The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1910-04-21
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. E. NJ. M'GUFFEY.
Theme: The End Of Things.

McGufey. preached Sunday morning
on the END of Things" He took his
text from st. Luke 21: "For the
powers of heaven shall be shaken"
Mr.. McGuffey said:
| JOY is always more joyous when
underneath 1t is foundation of
thoughtfulness. Thoughtful people
have everywhere and always the ad-
vantage over thoughtless people.
| with the latter class JOY is too often
like the cracking of thorns under a
pot Here Joy Is likely to be like
the pleasure children; light hearted.
temporary, evanescent and meaning.
less; mere animal spontaneity, unre-
| flective.
| On the other hand, Ilso, half di-
! gested considerations of the solem-
| nifty and seriousness of life, considera-
tions OF 1t not thought thoroughly to
a conclusion, are too apt to alarm
| and sober us unduly. and produce
that timid and melancholy frame of
! mind that refrains as far as possible
from thinking at all on the great and
serious problems Of human life. Lord
| Bacon once said: "A little philos-
ophy inclineth men to atheism" He
might have said also that a large sur
vey OF the laws governing the world
and the human mind establish a be-
| lief in the absolute and benevolent
| sovereignty of God over human life.
I shall be pleased, therefore, to
have YOU do two things:
First. to make all the JOYOUS days
| OF the Christian year and all the Joy
| Gus occasions OF your personal life
| more intelligently joyful by careful
conslc ceration OF the truths and facts
which underlie them. If few months
| ago we reflected on the true thought
OF Christmas Day, the incarnation,
the gift to the world from the skies
| of Divine Saviour, assuring us of
the care and love of the great Heaven
| ly Father, l am sure we experienced
| happiness that was contagious, be-
cause it was deep rooted. If we ex-
| planned lucidly to the dear children
in our homes why and how Christmas
| became Christmas, l am sure we
| sowed precious seed IN the rich soil
| of their young hearts.
With these considerations I pass
to our second thought, viz:
The ending Of this planet as the
theatre and home OF human life.
Dramatic and terrible as is this
thought in contemplation. let US seek
| to entertain 1t that 1t may be reas-
suring rather than demoralizing. If
the ending of the career of this world
! as planet is to me a tremendous
! physical catastrophe, a probable re-
| absorption into the sun by an impact
or collision which will instantly va
| porize 1T by the enormous heat gen.
| Grated by collision. this apparently
| tragic and,utter ending of the earth is
an ending ordained by God. along the
| lines of infinite wisdom and love. 1t
ort- -oI,1
| viewed in this light, than the drop
| ping of an autumn leaf, that, having
served its function, is bidden to sub
serve other uses.
1t is worthy of remark that the
| statement of our Saviour that this
planet would come finally % fiery ex-
tinction, anticipated by near 1000
years the deductions and conclusions
or astronomical science. For a gen.
| Grafton at least, astronomers have
known that the earth was slowly
drawing nearer to the sun. AS this
approach is by very easy stages. al
| though positive and actual. it will be
| many hundreds of thousands of years
before the final catastrophe occurs.
| And so, just now, we need be under
no immediate apprehension, in spite
| OF the periodic alarms Of our friends,
| the Second Adventists.
Before this happens, the education
| OF the human race will have been
| finished. Before this happens, all
terrestrial heat will probably have
| left the body of this planet With
the cooling of the earth, all water
on the surface of the globe. and all
atmosphere will have been drawn in
| to the core Of the earth, and the earth
will have become a dead planet like
| the moon. With the cooling of the
earth, and the disappearance of water
and air, all organic life. vegetable
| and animal, will have ceased, and the
| earth become q dead planet. GradI-
| ally the centrifugal motion which
| keeps the earth away from the sun,
as it Whiris around it, will be over
| come by the centripetal attraction
which is drawing the earth toward
the sun. Let me explain by simple
! illustration: A boy ties a stone on
/ the end OF string, after the manner
| of i sling. He swings it round and
round. Should he let go the string,
! the stone would fly off into space.
But holding tightly to the string, he
gradually shortcns 1t, ard in the
| meantime keeps the stone whirling,
! the stone will presently strike his
hand when the string Is short enough.
And the stone will strike hard. AS
| tronomy tells us that the earth Is the
stone, and the sun is the boy. The
string Is the Invisible cord which we
call gravity. The sun is gradually
shortening this cord. When it is
short enough. this power OF gravity
! will pull the earth into the sun. The
! earth will stilic the sun so hard that
) its entire mass will be vaporized in
J an instant and all its constituent ele-
ments resolved into it's original con-
! diticn. So vast is the sun that any
| one of its r-oot chasms which ue COLL