The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-26

mUOeH Out mat bhS GIeoce1t VI we oAE-
bArsuss Turk might Be substituted. A
great church, but NO Christ! A gorgeous
candlestick, but no candlel Ten thousand
such churches would not give the world
as much light ~ one homemade tallow
candle by which last night some grand
mother in the eighties put on her speeta-
cIes and read the Psalms Of David in
. large type. Up with the churches by all
means! Hundreds Of them, thousands Of
them, and the more the better. But let
each one be a blaze Of heavenly light,
making the world brighter and brighter,
till the last shadow has disappeared and
the last Of the suffering children Of God
shall have reached the land where they
have no need Of candlestiek or "of can
die, neither light Of the sun, for the Lord
God giveth them light, and they shall
reign forever and ever" Seven candle
sticks the complete number Of lights!
Let your light shine before men, that
they, seeing your good works. may glori-
fly your Father which is in heaven.
To Destroy Error.
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 q wide circuit and
some of them a small circuit, but 30 far
as they are genuine they get their light
from the great central sun around whom
they make revolution. Let each one keep
In his own sphere. The solar system
would be soon wrecked II the stars, in
stead of keeping their own orbits, should
60 to hunting down other stars. Minis
tiers of religion should never clash. But
in all the centuries Of the Christian
church some of these stars have been
hunting an Edward Irving or Horace
Bushnell or au Albert Barnes, and the
stars that were in pursuit 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 de-
stroy error Is to preach the truth. The
best way to scatter darkness is to strike
a light. There is in immensely room
enough for all the stars and in the church
room enough for all the ministers. The
ministers who give up righteousness and
the truth will get punishment enough
anyhow, for they are "the wandering
stars for whom is reserved the blackness
of darkness forever"
i should like, as a minister, when am
dying to be able truthfully to say what
captain of the English army, fallen at the
head Of his column and dying on the
Egyptian battlefield, said to General
Wolseley, who came to condole with him:
II led them straight. Didn't lead them
straight, generalY God has put US min
listers as captains in this battlefield of
truth against error. Great at last will be
our chagrin il we fall leading the people
the wrong way, but great will be our
gladness IL when the battle is over we
can hand our sword back to our great
commander, saying: Lord Jesus! We
led the people straight. Didn't we lead
them straight" Those ministers who 60
off at tangent and preach some other
gospel are not stars, but comets, and they
flash across the heavens little while and
make people stare ond throw down few
meteoric stones, and then go out of sight
If 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 dark
ness of this world we will wheel into
higher spheres, and in us shall be fulfilled
the promise, '"They that turn many to
righteousness shall shine as the stars for
ever and ever"
The ministers are not all Pecksniffs
and canting hypocrites, as some would
have you think! Forgive me IL, having
at other times gloriied the medical pro-
fession and the legal profession and the
literary profession, l glorify my own.
have seen them in their homes and heard
them in their pulpits, and grander ar
ray Of men never breathed, and the Bible
figure is not strained when it calls them
stars. And whole consultations of glori-
Gus ministers have already taken their
places on high, where they shine even
brighter than they shone on earth. Ed
ward N. Kirk Of the Congregational
church, Stephen II. Tying of the Episco-
pal church, Matthew Simpson Of the
Methodist church, John Bowling Of the
Baptist church, Samuel X. Talmage Of
the Presbyterian church, Thomas De-
Witt of the Reformed church, John
Chambers of the Independent church,
and there stop. for it so happens that
have mentioned the seven stars Of the
seven churches.
A Mighty Number.
pass on to another mighty Bible sew
en-, and they are the seven seals st. John
in 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 Il
scroll and have the scroll ut seven differ
ent places sealed with sealing wax. You
unroll the scroll till you come to one Of
these seals, and then you can so no far
her until you break that seal. Then unrol
again until you come to another seal, and
you can go no farther until you break
that seal. Then you go on until all the
seven seals are broken and the contents
of the entire scroll are 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
of the future was with God,
and no man and no angel was worthy to
open 1t, but the Bible says Christ opened
1t and broke all the seven seals. He broke
the first seal and unrolled the scroll, and
there was a picture of white horse, and
that meant prosperity and triumph for
the Roman empire, and so it really came
to pass that for 80 years virtuous emper-
DIS succeeded each other-Nerva, Trajan
md Antoninus. Christ in the vision broke
the second seal and unrolled again, and
there was a picture Of a red horse, and
that meant bloodshed, and SO 1t really
came to pass, and the next 90 years were
red with assassinations and wars. Then
Christ broke the third seal and unrolled
It, and there was picture of black
horse, which In all literature means fam
inc, oppression and taxation, and so it
really came to pass. Christ went on until
he broke all the seven seals and opened
Ill the scroll. Well, the future Of all Of
rs Is sealed scroll, and am glad that
10 one but Christ can open 1t. Do not let
IS join that class of Christians in our day
who are trying to break the seven seals
If the future. They are trying to peep
INTO things they have no business with.
Take Care of the Present.
Do not 60 to some necromancer or spir-
tualist or sOothsayer or fortune teller to
ind out what is going to happen to your
self or your family or your friends. Wait
till Christ breaks the seal to find out
In your own personal life or the
life of the nation or the life Of the world
i is going to be the white horse of pros
perity or the red horse of war or the