The Penn's Grove record., 1897-02-05

had been no change in The stellar appearance
In this herismun's lifetime, and his father, q
shepherd, reported to him that there had
be,& &c change In his lifetime. And these two
clusters hang over tho celestial arbor now
lust as they were the first night that they
shone on the E icnic bowers, the same as
when the Egyptians built the pyramids from
tho top OF which to watch them; the same
as when the Chaldeans calculated the
e~clipsss; the same as when Elihu, according
to the book OF Job, went out to study the
aurora borealis, the same under Ptolemaic
system and Copernican system; the same
from Calisthenes to P~ythRgoras and from
Pythagoras to Herschel. Surely q change
less God must have fashioned tho Pleiades
and Orionl Oh, what an anodyne amid tho
ups and downs OF life aud the flux and relux
OF the tides of prosperity to know that We
have a ohangeless God, ''the same yesterday,
to-day md foreverl"
Xerxes garlanded and knighted the steers
man Of his boat in the morning aud hanged
him In the evening OF the same day. Fifty
thousand people stood around the columns
Of the National Capitol shouting themselves
hoarse at the Presidential inaugural, and in
four months so great were the antipathies
that a r%ufian's pistol in a Washington depot
expressed the sentiment OF many q diSnp-
pointed office seeker. The world sits In ifs
chariot and drives tandem, and the horse
ahead Is Huzza, andthe horse behind Is Ana-
thema. Lord Gotham, In King James's time,
was applauded and had s35, 900 n year, but
was afterward execrated and lived on scraps
stolen from the royal kitchen. Alexander
the Great after death remained unburied for
thirty days because no ons would do the
honor OF shoveling him under. The Duke
of Wellington refused to have his iron fence
mended because ii had been broken by IN in
furiaied ~populace in some hour OF political
excitement, aud no left 1t In ruins that men
might learn what q fickle thing Is human
favor. hBut the mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting to them that fear
Him, aud His Righteousness unto the chill
dren's children OF such as keep BIS coyen-
ant, and 10 those who remember His COM
mandmenfs to do them" This moment
"seek Him that maksth the seven stars n
Orion"
One ofthe swiftest transatlantic voyages
made one summer by the Etruria was be-
cause she had a stormy wind abaft, chasing
her from New York to Liverpool. But to
those going in the opposite direction the
storm was a puffeiing aud a hindranee. 1t
is n lad thing to have q storm ahead, push
Ing us back. but il we be Gods children and
aiming toward heaven tho storms OF life will
only chase us the sooner into the harbor. j
am SO glad to believe that the monsoons,
typhoons and mistrals and siroccos Of the
land md sea are not unclaimed man'acs let
| loose upon the earth, but are under Divine
supervision am so glad that the God oil
tho seven stars is also the God OF Orion! 1t
was out of Dante's suffering came the sub
lime "Diyipa C~ommejia," n out Of John
Millions blindness came paradise Lost"
ana out of miserable infdel attack came the
'Bridgewaier Treatise in favor OF Christi
apity. and out Of Da vid's exile came thesongs
CT consolation, and out of the sufferlngs oil
Christ came the possibility of the worlds re-
demption, and out OF your bereavement,
your persecution, your poverties. your mis-
fortunes, may yet come an eternal heaven.
oh, what a mercy It Is that in the text and
all up and down the Bible God induces us
to look out toward other worldsi Bible rs.
tronomy in Genesis, in Joshua, in Job, in
the Psalms, in the prophets. major and
minor; in ST. Johns Apocalypse, practically
saying: "Worlds! Worlds! Wards! Get
ready for theml" We have a nice little
world here that we stick to, as though losing
that wo lose all. We arc afraid OF falling
of this little raft OF u world. We are afraid
that some meteoric iconociast will some
night smash It. and we want everything to
reYolve around It and are disappointed when
we find that it reyolves around the sun In
stead of the sun revolving around it. What
a fuss we make about this little bit of a
world, its existence only a short lime be-
tween two spasms, the paroxysm ~ which
II was hurled from choas into order and the
paroxysm OF its demolition.
