The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-07-12

|
dlestick or "of candle, neither light OF the
sun, for the Lord God giveth them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever"
Seven candlesticks the complete r.mber
of lightsl Let your light shine before
men, that they, seeing your good FORKS,
may glorlfy your Father which y in
| heaven.
Turn now in your Bible to the seven
stars. We are distinctly told that they are
the ministers Of religion. Some are large
| stars, some OF them small stars, some OF
them sweep wide circuit and some OF
them small circuit, but 80 far as they are
genuine they get their light from the great
central sun around which they make revo.
luton. Let each one keep In his own
sphere. The solar system would be soon
wrecked II the stars, instead Of keeping
their own orbits, should 20 to hunting
down other stars. Ministers OF religion
should never clash. But in all the cen:
turies OF the Christian church some OF
these stars have been hunting an Edward
Irving or a Horace Bushnell or an Albert
Barnes. And the stars that were In pur-
suit OF the other stars lost their own orbit.
and some Of them could never again find
It. Alas for the heresy hunters The best
way to destroy error is to preach the
truth. The best way to scatter darkness
Is to strike light. There is in immensity
room enough for all the ministers. The
ministers who give up righteousness and
how, for they are 1.-THE wandering stars for
whom is reserved the blackness OF dark.
ness forever"
should like, as q minister, when I am
dying, to be able truthfully to say what
captain OF the Ed glish army, fallen at the
head Of his column and dying on the Egyp-
tian battlefield, said to General Wolseley,
who came to coDdole with him: ~ LED
them straight. Didn't I lead them
straight, general?" God has put US minis
ters as captains in this battlefield OF truth
against error. Great at last will be our
chagrin II we fall leading the people the
wrong way; but great will be our gladness
II, when the battle IL over, We can hand
our sword back to our great Commander,
saying: Lord Jesusl We led the people
straight Didn't We lead them straight"
Those ministers who 60 of ut a tangent
and preach some other gospel are not
stars, but comets, and they hash across the
! heavens little while and make people
stare, and throw down a few meteorio
stones, and then 90 out Of sight II not out
Of existence. Brethren In the ministry,
let US remember that God calls US stars,
and our business is to shine and to keep
our own sphere, and then when We get
done trying to light up the darkness OF
this world, We will wheel into higher
sphere, and in US shall be fulfilled tho
lromise "they that turn many to righteous.
ness shall shine as the stars forever and
ever"
The ministers are not all Pecksniffs and
| canting hypocrites, as some would have
you think Forgive me, II having Mt other
times gloriAed the medical profession, and
the legal profession, and the literary p.o-
fesson-I glorify my own. I have seen
them in their homes and heard them In
their pulpits, and grander array OF men
never breuthed, and the Bible figure is not
| strained when 1t calls them stars; and
whole consultations Of glorious ministers
have already taken their places on high,
shone on earth; Edward N. Kirk, OF the
Congregational Church; Stephen II. Tying,
of the Episcopal Church; Matthew Smp-
| son, OF the Methodist Church; John D owl
| ing, OF the Baptist Church; Samuel K. Tai
mage, OF the Presbyterian Church; Thomas
De Witt, Of the Reformed Church; John
Chambers, OF the Independent Church and
there I stop, for 1t so happens that have
mentioned the seven stars OF the seven
churches.
pass op to another mighty Bible seven
vision saw scroll with seven seals, and he
heard an angel cry, who is worthy to
loose the seals thereof" Take eight or
ten sheets OF foolscap paper, paste them
together and roll them into scroll. and
have the scroll at seven different places
sealed with sealing wax. You unroll the
scroll till you come to one OF these seals,
and then you can 10 no farther until yoI
break that seal then unroll again until
you come to another seal, and you can go
no farther until you break that seal; then
you 60 on until all the seven seals are
broken, and the contents Of the entire
scroll revealed. Now, that scroll with
seven seals held by the angel was the
prophecy Of what was to come on the
earth; 1t meant that the knowledge Of the
| future was with God, and no man and no
angel was worthy to open it; but the Bible
says Christ opened 1t and broke all the sew.
en- seals. He broke the first seal and un-
rolled the scroll, and there was q picture OF
a white horse, AMI that meant prosperity
and triumph for the Roman empire, and so
| 1t really came to pass that for ninety years
virtuous emperors succeeded each other
Nerva, Trajan and Antoninus. Christ In
the vision broke the second seal and un.
rolled again, and there was picture OF a
red horse, and that meant bloodshed, and
80 it really came to pass, and the next
ninety years were red with assassinations
and wars. Then Christ broke the third seal
black horse which in all literature means
| famine, oppression and taxation; and so 1t
| really came to pass. Christ went on un.
| til He broke all the seven seals and
opened all the scroll. Well, the future OF
| all Of US Is a sealed scroll, and I am glad
that no one but Christ can open 1t. Do not
let Us join that class OF Christians In our
| dav, who are trying to break the seven seals
of the future. They are trying to peep into
things they have no business WITH.
Do not 80 to some necromancer orspirit.
ualst or soothsayer or fortune teller to
| find out what Is going to happen to your
self or your family or your friends. Wait
| till Christ breaks the seal to find out
whether In your own personal life or the
life Of the nation or the life OF the world 1t
is going to be the white horse OF prosperity
or the red horse OF war or the black horse
OF famine. You will soon enough see him
paw and hear him neigh. Take care OF the
| present, und the future will take care OF
| itself. II man live seventy years, his
biography Is in O scroll having at least
seven seals, and let him not during the
| first ten wears OF his life try to look
into the twenties, nor the twentes into
| the thirties, nor the thirties into the
| forties, nor the forties into the fities, nor
the afties into the sixties, nor tho sixties
| into the seventies. From the way the
| years have got the habit OF racing along, l
guess you will not have to wait great
| while before all the seals OF the future are
broken. I would not give two cents to
know how long I am going to live, or in
what day. OF what year the world is going
TO be- demolished. I would rather give
| $1,000 not to know. Suppose some one
| could break the next seal In the scroll OF
your personal history and should tell you
that on tue next 4th OF July, 1901, you
were to die; the summer after next,
how much would you be good for between
this and that? It would from now until
then be a prolonged funeral. You would
be countIn, the months and the days,
and your family and friends would be
counting them, and next 4th OF July you