The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-07-01

umns Of porphyry and g. columns of
green jasper, nine bronze doors with
alto relieve work fascinating to the eve
Of any artist, vases and yestments in
crusted with all msnner Of precious
stones. -Four walls on fire with indie
scribable splendor.
Though labor was cheap, the building
cost Sl,5O0, 900. Ecclesiastical structure,
almost supernatural in pomp and majes-
ty. But MOhammedanism tore down
from the walls Of that building all the
sanity and Christly images. and high
up in the dome the figure OF the cross
was rubbed out that the crescent Of the
barbarous Turk might be substituted.
A great church, but no Christ. A
gorgeous candleSiick. but no candle.
Ten thousand such churches would not
give the world as much light as one
homemade tallOw candle by which last
night some grandmother IN the eighties
put On her spectacles 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 giyeth them light, and they
shall reign forever and ever" Seven
eandlesticks the complete number of
lights! Let your light shine before
men, that they, seeing your good works,
may glorify your Father which is in
Heaven.
Turn now in your Bible 10 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 a wide circuit and
some Of them a small circuit, but so 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 W sphere. The solar
system would be soon wrecked If the
stars, instead of keeping their own or
bits, should 60 TO hunting down other
stars. Ministers 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 a Horace Bushnell or an Al
bert Barnes, and the stars that were in
pursuit Of the other stars lost their own
orbit, and some of them could never
again find il. Alas for the heresy hunt
ers! The best way to destroy 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 min
listers who give up righteousness and
the truth will get punishment enough
anyhow, for they are "the wandering
stars for whom is reserved the black
ness Of darkness forever"
The ministers are not all Pscksniffs
and eanting h~ypocrtes, as some would
have you think Forgive me IL, having
at other times clarified the medical pro-
fession and the legal profession and the
literary profession, ! glorify my own.
have seen fh@m in their homes and
heard them in their pulpits, and a
grandcr array Of men never breathed,
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,
where they shine ever brighter than
they shone on earth. Edward n. Kirk
Of the Congregational church, Stephen
II. Tying Of the Episcopal church, Mat
thew Simpson Of the Methodist church,
John Bowling Of the Baptist church,
Samuel X. Talmage Of the Presbyterian
church, Thomas De Witt Of the Re-
formed church, John Chambers OF the
Independent church, and there ] stop,
for II SO happens that / have mentioned
the seven stars Of the seven churches.
| pass on 10 another mighty Bible
seven, and they are the seven seals. st.
John ~ vision saw a scroll with seven
seals. and be heard an angel cry:
"Who is worthy to loose the seals there.
of" Take eight or ten sheets OF fools
cap paper, paste them together and roll
them into a scroll and have the scroll
at seven different places sealed with
sealing wax. You unroll the scroll unit
you come TO n of those seals, and theI
you a go no farther until you breal
that seal. Then unroll again until you
come to another seal, and you can &c
farther until you break that seal. Then
you 90 on until all the seven seals are
broken and the contents Of the entire
scroll ars revealed. Now that scroll
with seven seals held by the angel waI
the prophecy Of what was 10 come on
earth. II meant that the knowledge Of
the future was with God, and no mar
and no angel was worthy 10 open II
but the Bible says Christ opened II and
broke all the seven seals. He broke TIE
first seal and unrolled the scroll, anC
there was a picture Of a white horse
aud that meant prosperity and triumph
for the Roman empire, and so II really
came TO pass that for 30 years yirtuoui
emperors succeeded each other-Nerya
Trajan and Antoninus. Christ In th,
vision broke the second seal and un.
rolled again. and there was a seal Of
yed horse, and that meant b~loodshed
and 70 It really came TO pass, and the
next ~ years were red with assossina.
tons and wars. Then Christ broke III,
third seal and unrolled II, and therf
was a picture Of a black horse, which
in ali literature means famine. oDprea