Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-02-16

FARTHER apart they went. each paying
out its end of the cable. But during
all that long journey tawartl 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 bc 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 il not Il 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 a perfect heaven
unless YOU are thcre 30 shine for their
glory and eterua i1v
Even tne stars DiGcr.
But how are t,lgs, celestial stars 30
Ing TO shine? Shall they All look alike
and have just The same color and the
same characteristics? Are they to he
similar to 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 look ell 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 dlaereth from another
star In glory" Heaven is not TO lie n
place OF monotonous similaritics. but
OF varied and ever fresh contrasts. As
In the material Ornament one star diff
fers from another star SO there VIII lie
differences in the spiritual stars. Each
OF these stars will emit radiance PC
culiar 10 itself.
The difference between children horn
in the same family. tie difference be-
tween any two birds, or any two flow
ers OF the sane 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. C!u and
Mira and Algol ana 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,
y LA At tn 20 10
different sizes, as a jeweler might clas-
sify his gems by the color, the size and
the purity of the precious stones. all of
which implies that in heaven. when we
shine as the stars forever and ever, we
shall all keep our own Municipalities
and have our distinctive characters
tics OF light. Yes, heaven is to be n
place of infinite variety OF immortal
life. but though you and I, when we
reach heaven, will be different in many
ways, there is one way which we shall
all be similar when we shine as the
stars forever and ever. We shall ali
shine with n supernatural light.
How do | know this? Why. also by
the symbol of the stars. Let me ex-
plain. Now star is not planet like
the earth. 1t Is self luminous body,
like the sun. 1t is great furnace in
the heavens, which goes on, year after
year and century after century and
millennium after millennium, giving
forth its heat and light, as our own
sun for millions of years has been heat
ing and lighting our planet. Now
comes the practical question, What
fuel feeds those seemingly inexhaustl-
bic furnaces? 1t is absurd to suppose
that here and there a stray meteor
drawn into those awful masses OF heat
could keep up the supply and combus-
ton century after century and millen-
mum after millennium. Sir William
Thomson. the celebrated mathematician
and physicist, says that the sun will
burn at least five or six million years
longer When one estimates the fact
that the suns volume or bulk is st
least 100000 times larger than the
earth he begins partly TO realize the
enormous heat whicA this stars light is
giving forth. What causes all this light
Of the star? oh" you answer. Il can
not explain it upon any rational
grounds. Let us say it comes from
God" Thus say we I'm reference to that
spiritual light which shall make us
shine as the stars forever and ever.
Friend. no earthly light will make you
thus shine forever and ever. Have you
the spiritual Eight? Have you that light
which comes only from touching the
living Goals OF the spirits fire? If you
have not that spiritual light within you,
Will you let God put it there now?
Their Influence Lasting.
But there is still another fact to
which I want to call your attention to
these spiritual stars. Though they NAV
shine forever and ever in heaven. their
spiritual Light win not be lost to earth
as long as this world lasts. NV text
reads thus: "They that be wise shall
shine as the brightness of the firmo-
ment. and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars forever and
ever" Do you not see 1t? AS the i'm
mortal soul winner leaves this planet
he will not only shine in the other
world but also in this wor.d. No"
says some one, II do not see it," | will
explain 1t In the words of a great as
tronomer. Listen: Some stars are so
distant that their beams may have oc-
cupied thousands of years in Journey
ing to the earth. yet these bodies. If
suddenly annlsilatei, would still con
tinue to shine upon Us for thousands OF
years 10 ccme." SO there are great men
whose existence has long since termi-