Milford chronicle., 1905-07-21


The Heavens sheets of Fire.
Could we find a more resDlenden'
pageantry for the second coming OF
Christ than in the chariots Of clouds
with the flashlights OF dazzling light
nings? "Grd the sword upon thy thigh
o most mighty, with thy glory and thy
majestyr cries the psalmist. Yes. we
bhave seen Christ in symbol girding on
his sword and clothing himself in the
glory and in the majesty Of the storm.
Some years ago we took long drive
of some fifty miles over the Michigan
hills. Before we got back to our sum
mer cottage an awful storm overlook
Us. The night settled in. The black
clouds eclipsed for us the light of every
star. 1t was as black as the plague Of
darkness in Egypt From an adjacent
farmhouse we borrowed Il lantern. The
way became so black that even the
| horses could not see the road. The lit
/ tie children in the stage crept up close
to their mothers in fear The silence
became'as still as the famous half hour
of silence in heaven when the celestial
hosts. horror struck. could not utter Il
whisper Immediately after the dying
agony of CalvaIys tragedy was ended.
Then came the rushing of mighty
winds. It seemed as though all the
spirits demoniac as we'll as celestial
were sweeping past me and meeting
in mighty conflict. Then the whole
heavens became sheets of fire. North,
east, south and west. everywhere the
heavens were ablaze. The flames seem
ed to mount higher and higher, as
though they were climbing up "A thou
sand story building Then it seemed
as though the clouds with their mighty
Niagaras rushed toward them anl
drowned out those kissing furnaces Of
Ncbuchadnczzar, seven times-aye. sew
enty Unrestricted. Then the huge trees
alongside the road would bend ana
groan like shuddering LAGOON in death
grip of huge monsters. Ahead OF the
horses I walked with the lantern to
show the way. Now / could see the
big stage following after me. Now.
after the thundcrS had rolled and swell
ed ANA died away | could hear the
faint cry of Il child or the soothing
tones Of mother trying to quiet her
babe, She, the mother, just as fright
ened as the child Then suddenly ey-
cry tree, every rock. every hillside
would come ont as clear In outline as
during the day. Then midnoon in an
instant would be changed into mid |
pf,rbt Ta,,,-,.. ,,,,,,-..,. ,,,,tipotot,t i'm
finite power. DO YOU wonder that the /
glory and the majesty of the coming |
Christ were symholzed by Jesus him
self iu the sublime scenic effects oil /
"the lighmmgs coming out Of the east
and shining even unto the westY
swifter Thnn "A Bullet.
/ fear that our artists and poets and /
religious teachers have too often dwelt |
upon the humanity and the humility
and the hclplcssness of Christ and have
not emphasized enough his glory and
majesty and power as symbolized in
the lighmings and the chariot clouds
of his second coming Ii is right and
just that we should impress upon our
hearers and scholars the hclplessness
of Christ incarnated i'm the flesh Of a
little child. The master artist drew a
true lesson for us when he made Mary
and the divine infant sleep between
the great paws of the old Egyptian
statue. There was the moon lowering
over the silent, bleak desert as the
eye of God the Father
watching his only begotten Son.
There was Joseph, the carpenter grim
md silent as a sentinel, keeping guard.
There i'm the background rises the huge
statue, half man, half beast, chiseled
md anchored to its foundations thou
sands Of years before Christ was born
md still there watching, watching,
waiting waiting thousands of years
lfter Christ is dead. Christ, the help
ess Christ there, became helpless in
with us. But older than the
,ldest rocks of the pyramids was the
iame life of that divine Christ. Longer
han those rocks shall ever exist shall
he eternal existence of Christ endure.
Sreater than the power of HerOd, who
made Bethlehem a slaughter house of
innocent blood, and greater than the
plendors of Rameses H., whose palace
grounds were once Tapped by the wa
ers of the river Nile and whose work
nen made the desert blossom as the
ose, are the strength and the power
md splendor of that sleeping child
1hrist's second advent shall reveal
lin an omnipotent, an Omniscient and
IN omnipresent God. Christs next
coming shall be visible to all people
is he is girded with glory and majesty.
3y the flaming swords of the light
iings my text in symbol pictures a
glorious. a sublime, a resplendent, a
CELESTIAL panorama. Let me repeat for
-ou the glorious message of my text.
Hear how the sublimity Of that mil
ennial day echoes down the halls Of
.ime. "As the lightning cOmeth out of
he east and shineth into the west so
shall the coming Of the Son Of man."
Lightning travels swifter than the
birds wing swifter than a rifles bull
ct. swifter than a hunters halloo,
,wifter than any other agency Of life
n death in the world. Within few