Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-02-19
NO SECTS IN HEAVEN.

Talking Of sects till late one eve
or the various doctrines the saints believed;
That night stood. in troubled dream,
by the side of a darkly fowl ~ stream.
And "Churchman" down to the river came,
When heard strange voice call his name:
Good father, stop! When you cross this tide
You must leave your robes on the other side"
But the aged father did not mind;
And his long gown foated on behind,
As down the stream his way betOok,
His pale hand clasping his gilt-edged book
I'm bound for heaven; and when I'm there,
| shall want my book Of common prayer
And though put on starry crown,
! should feel quite lost without my gown
Then he fixed his eye on the shining track;
But his gown was heavy, and held him back,
And the poor old father tried in vain
A single step in the food to gain.
l saw him again on the other side;
But his silk gown foated on the tide:
And no one asked, in that blissful spot,
Whether he belonged to 'the church or not.
Then down to the river Quaker" strayed;
His dress Of n sober hue was made
My coat and hat must be all OF gray;
cannot go any other way"
Then he buttoned his coat straight up to his chin
And staidiy, sOlemnly waded in,
Over his forehead, cold and white.
But strong wind carried his hat;
moment he silently sighed over that,
And then, as he gaZed to the further shore,
The coat slipped of and was seen no more.
As he entered heaven, his suit Of gray
Went quietly sailing away, away;
And none of the angels questioned him
About the width of his beavers brim.
Next came Dr. Watts, with a bundle of psalms
Tied nicely up in his aged arms
And hymns as many, very wise thing,
That the people in heaven "all round might sing
But thought that he heaved an anxious sigh
As he saw that the river ran broad and high,
And looked rather surprised as, one by one,
The psalms and hymns in the wave went down.
And after him, with his MSS,
Came Wesley, the pattern of godlness,
But he cried. Dear me, what shall do?
The water has soaked them through and through.
And there on the river, far and wide,
Away they went, down the swollen tide.
And the saint, astonished, passed through alone,
Without his manuscripts, up to the throne.
Then gravely walking, two saints by name,
Down to the stream together came;
But they stopped at the rivers brink,
l saw one saint from the other shrink
'Sprnkled or plunged, may ask you, friend,
How you attained to life's great cnd.'
Thus. with a few drops on my brow
But have been dipped as you see me now,
And really think it will hardly do,
AS I'm 'close communion. to cross with you;
You re bound, l know to the realms Of bliss,
But You must so Mat way, and I'll go this"
Then straightway plunsing with all his might,
Away to the left-his friend to the right,
Apart they went from this world of sin,
But, at last, together they entered in.
And now, when the river rolling on,
A Presbyterian church went down;
OF women there seemed an innumerable throng,
But the men could count as they passed along.
And, concerning the road, they could never agree
The old or the new way, which it should be-
Nor even amoment paused to think
That both would lead to the rivers brink.
And sound Of murmuring, long and loud,
Came ever up from the moving crowd:
Your in the old way, and I'm in the new;
That is the false and this is the true"
Or. I'm in the old way, and you're in the new;
Ihut il the false. and this is the true
But the brethren only seemed to speak
Modest the sisters walked, and meek,
And if ever one of them chanced to say
What troubles she met with on the way,
How she longed to pass TO the other side,
Nor feared to cross over the swelling tide,
voice arose from the brethren then.
Let no one speak but the holy men,
For have ye not heard the words of Paul,
oh, let the women keep silence, al:'"
l watched them long in my curious dream,
Till they stood by the borders of the stream
Then, just as thought the ways met;
But all the brethren were talking yet,
And would talk on. till the heaving tide
Carried them over, side by side,-
Side by side for the way was one;
The toisome journey of life was done;
And all who in Christ the Saviour died.
Came out alike on the other side.
No forms or crosses or books had they;
No gowns OF silk or suits Of gray;
No creeds to guide them, or MSS,
For all had put on Christ's riqhteOusneSs.