Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-06-24

meet people AT the church door with a
black look. and have the music black and
the minister in black preach black ser
mon. and from invocation 1" bencdiction
have the impression black. few will come,
ard those who do come will wish they
had not come nj all.
worldly Churches.
Golden candleSticks Scorr up the six
lilies on each branch and know that the
more lovely and bright they are the more
III they arr To- hold the light. But a
Christlcss light is damag" Ia the world
rather than good. Cromwell stabbed his
cavalry horses in ~. pauls cathedral.
and many now use the church in which
to stable vanities and w"rldliness. 4
worldly church il candleStick without
the candle. and il had its prototype in
~. Sophia. in constantinopl, built 10 the
glory Of God 10y Constantine. hut trans
formed Ia base u>as by Mohammcd the
second. Built out of colorcd marble. a
I cupola with ~ windows soaring TO a
height of $50 feet. the ceiling one great
bcwildcrmcnt Of mosaic. galleries sup
parted by eight columns III porphyry and
~ columns Of green jasper. nine bronze
doors with alto rehcvo work fascinating
10 the eye Of any artist. vases and vest
mcnts incrustcd with all manner of pre-
cious stones. Four walls ON fire with in
dcscribable splendor.
Though labor was cheap. the building
cost 81. 800. 900. Ecclesiastical structure
almost supernatural in pomp and majes-
i ". But Mohammcdnnism tore down
from the walls of that building all the
sanity and Christly images. and high up
I in the dome the figure of the cross was
rubbed out that the crescent Of the bar
barous Turk might he substituted. A
| great church. but no Christ. \ gorgeous
candlcstick. hut no candle. Ten thousand
such churches would not give the world
as much light as one homemade tallow
candle by which last night some grand
mother in the eighties put on her specta-
cles 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 candlestick 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-
1 ~ 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 wide circuit and
some of them a small circuit hut so far
as they are genuine they get their light
I 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 il the stars, in
stesd of keeping their own orbits. should
20 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 an Albert Barnes. and the
stars that were intpursuit of the other
stars lost their own orbit and some OF
them could never again find il. Alas for
the hcrcsy hunters. The best way to de-
stroy error Is to preach the truth. The
best WAY To- scatter darkness il to strike
light. There il 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 j. reserved the blackncss
of darkness forever"
-.
dying To he able truthfully to say what
captain 81 the English army. fallen nj the
head Of his column and dying on the
Egyptian battlefield. said to General
! WolSeley. who came To conslole with him:
Il led them straight. Didn't I lead them
straight. general" God has put us min
listers a. captains in this battlefield Of
truth against error. Great AT last will be
our chagrin il We fall leading the people
the wrong way. hut great will be- our
gladneSS II when the battl" is over we
'an 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 40
off AT Il tangent aud preach some other
gospel are not stars. hut comets. and they
fash across the heavens little " lille and
mctcoric stones. and then ga out OF sight
IL not out 81 existence Brethren in the
u irisiry. let Us re- member that God calls
us stars. and our business is 10 shine and
to keep our own sphere. and then when
we get done trying 60 light mp the dark
ness of this world we will wheel into
higher spheres. and in us shall he fulfilled
the promise. They that turn many To-
righteousness shall shine as the stars for
ever and ever"
The ministers are not all Pecksniffs
aud caniing hyIocriies. as some would
have you think. Forgive me IL. having
nj other times gloriiicd the medical pro-
fes>ion and the legal profession and the
literary profession. ! glorifv my own.
have seen them m their homes and heard
them in their pulpits. and a grander ar
ray 81 men never hrcathcd. and the Bible
figure is not strained when il calls them
stars. And whole consultations of glori-
ous ministers have already taken their
places ON high. where they shine even
brighter than they Shone on earth. Ed
ward y. Kirk II the Congregational
church. stephen II. Tying IT 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 il 50 happens that
! have mentioned the seven stars of the
seven churches.
Mighty Number.
pass ON to another mighty Bible sew
en-. and they are the seven seals. 81. John