Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-09-24
Family Circles of Stars.

each others hands and dance in groups
Orion in a group The Pleiades in a
group The solar system is only COM
pany of children, with bright faces,
around one great fireplace
The worlds do not straggle off. They
go in squadrons and fleets, sailing
through immensity. So Christian work
ers in heaven will dwell in neighbor-
hoods and clusters
am sure that some people | will
like in heaven a great deal better than
others Yonder is a constellation Of
stately Christians They lived on earth
by rigid rule They never laughed
They walked every hour, anxious lest
they should lose their dignity But they
loved God, and yonder they shine in
brilliant constellation Yet | shall not
long to get into that particular group.
Yonder is a constellation of small heart
ed Christians-asterOids in the eternal
astronomy. While some souls go up
from Christian battle and blaze like
Mars these asteroids dart feeble ray
like Vesta Yonder is a constellation Of
Of apostles, Of patriarchs Our
souls as they 90 up to heaven will seek
out the most congenial society.
Yonder is a constellation almost
merry with the play Of light On earth
they were full Of sympathies and songs
and tears and raptures and congratula-
tions When they prayed, their words
took fire; when they sang, the tune
could not hold them; when they wept
over worlds woes, they sobbed as if
heartbsokcn; when they worked for
Christ they famed with enthusiasm.
Yonder they are-circle of light, con-
stallation Of JOY. galaxy Of fire. Oh,
that you and |. by that grace which can
transform tbs worst into the best, might
at last sail in thew '-e Of that feet and
wheel in that glorious s-oup as the
stars forever and ever!
Again. Christian workers will shine
like the stars in swiftness Of motion
The worlds do not stop to shine There
are no fixed stars, save as to relative
position. The star apparently most thor
oughly fixed flies thousands Of miles a
minute The ascronOnlcr. using his tele-
scope for an alpenstock, leaps from
world crag to world crag and finds no
star standing still The chamois hunter
has TO fly to catch his prey, but not 50
swift is his game as that which the sci
enlist tries to shoot through the tower
Of obseryatorv Like petrels mida,'an-
tic. thar seem 20 come from no shore,
and be bound TO no landing place, fly
ing, flying, 50 these great flocks Of
worlds rest not as they 90, wing and
wing, age after age, forever and ever.
The eagle hastes to its prey, but we
shall in speed beat the eagles You have
noticed the velocity Of the swift horse
under whose feet the miles slip like
smooth ribbon. and as he passes the
four hoofs strike the earth in such quick
beat your pulses take the same vibra-
tion, but all these things are not swift
in comparison with the motion Of which
| speak. The moon moves $4,000 miles
in a day. Yonder Neptune flashes on
1000 miles in an hour Yonder Mer-
curry goes 100, 900 miles in an hour. So
like the stars the Christian shall shine
in swiftness Of motion
with the Speed of a Star.
You hear now Of father or mother or
child sick 1000 miles away, and it
takes you two days to get to them You
hear of some case of suffering that de-
mands your immediate attention, but it
takes you an hour to get there. Oh, the
Joy when you shall, in fulfllment OF
the text, take starry speed and be equal
TO 100, 600 miles an hour Having on
earth got used to Christian work, you
will not quit when death strikes you
You will only take on more velocity.
There is a dying child in London, and
its spirit must be taken up TO God You
are there in an instant to do il. There
is a young man in New York TO be ar
rested from going into that gate OF sin.
You are there in an instant to arrest
him Whether with spring of foot. or
stroke of wing, or by the force Of some
new law that shall hurl you to the spot
where you would go, know not, but
my text suggests velocity. All space
open before you. with nothing to him
der you in mission of light and love
and Joy, you shall shine in swiftness OF
motion as the stars forever and ever.
Again, Christian workers. like the
stars shine in magnitude The most IL
literate man knows that these things in
the sky. looking like gilt buttons. are
great masses Of matter. To weigh
them one would think that il would re-
ouire scales with a pillar hundreds OF
thousands Of miles high and chains hun
dreds of thousands Of miles long, and
at the bottom Of the chains basins on
either sido hundreds Of thousands OF
miles wide, and that then Omnipotence
alone could put the mountains into the
scales and the hills into the balance,
but puny man has been equal to the un-
dertaking and has set little balance
ON his geometry and weighed world
against world. Yea, he has pulled out
/ his measuring line and announced that
Herschel is SO, 900 miles in diameter,
Saturn 70. 900 miles in diameter and
Jupiter 80. 900 miles in diameter and
that the smallest pearl on the beach OF
heaven is immense beyond all maglna'
tion. So all they who have toiied for
Christ on earth shall rise up to mag
nitude of privilege, and magnitude OF
strength. and magnitude Of holiness,
and a magnitude of JOY, and the weak
est saint in glory become greater than
all that we csn imagine Of an archangeL
Brethren, "It doth not yet appear
what we shall be-" Wisdom that shall
know everything, wealth that shall pos
sess everything, strength that shall &c
everything. glory that shall circum'
scribe everythingl We shall not be like
a taper set in a sick mans window, ol
bundle of sticks kindled on the beacf
TO warm shivering crew, but you mus
take the diameter and the circumfer
ence Of a world if you would get an,
idea of the greatness Of our estate whei
we shall shine as the stars forever an'
ever
4 The Reign without End.
Iastlv-and coming 10 this point m,