Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-07-15

sad is ROSY with smiles, when birds sing in groves
of freshest green, and flowers unfold their color
and she'd their fragrance in the air,-the Christian
in contemplating heaven, viii desire to see no gil
| ded battlements of castles, no thrones or watch
towers no temples or glitteriRg highways; but as
far beyond the azure arch as he can project his
sight, he will view heaven as boundless plain of
matchless charms impressing him with reverence
and humility to behold.
80, the transporting, rapturous scene
| That rnshes to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
! And rivers of delight"
DR.. Watts-the second "sweet singer of Israeli
embodies the idea of country in his familiar hymn
beginning with the beautiful and mellow line
"There is land of pure delight"
Perpetual spring crowns the hills, and flowers
bloom which never fade. No Christian, sensitive
to the delicate beauty of flowers, will believe there
are no gardens in heaven. The Creator is lover
of flowers and ifhe has decked the earth with
such momentoes Of his skill and taste, would he
not have frnged the scenery of heaven with others
farer still?
"There everlasting spring abides,
And never whitening flowers"
Old Spenser, the author of the Fairy Queen"
say Of the ministerng angels who are sent to visit
US,
"IIow oft do they their SilUer boUers leave,
To come to succOr US, who succOr want?"
But heaven is not only an illimitabe garden of
flowers it is also
"a land where fruits immortal grow
Whatever luxuriance there may be in the tropics
of the earth the lavish profuseness there displayed
is only barrenness compared with the richer stores
that are gathered in heaven. Moreover eternity
alone measures the season ofthe harvest Ever
lasting is the ripeness of every fruit and fragrance
of every flower. There the olive will always grow,
the fig tree put forth her leaves, the vine flourish
The luscious fruit will be plucked and eaten and
there will be no surfeit of appetite.
How often the Christian, weary of this world,
yearns for such a country. Indeed but few, even
among those who have no Inheritance there. would
if they were told that by wishing they could pos
it, picture such region for their final happest
home Even a child, who has been told of heaven,
inquired with beautiful simplicity,
as it where the flower of the orange blows,
And the fire flies glance through the myrtle
boughs?
"Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise,
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies? ?"
SIS it far away in some region old,
Where the rivers wander DER sands of god?"
Trees, too, whose foliage is green with the verdure
of eternal spring
"Rear their heads and clap their hands"
Groves of palm are there, in whose shades the
saints repose, to recount their tolls and triumphs,
while they hold in their hands fresh branches bro
ken from the bOughs above them. We believe
that the Saviour while on earth, loved the palms
of Palestine, and often gathered his disciples in
their cool shelter; we would not be persuaded that
he hes left this upper Holy Land unidentified by
palm trees, royal in structure, and faultless in
gracefulness. Who that has-read of Lebanon
would not wish 10 see its cedar transplanted TO
that purer cline, and growing there in majesty un
known on earth, But more precious than all 9TH
ers-
"The cedar, pine, and everlasting oak"
is the Tree of Life standing upon the brink of the
River that flows eternally from the throne Of the
Omnipotent. As the excellence of all celestial
spirits centres in the perfect and infinite God so
the beauty of all celestial Vegetation is crowned in
this Eternal Tree, which the Father has planted
with his own hand.
Fair, distant land could now our eyes
Bu. half thy charms explore
How would our spirits long to rise,
And dwell on earth no more "
This is the Paradise TO which the Christian is
invited Towards its borders he is sojourning-
sometimes he is permitted, while on his way, to
see it faintly-Outspreadin beyond him in the dis
tance of the fature-thozgh, mayhap, a cloud will
oltener overshade his vision. Yet he presses on
ward-needing no compass, as the mariner and
praire-travelcr require, knowing that a Friend, /,
the Friend Of all humanity, for he was once man
is walking beside him, and though unseen is ever
present The only comfort of earth that will never
fail him. is the friendship of this companion. His
pleasures perish, while he would yet enjoy them.
But things decaying every side, excite him TO
seek crown of happiness that will never fade
Heaven and earth, whispers the heavenly voice, |
"sha pass away" He will at last reach the good
ly land, and go in to possess it. At every setting
Il Ill