The Penn's Grove record., 1892-03-04

gates report in regard t. that religion ana
wealth Of King solomon
She wanted to see for herself and hear for
herself. She could not do this by work
of committee. She felt she had a soul worth
ten thousand kingdoms like Sheba, and she
wanted a rob richer than any woven by
oriental shuttles, and she wanted a crown
set with the jewels of eternlty. Bring out
the camels. Put on the specs. Gather up
the Jewels of the throne and put them on the
caravan. Start o W No time 10 De Iost-
Goad on the camels. When | see that cara
van, dust covered, weary and exhausted,
trudging on across the desert and among
the bandits until it reaches Jerusalem, l say,
There is an earnest seeker after the truth"
But there are a great many OF you, my
friends, who do not act in that way. You
all want to get the truth, but you want the
truth to come 10 you: you do not want to go
to it. There are people who fold their arms
and say; IL am ready to become a Christian
at any time. II [ am to bLSave1 ! shall be
saved, and il | am to be- lost | shall he lost"
Ali Jerusalem will never come to you; you
must go to Jerusalem. The religion of the
Lord Jesus Christ will not come to you; you
must go and get religion. Bring out tbs
camels. Put on all til. sweet spices, all tae
treasures of the hearts affection. Start for
the throne. Go in aud hear the waters OF
salvation dashing in fountains all around
dDDub but LuIODt. OIL INV ~ bhb hlihob
the wine pressed from th5 grapes OF the
heavenly Eschol, the angels Of God the cup
bearers.
Goad on the camels; jerusalem will never
come to you; you must 20 TO Jerusalem.
The Bible declares it: THE queen of thu
south"-that is, this very woman | am speak
Ing of-''the queen OF the south shall rise up
in judgment against this generation ant
condemn it; for she cane from the uttarmosG
laFtE nt tha aaptb t., h.4ut. thA wisdom ~
Solomon All, behold! a greater than 90
MOI is here" God help me TO break no the
lniatuatlon Of those people who are sitting
down in idteness expecting to he saved
''Strive to enter in at the stT 4ight gate.
Ask, and 1t shall be given You; seek, and ye
shall fin knock, and it shall be opened to
you" Take the kinsdo Il Of heaven by vio-
ience. Urge on the camelsl .
Again, my subject impresses me with the
fact that religion is a surprise to any one
that gets it. This story Of the new religion
in Jerusalem, n of the glory OF King Solo
mon, who was a type OF ChriSt-that story
rolls on and on and is told by even traveller
coming back from Jerusalem. The news
goes on the wing of every ship and with
every caravan, and you know a story en-
iarges as it is retold, and bv the time that
story gets down into the southern part of
Arabia Felix, and the Queen of Sheba hears
1t, it must be a TREMENDOUS story. And yet
this quesn declares in regard to it, although
she had heard so much and had her antici-
pations raised so high, the half-the half was
not told her.
So religion is always a surprise to any one
that gets it. The story of grace-an old
story. Apostles preached it with rattle of
chain, martyrs declarei it with arm OF fire;
deathbeds nave 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 aud spread on the
canvas with pencil, and it has been recited
in the doxology OF great congregations.
And yet when a man first m TO look OF
the palace of Gods mercy and to see the
royalty of Christ, and the wealth of this
banquet, and the 1uxuriauce of His attend
ants, and the ~lovliness Of His face, and the
joy of His service, he eHclaims with prayers,
with tears, with signs, with triumphs, THE
half-the half was not told meF'
/ appeal to those in this house who are
Christians. Compare the idea you had of
the joy of the Christian life before you be-
csmea Christian with the appreciation of
that JOY you have now since you have be-
come a Christian, and you are willing to at
test before angels and 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 N yer, and il | gave you
oil opportunity Ill tue LuilSb u tuls dSStL1-
blage you would speak out and say in re-
gard to the discoveries you have made of the
mercy and the grace and the goodness of
God, THE half-the half was not told mer'
Well, we hear a great 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 hons name patted
by the hand of a babe. Ships of Tarshish
bringing cargoes for Jesus, and the hard,
dry, barren, winter bleached, storm SCARED,
thunder split rock breaking into foods of
bright water. Deserts into which urUfnL,
DIARIES thrust their n~ostrls, because they
were afraid of the simoom-deserts bloom
ing into ~carnation roses and silver tipped
lilies.
1t is the old story. Everybody tells it.
Isaiah told it, Job told it, Paul toldit, Eze-
kial told it, Luther told it, Calvin told il,
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
into line: and India, destroying her jugger.
naut and snatching up her little children
from the Gauges, 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 toiling and strug-
Cling through the centuries, robed and gar
landed like a bride adornedf for her husband,
shall put aside her vail and look up into the
face Of her Lord and King, and say, ''Ths
half-the half was not told me!'
Well. there is coming a greater surprise to
every Christian-at greater surprise than
anything l have depicted. Heaven is an
old story. Everybody talks ab out it. There
is hardly a hymn in the by mn book that
does not refer to it. Children read about it
in their Sabb ath-sphool book. Aged men
put on; their spectaGles to study it. We say
it is a,harbor frora the storm. We call
it our; homes. We say it is the house Of
many mansions. We weave together all
sweet beautiful, DELICATE, exhilsrant words;
we weave them into letters, and then we
spell it out in rosa and lily and anarsuth.
And vet that place ID going TO be a surprise
TO the most intelligent Christian.
Like the Queen. Of Sheba, the report has
come to us from the far country, and many
of us nave started: 1t is a desert march, but
we urge On the camels. What though our
feet be blistered with the wayf We are
Fastening to the palace. We take all our
loves and hopes and Christian ambitions, as
frankincense and myrrh and cassia to the
great King. 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. / see. the domes against the sky,
and the houses of Lsbanon, and the tenn.
piles and the gardens. See tho fountains
dance in. the sun, and the gates dash as they
open to let in the posr 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 wsters, recline on these
banks. Take this cinnamon and franklin
cense and myrrh and put it upon a censor
and swing it before The altar" And yet, my
friends, when heayepk bursts upon us it will
throne, and we maze like Himl All our
Christian friends sfrroIniius US in glory
All our SORROWS alld tears and sins gone b,
foreveri Tn THOUSANDS of thousands, tn
one hundred and forty and four thousand
the great multrtuies that no man can mum
Der, will cry, world without end, '.rhe hal
the half was not told us?'
DO YOU WANT A JOB?