Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-03-09

The Better Land.


Lamb, in his reply to Southeys attack upon
him in the Quarterly Review
He who is infinite in love as we'll as in
wisdom, has revealed to us the fact of future
which the present stands to it. The actual
nature and conditions of that life he has hidden
from us-no chart of the ocean of eternity is
given us-no celestial guide-book or geogra-
ply defines. localizes and prepares us for the
the wonders OF the spiritual world. Hence
Imagination has wide field for its specula-
tiOns, which, so long as they do not positively
contradict the revelation of the Scriptures,
cannot be disapproved.
We naturally enough transfer to our idea
of Heaven whatever we love and reverence on
earth. Thther the Catholic carries in his
fancy the imposing rites and time-honored sol
emnities of his worship. There the Metho-
dist sees his love-feasts and camp-meetings,
in the groves and by the still waters and green
pastures Of the Blessed Abodes. The Qua
ker, in the stiffness of his selfcommuning,
remembers that there was silence in Heaven.
The Churchman, listening to the solemn chant
Of vocal music, or the deep tones Of the organ,
thinks of the songs of the Elders, and the gol-
den harps Of the New Jerusalem.
The heaven of the northern nations of Eu-
rope was gross and sensual reflection Of the
earthly life of barbarous and brutal people.
The Indians Of North American had a
vague notion of Sunset Land-a beautiful
Paradise in the West-mountains and forests
filled with deer and buffalo-lakes and streams
swarming with fshes-the happy hunting
ground of souls. In late letter from a devO-
ted missionary among the western Indians,
paul Blohm, converted Jew,) we have no.
ticed beautiful illustration of this belief
Near the Omahaw missOn-hOuse, on high
bluff, was a solitary Indian grave. One
evening" says the missionary, having come
home with some cattle, which had been seek
ing, | heard some one wailing, and looking in
the direction from whence it proceeded,
found it TO be from the grave near our house.
In q moment after, the mourner got up from a
kneeling or lying posture, and, turning to the
setting sun, he stretched forth his arms in
prayer and suppication, with an intensity and
earrestness as though he would detain the
splendid luminary from running his course
With his body leaning forward, and his arms
stretched toward the sun, he presented most
striking figure of sorrow and petition. 1t was
solemnly awful. He seemed to me to be one
Of the ancients, come forth to teach me how to
pray
A venerable and worthy New England
clergyman, on his death bed, just before the
close Of his life, declared that he was only
conscious of an awfully solemn and intense
curiosity TO know the great secret Of Death and
Eternity.
The excellent Dr. Nelson, Of Missouri was
one who, while on earth, seemed to live anoth-
er and higher life, in the contemplation Of In
finite purity and happiness. A friend of ours
once related an incident concerning him which
made deep impression upon our mind. They
had been travelling through a summers fore
noon in the prairie, and had lain down to rest
beneath solitary tree The doctor lay for a
long time silently looking upward, through
the openings Of the boughs, into the still heav-
ems, when he repeated the following lines. in
low tone, as if conmuning with himself, in
view of the wonders he described
tboi tl,ata thera ,orfa1 hath notSp
O. the songs they sing there with hosannas between
O. the thrice-blessed song the Lamb and Of Moses
0, brightness on brightness the pearlgate uncloses
O, white wings Of angels o, fields white with roses
o, white of peace, where the rapt soul repcses
o, the waters so still, aud the pastures green
The brief hints afforded US by the sacred
writings concerning the Better Land, are in
spring and beautiful. Eye hath not seen, nor
the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man to conceive of the good In store
quiet habitation-a rest remaining for the peo-
pie Of God. Tears shall be wiped away from
all eyes there shall be no more death, nei-
ther sorrow nor crying. neither shall there be
any more pain. To how many death-beds
have these words spoken peace How many
failing hearts have gathered strength from
them to pass through the dark valley of shad-
ows
Yet we should not forget that the kingdom
of heaven is within that it is the state of the
affections Of the soul the answer of good con-
science the sense of harmony with God (; a
condition of Time as well as Of Eternity
What is really momentous and all-important
with us is the present, by which the future is
shaped and colored. A mere change of local
ity cannot alter the actual and intrinsic quali-
ties of the SOUL Guilt and remorse would
make the golden streets of Paradise intoliera-
BILE as the burning mari of the internal bodies,
while purity and innocence would transform
hell itself into heaven. g. Whittier. h
A Rough Picture from Life.
1t is fine thing to be conservative Of the
benevolent cast. Inheriting fine old man