The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-09-27

Christmas night, you know that II wal |
not Joy confined to our world. tn,
choir above Bethlehem was imported
from another world, and when the star
left Its usual sphere to designate the
birthplace, all astronomy felt the
thrill. II there beanything true about
our religion, It is that other worlds
are sympathetic with this world and In |
communication with II. The gloriaed
OF Heaven would Join In such cele |
bration. The generations that toiled
to have the world for Christ would
take part In such jubilation and pro
longed assemblage. The upper gal
leries Of Gods universe would applaud
the scene, whether we heard the CLAP
Of their wings and the shout of theh
voices, or did not hear them. Prophets
who predicted the Messiah, and
apostles who talked with Him, and
martyrs who died for Him, would take
part In the scene, though to our poor
eyesight they might be invisible. The
old missionaries who died In the ma.
larial swamps Of Africa, or were strucl
down by Egyptian typhus, or were
butchered at Lucknow, or were slain
by Bornesian cannibals, would come
down from their thrones to rejoice that
at last Christ had been heard OF, and
so speedily In all nations. At the first
roll Of the first overture Of the first day
Of that meeting all Heaven would cry
"Hear! Hearl" ........
Aye! Aye! bethink myself such a
vast procedure as that might hasten
our Lords coming, and that the expec
tation of many millions Of Christians,
who believe in the Second Advent,
might be realized then at the conjunc-
/ ton of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. l do not say 1t would, be,
yet who knows but that our blessed
and adored Master, pleased with such
| a plan of worldwide observance, might
say, concerning this wandering and
rebellious planet: THAT world, at last,
shows disposition to appreciate what
have done for II, and with one wave
Of my SCARED hand / will bless and re-
claim and save it." That such cele.
bration of our Lords birth, kept up for
days and months, would please all the
good of earth, aud nightly speed on
the gospel chariot, and please all the
heavens, sanity, cherubic, seraphic,
archangelic and divine, is beyond quos-
tion. Oh, get ready for the worlds
greatest festivity? Tune your voices
for the worlds greatest anthem. Lift
the arches for the worlds mightiest
procession. Let the advancing stand
ard of the army of years, which has in
scribed on one side of it 1900" and on
the other side "190l," have also In
scribcd on it the most charming name
of all the universe-the name OF Jesus.
Whether this suggestion Of worlds
celebration Of the nativity be taken or
not, II has allowed me an opportunity
In somewhat unusual way Of express
ing my love for the great central char
acter Of all time and all eternity. lie
is the infinite none-such. The armies
Of Heaven drop on their knees before
Him. After Bourdaloue, before over
whelmed audiences, has preached Him,
and Milton, In immortal blank verse
has sung Him, and Michael Angelo has
Rlorified the ceiling of the Vatican
with His second coming, and martyrs
while girdled and canopied with the
flames of the stake have with burn
ing lips kissed the memory, and
In the hundred and forty and
four thousand Of Heaven with
feet on seas of glass intershot with
sunrise, have with uplifted and down
swung baton, and sounding cornets
! and waving banners, and heaven-cap'
/, turing doxologies celebrated Him. the
story of His loveliness, and His might
and His beauty and His grandeur, and
His grace, and His intercossion, anc
His sacrifice, and of His birth and His
. death will remain untold. BE His nam'
, on our lips while we live, and when W.
die after we have spoken farewell h
father and mother, and wife, and child
let us speak that Name which Is the
lullaby of earth and the transport o
I heaven.
!, Before the crossing OF time on tn
G midnight between December 81, 1900
s and the list of January, 1901, many o
\ ms will be gone. Some Of you will hea
:, the clock strike IL of one century an
y nm hour after IL hear IL strike OF an
u other century, but many OF you WI
}, not that midnight hear either IN
u stroke Of the city clock, or of the oil
), time-piece In the hallway of tho home
u stead.
Il Seven wears cut wide swath throug
II churches and communities and nations
But those who cross from world I
world before -old time in this worl
'' eros ses that midnight from century
r century will talk among the thrones 9
l. the coming earthly jubilee, and on tn
river bank and in the house OF man
n mansions, until all Heaven will kno'
e OF the coming Of that celebration, tina
!, will all the earthly nations with 10
:, and help augment the nations OF Hea'
en-, But, whether here or there, W
, will take part in the music and th
banaueting II we have made the Lor
n our portion. Oh, how / would like
s. stand at my front door some mornin
u or noon or night and see the sky pai
te and the blessed Lord descend In person
a not as he will come In the last judi
me mt, with fire and bail and cart
quake, but in sweet tenderness TO pa
don ali sin, and heal all wounds, an
k wine away all tears and feed all hui
Il ger, and right all wrongs, and illun
D. Inc all darkness, and break all bon'
4, ace. and harmonize all discords. Som
:, think He will thus come, but aboI
:, that coming make no prophecy, for
am not enough learned In the Scril
II f,fn 1a