And / am glad that SO many texts call us
20 look of to other worlds, eaany OF them
larger and grander and pore respondent:
aLook there" says Job. Sat Mnzaroth and
Arcturus and his sons!' "Look there"
says st, John, Sat the moon under
Christ's feetr' 'Look there" says
Joshua, ''at the sun standing still above
Gibeon!" .'Look there" says Moses, sat
tho sparkling ornament" .Look there"
saws Amos, the herdsman, "at the seven
| utaro and 0riontp M nnt LET uS he an sad
about those VINO shove of from this world
under Christly pilotage. Do NOT let US be 8
agitated about our W going of this littla
barge or scoop or canal boat OF aworld to
get on some Great Eastern OF the heavens.
Do not let US persist in wanting to stay in
this barn, this shed, this clubhouse OF q world,
when all the Kings palaces already occupied
by many OF our best friends are swinging
wide open their gates 10 let us In.
When / read, sin My Fathers house are
many mansions, 1 do not know but that
each world is a ROOM, and as many rooms as
there are worlds, stellar stairs. stellar gal
leries, stellar ballways, stellar windows,
stellar domss. How our departed friends
must pity US shut up in these cramped apart
ments tired If we walk fifteen miles. when
they some morning, by one stroke OF wing,
can make circuit of the whole stellar system
and be back In time for mathis! Perhaps
yonder twinklipg constellation is the resi-
Q6nce OF lu6 mdrtyIS, titt kTuup VI tWoifo
luminaries may DO the celestial homo OF the
apostles. Perhaps that steep of light Is the
dwelling place Of angles cherubic, ~seraphic.
a~rchangelic. A mansion with as many rooms
as worlds, and all their windows illuminated
Tor festiyityt
Oh, how this widens and lifts and stimu.
lates our expectation! How little 1t makes
the present, and how s%tupendous 1t makes
the futurel How it consoles US about our
! f..,a. l..1 Aha ENaEAnl ~ hatno hnvod nm
and under the ground, bave the range Of as
many rooms as there are worlds and vel
come everywhere, for it is the Fathers
house, in which there are many mansionsI
o Lord Goi of the seven stars and Orion,
how can / endure the transport. the ecstasy,
OF such n visionp l must obey my text and
seek Him. I will seek Him. / seek Hin
now, for l call to mind that 1t Is not the ma
terinl universe that is most valuable, but the
spiritual, and that each Of US has a soul
worth more than NIL the worlds which the
inspired herdsman saw from his booth on
the hills OF Tekoa.
I mad studied it before, but the cathedral
rs it did one summer. 1t Is admittedly the
grandest Gothic structure In the world. Its
foundation laid in l24S, only q few years age
completed. More than QUO years in build
ing! Ali Europe taxed for its construction.
It's chapel OF the Magi, with precious stones
enough to purchase q Kingdom. IT'S cnapel
OF st. Agnes, with masterpieces OF painting.
its spire springlng 5il feet into the heavens.
Its stained glas; tina chorus Of all rich colors
Statues eneircling the pillars and eneircline
all. Statues above statues, until sculpture
can do no more, but fainis and falls back
against carved stalls and down on pavement:
over which the kings and queens OF the eartt
have walked TO confessional. Nave and aisle
aud transept and portals combining tht
splendors OF sunrise and sunset. Interiaeed
interfoliated, intereolumned grandeur. A
1 stood outside, looking AT the double rang
of flying buttresses and be forest of pinnacles
higher and higher and higher, until Amos
reeled from dizz nsss. l exclaimed: hGreai
~doxology in stone Frozen prayer Of many
Nations"
But while standing there / saw a poor mau
enter and put down hts pack aud knee, be
side his burden on the hard floor OF thai
cathedral. And tears OF deep emotion cant
into my eyes a. l said TO myself, ''Tbere is
sonl worth more than all the material sur
roundings. That mar will live after the las
pinnacle has fallen. and not one stoneof nj
that cathedral glory shall remain nm
~crumbled. He is now n Lazarus In rags ant
poverty and weakness, bit immortal, and
| son OF tha Lori God Almi9hty- An | III