Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-07-12

much light as one homemade tallow can
die by which last night some grandmother
In the eighties put on her specticles and
| read the Psalms Of David in larger type
UP with the churches, bv all meansl Hun.
dreds OF them, thousands of them and the
! more the better. But let each one be q
blaze OF heavenly light, making the world
brighter and brighter, till the last shadow
has disappeared, and the last of the suf.
! fering children of God shall have reached
The land where they have no need of can
| dlestick or "of candle, neither light of the
| sun. for the Lord God giveth them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.''
| Turn now in your Bible to the seven
Ears. We are distinctly told that they are
he mini-ters of religion. Some are large
Mars, some OF them small stars, some of
hem sweep a wide circuit and some of
hem small circuit, but so far as they are
genuine they get their light from the great
central sun around which they make revo-
ution. Let each one keep in his own
sphere. The solar system would be soon
wrecked IL the stars. instead of keeping
:heir own orbits, should go to hunting
1own other stars. Ministers of religion
should never clash. But in all the cen
:uries OF the Christian church some OF
these stars have been hunting an Edward
Irving or n 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
ruth. The best way to scatter darkness
s to strike light. There is in immensity
:oom enough for all the ministers. The
ministers who give up righteousness and
:he truth will get punishment enough any,
low, for they are ''the wandering stars for
whom is reserved the blsekness of dark
less forever
should like, as a minister, when / am
lying, to be able truthfully to say what a
captain OF the English army, fallen at the
head Of his column and dying on the Egyp-
ian battleneld, said to General WolseIey
Who came to condo!e with him: 81 led
hem straight. Didn't 1 lead them
rtraight, general?" God has put US minis
ers rs captains in this battlefield of truth
against error. Great at last will be our
,hagrin If we fall leading tine people the
wrong way; but great will be our gladness
4, when the battle is over, we can hand
,ur sword back to our great Commander,
aging: Lord Jesus! We led the peopl.
traight! Didn't we lead them straight?"
The ministers are not all PecksnifrS and
:anting hypocrites, as some would have
iou Think Forgive me, If having at other
lines glorilied the medical profession. and
he legal profession, and the literary p o.
ession-I glorify my own. 1 have seen
hem In their homes and heard them in
heir pulpits, and a grander array Of men
never breathed and the Bible figure is not
drained when it calls them stars; and
whole consultations of glorious ministers
lave already taken their places on high,
where they shine even brighter than they
Ihone on earth; Edward N. Kirk of the
Congregational Church; Stephen H. Tying,
IF the Episcopal Church; Matthew Si,np-
ION, OF the Methodist Church; John DnwI-
ng, of the Baptist Church; Samuel X Tai
mage, of the Presbyterian Church; Thomas
De Witt, of the Reformed Church; John
chambers, of the Independent Church, and
here I stop, for 1t SO happens that have
mentioned the seven stars of the seven
.hurches.
l pass Cd to an other mighty Bible seven
and they are the seven seals. St. John in
sision saw a scroll with seven seals, aud he
heard an angel cry, "Who is worthy to
.oose the seals thereof?' Take eight or
:en sheets of foolscap paper, paste them
together and roll them into u scroll, and
aave the scroll at seven different places
sealed with sealing wax. You unroll the
Scroll till you come to-One of theSa>Sis,
and then you can 20 no farther until you
break that seal; then unroll again until
you come to another seal, and you can go
10 farther until you break that seal; then
you go on until all the seven seals are
broken, and the contents of the entire
'croll revealed. Now, that scroll with
even seals held by the angel was the
prophecy Of what was to come on the
.arth; 1t meant that the knowledge of the
uture was with God, and no man and no
nigel was worthy to open it; but the Bible
,ays Christ opened 1t and broke all the sew
IN seals. He broke the first seal and un-
:olled the scroll, and there was a picture of
+, white horse. and that meant prosperity
and triumph for the Roman empire, and so,
really came to pass that for ninety years
virtuous enperors succeeded each other =
Nerva, Trajan and Antoninus. Christ in
t,..r -tcsAt h.n th.1r
rolled again, and there was picture of a
led horse, and that meant bloodshed, and
30 it really came to pass, and the next
ninety years were red with assassinatious
and wars. Then Christ broke the third seal
md unrolled it, and there was picture of
l black horse, which in all literature means
anime, oppression and taxation; and so it
'eally came to pass. Christ went on un-
ii He broke all the seven seals and
'pened all the scroll. Well, the future of
Ill Of us is n sealed scroll, and 1 am glad
hat no one but Christ can open it. Do not
ct US join that class of Christians in our
lay, who are trying to break the seven seals
" the future. They are trying to peep into
hings they have no business with.
Do not go to some necromancer or spirit.
ialist or soothsayer or fortune teller to
Ind out what is going to happen to your
elf or your family or your friends. Wait
ill Christ breaks the seal to find out
ife Of the nation or the life of the world it
s going to be the white horse of prosperity
u the red horse OF war or the black horse
If famine. You will soon enough see him
paw and hear him neigh. Take care of the
present, and the future will take care of
tself. If a man live seventy years, his
biography is in scroll having Mt least
'even seals, and let him not during the
irst ten wears Of his life try to look
nto the twentfes, nor the twenties into
&l,s
orties, nor the forties into the flfties, nor
he fifties into the sixties, nor the sixties
nto the seventies. From the way the
years have got the habit of racing along I
guess you will not have to wait u great
while before all the seals of the future are
,roEen. l would not give two cents to
know how long 1 am going to live, or in
what day OF what year the world is going
20 be demolished. / would rather give
$1,000 not to know. Suppose some one
could break the next seal in the scroll of
1our personal history and shoild tell you
we're to die, the summer after next,
low much wonld you be good for between
his and that? 1t would from now until
hen be a prolonged funeral. You would
Do counting the months and the days,
and your family and friends would be
them, and next 4th of July you
would rub your hands together and whine:
One year from to-day am to go. Dear
mel l wish no one had told me so long be-
ore. 1 wish that necromancer had not
broken the seal Of the future" And meet
ng some undertaken, you would say: "I
rope you will keep yourself free for an en-
,aSement the 4th OF July, 1901. That day
,ou will be needed at my house. To save
ime, you might as we'll take my Measure
low, five feet eleven inches" 1 am glad
hat Christ dropped thick veil over the
lour of our demise and OF the hour of the
worlds destruction when He said, "Of that
lay and hour knoweth no man; no, not the
angels, but my Father only" Keep your
lands of the seven seals.