Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1870-11-05

yet not this form what it Is to be. you
know as well as | do, aud none of US
know anything about it. There is not
one single line of explicit statement as
to what will be our employment in the
Heavenly land; we do not know it is
not stated. In short, the questions
generated by our condition on earth are
answered mostly thus We do not
understand the power of God, and in
regard to the power of the resurrection,
it does not yet appear what we will be
We see now as through q glass
darkly, but then face to face" But
this very vagueness is better calculated
to stimulate zeal aud endurance, than if
it had been analyzed and made plain to
ns philosophically. We are taught
vaguely; everything is left to the
imagination. But, you will say, is not
this unsatisfactory? No; for it is
through the Imagination that children
are always. taught in relation to those
things which are above them and we
are here as children not competent to
understand things wholly beyond the
reach of our own experience. Therefore
every instruction is given to US through
the Imagination 1t is the truth of God
addressed to our hearts and to our affec
tions, through our imaginalions. II
may be said, therefore, that Heaven is
a revelation to mans heart through his
imagination. and God thus teaches US
of things which we cannot underst nd
in any other way. The teachings OF
the Bible are pictorial; so of the pic
lures nf Heaven and He'll; We are not
to suppose that there is literally lake
of fire and birthstone
You do not heleve it, nor do /.
Nor are YOU to suppose that Heaven Is
paved with gold and silver. You do
not believe that. Ii people did believe
it, there would be more people anxious
for their souls salvation. laughter ]
1t is used as pictorial figure; We have
no means of understanding the actual
thing; we know nothing of it. Ii is to
us fiction, and fction is oftcntimes
more neerly true than truth Itself, If
| should try TO tell my child about an
eclipse of the sun. aud should say that
the moon, in sportive mood, thouIhi
it would get before the snn and obscure
its light, he would really have SOM
ilea of what an eclipse was; but If |
should explain 1t to him scientifically
he would know nothing about it; and
the Bible is full Of fictions, although It
has made so many good men " no would
be afraid to read u novel But all thai
men know of art, of riches. Of courts
af crowns, of princes all the beauty of
trees, of gar.ens, all in rivers and
mountains, all that is beautiful in
nature, will be found to represent to
them the heayealy state. So men may
take all the clemens they have learned
to esteem. and make heaven out OF
them. The true use, then, to be made
of the Scripture is, not to give litera
representation of its symbols, for ii is
quite possible for the Billie itself to
stand in the way of understanding the
Bible; but the true use is, to repeat the
process of reasoning as was done in the
o!den time. he>princes of earth do not
give me much admiration of heavenly
princes. Counts, L have seen them, but
do not think much of them. But
while these pictures do not do me much
good, for | am Democratic Repulal
can -(ahem ia Republican Demo-
crat, | mean, they may do, good to
others, and may go far toward inter
preting the heavenly state, But when
we want to make for ourselves heaven.
we have got to picture all that we
value as noblest aud best. A maiden
may imagine for herself heaven made
up of her own purity. and a matron
may also imagine her own heayon.
Everyone may fashion for himself his
own heaven, which shall bring it clearer
to him than any other man can make it
for him. Yousmay be shocked at the
language when | tell you that yoQ may
make your own heaven, but you do it,
nevertheless. God makes your hearts
wiser than your heads, and that ia the
case with many, who otherwise would
be absolute fools Our idea of heaven
must be pictorial it cannot be other,
wise. We are not developed here.
F" We now see as through o. glass
darkly,' and only by aud by shall we
see face to face Take, for instance,
the lower classes Of society-not the
! poorer class, but the vicious. the gross.
They cannot understand the picture Of
a pure family; they faint it With their
own slime. In other words, the bottom
cannot understand the top, although
the top can. and does, understand the
bottom. All that We can know OF
Heaven is. that it is place of blessed
ness, place of rest No great nature
ever lived but what found this world
insufficient for him; but, on your way
heayenward. do not despond, do not
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