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

some places making them look ike
great burning caldrons and lakes Of
fire. Then It began to grow darker
and darker. You heard an owl boot
and a hyena call. Then the stars be-
gan to come out one by one.
At first you tried to count them.
You said, "One, two. three, four, five.
ten, twenty. fifty" Then the heavens
were lighted up with myriads Of lights,
and your eyes became confused. You
began TO think of the numbers of the
stars on the other side Of the world.
Here" you said. "we have the Dip
per. There is the Southern Cross we
never see" Then you thought Of the
cyclopean eye Of the telescope looking
farther and farther into space, and ev-
erywhere it looked there were stars
upon stars, thousands Of them, myriads
of them. Then you looked up and
cried out, 30 God, how many stars
are there?' And the answer seemed
to come to you: "There are as many
stars as the leaves Of the trees in the
forests about thee. They are greater
than any man can number" "Oh,"
you say, at is impossible for any man
to count the stars" Yes, my friend,
you are right; it Is impossible.
But here an overwhelming thought
comes rolling over me like a tidal
wave. They who have turned many
to righteousness are n great multitude.
Not only in our day, but in past years
and past centuries, men have been win
ming souls for Christ. and we, IL we
have been laboring for him, will live
and shine among that innumerable
throng. We are not going to be ike
a great fashlight shining in the heav-
ems above. but our stars shall shine
with other stars. All the prophets and
the apostles will he there. All the
evangelists and the sweet singers OF
Israel will be there. All the mighty
leaders for God in the past ages will
be there. No earthly "hall of fame
would ever be large enough TO hold
that vast assemblage Of gospel heroes
and heroines. Cannot you feel the
spiritual electric thrill Of such an as
semblage as that:
You know that an audience or great
collection of people has Its peculiar en-
tity as we'll as n single human being
A dear friend Of mine some years ago
was attending in London great inter
national gathering Of the representa-
tives of the Salvation Army. For hours
he stood in the gallery watching the
convention progress. Gas meeting fol-
mt hn
spirit of conservation seemed to take
possession of that vast assemblage.
You could almost sec this spirit as well
as feel il. You were swept along by
the holy enthusiasm of the delegates,
whether you were Salvation Army
man or not. So powerful became this
spirit that a man standing near me
who was not a Christian said: There
must be something in Christianity
There must be something supernatural
about it. These people are in dead
earnest. I cannot get away from it. y
Thus in heaven, when we get there,
we shall all feel the spiritual electric
thrill of being in close touch with hun
dreds upon hundreds and millions upon
millions of soul winners. When all
these vast multitudes OF soul winners
shall LIT up their voices In praise they
will lift US up. Oh, my friends, do you
not rejoice that in heaven you will
spend an eternity with those who have
gorified God on earth? There you shall
be in touch with them in numbers, as
the stars which shine forever and ever.
An Ideal Heaven.
But though I like today to think Of
the multitudes of soul winners who
shall be enrolled among the inhabitants
of heaven, l cannot think of an ideal
heaven simply as great mass of i'm
mortal souls, jostling each other on the
boulevards of the New Jerusalem. |
would not care for heaven wherein
every man and woman and child Is to
lose his individuality and cease to have
affinities with other immortal souls.
Oh. no, / would not want heaven like
that. ! believe that in heaven we shall
meet multitudes Of imm0rtals who
have been soul winners on earth, but
| also believe that those soul winners
shall keep their individuaities and that
the same loves of earth which made
husband cling to wife and wife to hus-
band and parents to children and chill
dren to parents and friends to friends
will all be there. BY the stellar glory
Of the night l think we may infer it.
For "they that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the armament, and
they that turn many to righteousness
as the stars forever and ever
Tie more we learn of the stars and
their movements the more clearly does
this appear. The unscientific man can
see nothing but chaos and confusion In
the stars Of the heavens. AS he looks
up into the armament he says; My,
how many stars there are! They seem
to be everywhere. There seem TO be
stars tumbling and stars iostling and
stars pushing. Here is n falling star,
and yonder that mass Of white Is a col
lection Of stars so close together that
they seem to be perfect mob Of stars
running riot" But as he goes on thus
an astronomer by his side says: Nay,
friend, you are wrong The stars may
seem to you to he running riot, but
that is not so. The British army upon
the march toward Waterloo, with the
Duke Of Wellington for its commander,
never was more orderly or had sterner
discipline than the stars under divine