Milford chronicle., 1906-02-16

? over you a sense Of contentment tha
no man ever experiences unless he
living out in the woods This peac
did not come from your companions
though there never were finer men t.
trough it" with than those who wer'
your associates at that time. Blu
somehow you did not care TO talk tha
night. So you made up your bed Of
green boughs and covered them Will
The soft leaves. Then you spread your
blankets and lay down. You did not
lie down to sleep. You lay down to
rest and commune with God. Before
you the sun, which had long since set
was throwing its light up over the
western hills and dyeing the evening
clouds in pigments of gold and in
some places making them look like
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. zone, 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.
"IIere," you said, 1--WE have the Dip
per. There is the Southern Cross we
never see." Then you thought of the
cyciopean eye of the telescope looking
farther and farther into space, and eY-
erywhere it looked there were stars
upon stars. thousands of them, myriads
of them. Then you looked up and
cried out, 20 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, 'it 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 a great multitude.
Not only in our day, but in past years
and past centuries, men have been win
ming souls for Christ, and we, if we
have been lab0ring for him, will live
and shine among that innumerable
tbrong. We are not going to be like
a great fashlight shining in the heav-
ems above. but our stars shall shine
with other stars All the prophets and
the APOSTLES will be there. All the
evangelists and the sweet singers or
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 a great
collection Of people has its peculiar en-
tity as we'll as a single human being.
A dear friend Of mine some years ago
was attending in London a great inter
national gathering of the representa-
lives Of the Salvation Army. For hours
he stood in the gallery watching the
convention progress. "As meeting fol-
lowed meeting" said he, "a strange
spirit Of conservation seemed to take
possession Of that vast assemblage.
You could almost see this spirit as well
rs feel it. You were swept along by
the holy enthusiasm of the delegates,
whether you were a Salvation Army
nan or not So powerful became this
;pirit that a man standing near me
who was not a Christian said: There
must be something in Christianity.
There must be something supernatural
lbout it. These people are in dead
,arnest. l cannot get away from it. "
Thus in heaven, when we get there,
We shall all feel the spiritual electric l
brill of being in close touch with hun
reds upon hundreds and millions upon |
Millions of soul winners. When all
hese vast multitudes Of soul winners l
hall lift up their voices in praise they b
Yill lift us up. Oh, my friends, do you q
ot rejoice that in heaven you will t
pend an eternity with those who have g
lorified God on earth? There you shall a
e in touch with them in numbers, as 0
be stars which shine forever and ever. t
An Ideal Heaven. u
But though like today to think Of '
he multitudes of soul winners who c
hall be enrolled among the inhabitants 0
( heaven, cannot think Of an ideal t
eaven simply as a great mass Of i'm 4
lortal souls, jostling each other on the c
oulevards of the New Jerusalem. c
-ould not care for a heaven wherein $
very man and woman and child is to
,se his individuality and cease to have c
mnities with other immortal souls. a
ID, no, would not want heaven like S
nat. 1 believe that in heaven we shall =
leet multltudes Of immOrtals who {
ave been soul winners on earth, but =
also believe that those soul winners q
hall keep their individualities and that
le same loves of earth which made .
usband cling to wife and wife to hus- 3
and and parents to children and chill
rem to parents and friends to friends
ill all be there. By the stellar glory C
Co. [ l.