Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1861-11-20


filled With light. Nor was there single
expression in the Scriptures to prove the
non eternity of mutter Matter was not
necessarily contaminatjng When Adam
was in his holy Qnnocent) state, the place
of his dwelling had been material.
Ia the description of what heaven is.
and what it is not, in its moral aspect, the
speaker was eloquent, evincing extraoIdin
airy imaginative and ingual powers.
Having disposed of the whot, he next
proceeded to consider the achere of the in
terrosatory. 1t was, he said, natural for
the mind to long to know rhiher departed
friends and loved ones had gone Somehow
or other, we were impress,d by INSTINCT
and education that heaven was far otf-a
place very remote from the earth and yet
he did not doubt that if we had eyes to see
them, We should discover spiritual beings,
G cd and bad, mingiing around US in prox,
unity to those messengers of love sent forth
to minister to those who are called to be
heirs Of salvation ); albeit, the heaven where
Christ dwells was doubtless the special
abode OF the latter. This heaven we must
believe was above all other heavens. We
must of course keep in view the fact that
ab0Ue and 6etow, on this planet, or any 9TH
er, ire relative terms. BY up was simply
meant distance away from the earth on
line drawn from its centre and by the
word down was meant the exact opposite or
distance tOaodrdS its centre.
The beautiful astronomical theory which
IS gradually approximating positive demon
stration-that all the various systems of
the universe revove around one common
centre-was taken up by Mr. Adams at
this point, presented in its peculiar bear
ing upon the subject under discussion If
it were true that the central orb bore a
similar relation in magnitude to all the
bodies revolving around it, which the sun
of our system sustained to the planets and
satellltes-being five hundred times great
er in bulk than all the latter combined
that great central lpminary would indeed
the Eternal. This thought, he held, was
one OF overwhelming sublimity, and the
discoveries of science tended to confirm its
truth. The motion Of certain fixed stars,
for example, could not be explained upon
any other grounds. The star Arcturus had
within the last seventy years been found to
vary its position about three minutes and
thirty seconds, and the noted variation of
other bodies tended alike to show that there
is universal motion of the stars SO deep
ly was the preacher impressed with the
eOrrectnesS Of the centr0khedUen idea as
tie cnpit0t Of thc uRiccrSc, that he assumed
it to have been the heaven into which the
Apostle Paul had been mySteriously caught
up when he heard those words which it
was not possible for man to utter
Under the second head of his discourse
was considered the blessedness of more
distinct apprehension of heaven in this life
The third part was devoted to an exam
ination of the discipline which Christians
need who entertain these views Of the mis-
sion which awaits them. Paul, for exam
pie, after having his mind enlightened in
this matter by heavenly vision, had Civ
en- to him messenger Of affiiction.' And
the same discipline was necessary for the
wisest and most benefcent purpose. With
out this, We should be rendered utterly un-
fit for our earthly duties.
In the next place, the preacher consid-
cred the influence which such special views
ought to have upon the subsequent course
of those who receive them, in this life
Under this head the preacher administered
a severe rebuke to the pretensions of mod
ern splrltualism. Paul had not felt called
upon to boast of having received new
revelation after his remarkable vision
Fourteen years had elapsed before he ever
mentioned it; and then it vas not to pro-
claim means of intercourse between the
living and the dead. On the other hand,
Paul had discountenanced the idea that
any kind of ministration to his brethren in
| the body, after his own separation from it,
was possible; hence his allegation that to
remain with you is more proGtab e. Aud
surely, if so good man as Paul could not
hold intercourse with the living, after his
| departure to anot' or sphere, it was not
probable that others were admitted to such
a privilege, and he, therefore, proclaimed
boldly, that if there ,oas any such connec-
ton between the living and the dead, it
was internal, for it was by God forbidden.
His final thought was, that by contrast,
if heaven was place, the abode of the lost
must also be locality-in which souls
would not only be rendered wretched by
their own history and memories, bnt by
their horrible surroundings. One was a
palace, the other prison-a rayless tomb
in one the inhabitants rejoiced in the 9th
er they wept; in one there was endless
bliss; in the other sadness and woe unspeak-
able; above was heaven, below was hell
All who heard him were On their way
either to one of these or the other, and ev.
| cry one carried in his own heart the angser
to this momentous question Am | be-
llever In Jesus as my Saviour, or am not
BIrOur customs and habits are like tbs