Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-10-03
Readimg fur the Sabbath,
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
lorlginal.]
SEEK HEAVEN.


SEEK HEAVEN.
The object for which we are searching is
happiness. Our immortal souls and our dying
bodies pant for rest. Various are the ways
and diversified the means to which we resort
that the hidden treasure may be found and
possessed. Some seek it in gold; others in
high sounding titles, and not few, in the
qualification of carnal lusts and brutal desires.
None of those who seek happiness find it in
these things. When freely possessed they
only create yawning vacuum in the soul,
and oppress the body with load of cares
which hurry it to the grave. What will we
do? Are we doomed to hopeless disappoint-
ment9 Must we like Tantalus, be forever
parched with thirst amidst pearly fountains,
and starve whilst surrounded with tempting
viands? No. God has made ample provis-
ions for us. In the exercise of a wisdom which
is the wonder of angels, and love which
caused the hierarchy of heaven to proclaim,
"Glory to God in the highest" He provided
for US Saviour who purchased for us hea-
ven.
There is no necessity that any one should
undertake to prove that there is heaven
awaiting some, and hell Others There are
many truths that need no argument to prove
them. No one doubts that there is sun.
Neither does any one who has been raised in
a Christian land and has enjoyed the advan-
tages of Christian education, doubt the ex.
istence of heaven and hell. Neither can
any one thus educated be absolutely indiffer-
ent as regards his destiny after he passes the
confines of time. In certain sense it may
be said that all seek heaven. Perhaps we
would speak more correctly to say that all
desire the bliss which awaits the righteous,
and dread the misery to which the wicked are
doomed. The prayer of Balaam, "Let me
die the death of the righteous, and let my
last end be like his" is expressive Of every
heart" No man of ordinary intelligence, de-
sires, when he dies, or even whilst he lives, to
be abandoned by God. We do not say that
the strongest desire in the mind of all men is
to be saved in heaven. In some men it is 'he
strongest desire; in others it is not. However
strange and irreconcilable it may be with the
general actions of most men, still it is true
that all who enjoy any knowledge Of the Bi
BILE, desire that they may die the death Of the
righteous. Notwithstanding the fact stated
above, it is also true that the great majority
of men in Christian lands are not seeking hea
ven, and many who are seeking it are, as the
poet Horace says, seeking it foolshly or in
folly" The fabled giants, we are told by an
cient poet, attempted to mount to heaven by
rolling leafy Olympus on Ossa: and the in
habitants of the earth soon after the focd
held convention and resolved to build a
tower which would reach to heaven. Thrice
says the poet, did Jupiter haul down the
piled up mountains with his thunder; and
the town which the past diluvians built re-
suited in babel, which continues until the
present time.
Vain and foolish were those tabled efforts
of the ancients to reach place Of safety, and
many of the efforts which are still made to
secure place where we will be safe from the
righteous displeasure of holy Gcd, are be.
gan in folly and carried on in madness, and
will terminate in our everlasting overthrow.
The only sensible way in which heaven can
be sought is by seeking first an interest in the
pardoning mercy of God Our sins must be
attoned for, or we never can see the kingdom
of heaven. 1t is folly for us to suppose that
we can be saved in our sins. Sin must in
some way be separated from our souls, or our
souls must be separated from heaven. Siu
in its condemning results, can be separated
from our souls only by the blood of Jesus
and in its defiling and polluting effects it can
be removed from our souls only by the Holy
Spirit. Toseek heaven is to 60 to Jesus that
we may be bought by his blood, and to the
Holy Spirit that we may be cleansed from our
moral filth and pollution. Nothing that VIC
can do will atone for our sins; nothing that
we can do will change our hard and stony
hearts. To seek heaven and 60 to Jesus are
the same thing. To find Jesus is to find hea
ven. An interest in the Righteousness Of the
lamb Of God results in peace of conscience
and spiritual joy.