Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-02-15

but IL remained Tor the modern aStrOn-
omer to show how these various groups
were related. Herschsl mapped the
motion Of these groups around their in
dividual centers; then he went higher
and higher in his astron omical theory,
and he showed how these centers NOV
ed around other centers and these other
centers In turn swing around other cen
tors; then at last he swings all these
groups and consultations and solar
systems and all these centers around
one great center, which he calls the
great white throne Of God" Cannot
you grasp the parable?
They Shall shine as stars.
In heaven nl the soul winners of
earth shall shine as the stars forever
and ever. But these stars shall not be
simply great multitude of stars shin
ing as mass of light. Each star will
he the member of certain group.
What Is the group? Why, the family.
We shall shine like Moses and Joshua
and Paul and Peter. Yes, but we shall
shine alongside of our fathers and
mothers and brothers and sisters and
wives and husbands and children In
groups-in family groups-we shall be.
o God, thank thee that in heaven
my loved ones shall be by my side as
they have lived by my side on earth
All the soul winners shall be there, but
my dear ones shall live as close to me
as though our mansion in heaven were
the only mansion built upon the Boule-
ward Of Gold down near TO the Beauti-
full Gate.
But there is another fact about these
stars to which I would call your nj.
tention todny. II we turn many to
righteousness we shall shine What
does that mean? Shall we be as min
ers with our little pickering lamps go
ing into the dark places of the earth
TO hunt out gold for our own selfish
purposes? Shall we become mIsers
who are ready to shut themselves up
into solitary rooms, SO that with liz.
tie Pickering candlelight they can open
their iron vaults and in safety exam
inc their jewels and piles Of silver and
of gold? Nay. If we turn many to
righteousness we can never shut our
selves up in heaven. We must shine
as the stars. We must shine not so
much for the benefit OF ourselves as
for the benefit OF others. Heaven IS
to be a place Of eternal enjoyment be-
cause it is place where we shall
spend the milenniums in helping to
make others happy. Oh. blessed, thrice
blessed Is this thought Is It your
hope!
When Cyrus W. Field was about to
lay the first successful Atlantic cable
he had two vessels. the Agamemnon
and the Niagara. Each loaded with
the precious cable, they met in mid
ocean. Then the two vessels parted,
and one sailed toward Valentia and the
other toward Trinity bay. Farther and
farther apart they went, each paying
out its end Of the cable. But during
all that long journey toward the old
world and the new these two vessels
could keep sending messages to each
other. So on the great sea of space
the stars seem to be floating ships.
Aye, more than that-they seem to be
creatures Of life. And these stellar
creatures OF life seem to be always
signaling, always talking to each other
They seem to me to keep saying, oh
child of Christ. when thou dost shine
as the stars forever and ever thou
shalt be shining for other worlds and
| not for myself" Is it not a beautiful
thought to you that all through eter.
nifty you shall be shining to make your
dear ones happy? Heaven can never
be to your loved ones n perfect heaven
unless you are there to shine for their
glory and eternal joy.
Even the Stars Differ.
But how are these celestial stars 60
Ing to shine? Shall they all look alike
and have just the same color and the
same characteristics? Are they to be
similar 20 each other, like the pictures
we used to study Of the angels, who
were always dressed in white robes
and had two wings, with just so many
feathers, SO that each angel looked like
every other angel? No. When you
speak thus / know you have not OBJ
served the stars. You have not noticed
how they differ in brightness and size
. and color. The Bible distinctly tells US
that lone star differeth from another
star In glory" Heaven Is not to be q
place Of monotonous similarities, but
Of varied and ever fresh contrasts. As
in the material armament one star diff
fers from another star so there will he
differences In the spiritual stars. Each
Of these stars will emit a radiance pc
culiar to itself.
The difference between children born
In the same family, the difference be-
tween any two birds, or any two flow
ers Of the same species, or any two
mountain ranges. is not more marked
than the difference between any two
stars. They differ from each other in
color. Some are yellow or purple, or
pale green or emerald green. or white
or blue. or orange or sapphire or Grim
son. Some stars give forth q steady
light; others are variable. Cit and
Mira and Algol and Agnus are chang
ing their volume of light necessarily.
Some are stars Of the first magnitude.
others OF the second, the third, the
fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh,
the eighth, or even the ninth magni-
tude. Argelander, the great astronomer,
catalogued the stars in reference to the
different sizes, as jeweler might clas-
Ill Ii. a., ...,.