The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-10-25

IQ6 reason, IllS udIlOH HIS 6SCdIeCu
of the horrors that ordinarily accompany
the presidential contest. But let us not
pause too long in hilarity about the pres
ent and forget the fact that there are
not only temporal possibilities far great
er than those attained. bat higher moral
and religious possibilities. The God of
our fathers is the God of their children,
and his finger points Us to a higher ma
tiOnal career than many have yet sus-
pected. For OR churches. our schools.
our colleges. our institutions of mercy,
| the best days are yet to come.
ONWARD THE wATCHwORD.
But notice that this finger of God al
most always and in almost everything
! points forward and not backward. All
the way through the Bible the lamb and
| pigeon on the altar, the pillar Of fire
poised above the wilderness, peace offer
ing, sin offering, trespass offering, fin
gers 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 pardoning and suffering
and atoning Christ. And now the same
finger of God is pointing the world up
ward to the same Redeemer and for
ward to the time of his universal domi-
nation. My hearers, get cut of the habit
of looking back and looking down, and
look up and look forward. 1t is useful
once in awhile to look back, but you had
better for the most part Of your time
stop "Reminiscences and begin anticipa-
ton. We have none of us hardly be-
gun yet If we love the Lord and trust
him-and you may all love him and trust
him from this moment On-we no more
understand the good things ahead OF Us
| than a child at school studying his a D
& can understand what that has to 90
with his reading John Ruskin' S 'Seven
Lamps of Architecture" or Dante's ''Di-
vina COmmedia." The satisfactions and
joys we have as yet had are like the
music boy maheS with his first lesson
on the violin compared with what was
evoked from his great orchestra by my
dear and illustrious and transcendeut
but now departed friend, Patrick Gill
more, when he lifted his baton and all
the strings vibrated, and all the trum-
pets pealed forth, and all the flutes car
oiled. 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.
''Oh, but t9ys some one, II am get
ting old, and have q touch of rheuma-
tism in that foot, and believe something
is the matter with my heart, and ca.
not stand as much as l used to-" Well, !
congratulate you. for that shows You
30,
are going to enter immortal youth and
be strong enough to hurl off the battle
ments of heaven any bandit who by II"
heard Of burglary might break into the
Golden City. But" says some one, Il
feel so lonely. The most of my friends
are gone. and the bereavements of life
have multiplied until this world that
was Cuce 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 ahead! The finger of God is point
ing forward. We sit here in church. |
and by hymn and prayer and sermon
and Christian association We try to get
into a frame of mind that will be accept |
able to God and pleasant to ourselves |
But what d stupid thing it all is com
pared with what it will I've when We have |
gone beyond psalInbOok and sermon and |
Bible, and we stand. Our last imperfec- !
ton gone. in the presence of that charm !
of the universe-the blessed ChTiSt-and |
have him look ii our face and say: -
haze been watching yOU and sympathiz !
ing with you and helping You all these |
years, and now you are here. Go where |
you please and never know a sorrow and |
never shed a tear. There is your mother /
nOw-she is coming TO 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 tall
it ali over" l tell you there will be |
more joy in one minute of that than in |
fifty years of earthly exultation. Look |
ahead! Look at the finest house on earth |
and know that you will have finer one |
in heaven. Look up the healthiest pei
son you can find and know you will yet |
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 auditorium.
A VISION or SPLENDOR-
My friends, do not know how we are |
going to stand it-I mean the full thrush |
of that splendor. Last summer | saw
Moscow, in some respects the most |
splendid city under the sun. The en- |
peror afterward asked me if had seen
it, for Moscow is the pride of Russia |
told him yes, and that had seen Mos |
COW burn. 1 will tell yo1 what meant |
After examining nine hundred brass |
cannons which were picked out of the |
snow after Napoleon retreated from
Moscow, each cannon deep cut with the |
letter IN" l assembled TIE tower of some |
two hundred and fifty feet, just before |
sunset, and on each platform there We're
bells, large and small, and l climbed up |
among the bells, and then as | reached |
the top all the bells underneath me |
ha0an TO ring and they were Joined nv |