" l assembled q tower o
some two hundred and fifty feet JUS
before sunset, and on each platforr
there were bells, large and small, and
climbed up among the bells, and the
as | reached the top, all the bells un
derneath me began to ring, and the
were Joined by the bells OF fourtee
hundred towers and domes and turreti
Some of the bells sent out a faint tinkl
of sound, a sweet naturalization tina
seemed TO bubble In the air, and other
thundered forth boom after boom, boor
after boom, until IL seemed to shake tn
earth and fill the heavens-sounds
weird, SO sweet, 80 awful, so grand, 3
charming, SO tremendous, so soft, so riI
plinQ, so reverberating--andt they SCENE
towreathe, and whirl, and rise, and sinl
and burst, and roll, and mount and di,
When Napoleon saw Moscow burn,
could not have been more brilliant tha
] when saw all the fourteen hundre
. turrets aflame with the sunset, roofs
gold and walls Of malachite, and arch
lecture Of all colors mingling with th
brown OF autumnal forests and the blu
. of summer heavens, and the con fagr'
tion of morning skies, and the green
] rich meadows and the foam Of tossin
. seas. The mingling Of so many color
4 with 30 many sounds was an entranc'
, ment almost too much for human nerve
a or human eyes or human ears. / expet
70 see nothing TO equal II until you an