St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-03-02

isn't its jasper walls and pearly gates
that we want; that wouldn't make US
satisfied.
You have gilded palaces here in BOs
ton. But if you take away their loved
ones, they are wretched places. 1t is
the loved ones who are there that make
home so pleasant. | once heard of Il
little child whose mother was sick, and
she was taken away by neighbOr.
And then the mother died and after
the funeral they brought that little
child home, and she ran first into the
sitting room and cried, "Mamma," but
she wasn't there; and then she went
into the parlOr and cried "Mamma,"
and then into the bedroom and cried
again, but the mothers answer didn't
come, and then she said, "Take me
back | don't want to stay here"
Home had lost its charm for that little
child. And what makes heaven so at
tractive Why, it is the loved ones
there. The Father will he there, and
Christ will be there, and we shall be
like Him when we see Him, we shall
be in His own image. Turn now to the
eighteenth chapter of Matthew, the
| tenth verse, and you will find who else
will be there: 'Take heed that We de-
spise not one of these little ones for
say unto you, that in heaven their an
gels do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven" So that
angels are there. Again, He says,
speaking about the time when He should
come back, that even the angels in
heaven didn't know the hour. So now
we have God the Father, and God the
Son, and the angels there. In the
twelfth chapter of John l would like
you to read the twenty-sixth verse and
find who else is there. "If any man
serve me, let him follow me and where
any man serve me, him will my Father
honor" What | want to call your at
tention to is that those who love Christ
are with Him.
In the fourteenth chapter of John He
says, 81 go to prepare place for you.
| will come again and receive you unto
myself, that where l am there We may
be also In my Fathers house are
many mansions, mansions of light, and
peace, and joy and gladness. There is
no sorrow in those mansions. A great
many have asked the question, How is
it about our loved ones who are gone
on before 2 Are they sleeping, or are
they already with the Masterq There
are good many passages | would like
to read you, but haven't time have
settled that point in my own mind, that
when soul that has been redeemed by
the precious blood of Christ leaves the
body it goes at once to he with Him
1t says in the first chapter of Philippians
and the twenty third verse "FOr | am
in strait betwixt two, having a desire
to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better" And again Paul says
Il know that if this earthly tabernacle
is dissolved, have house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens
Now | can not believe that Paul has
been sleeping these 1900 years. He
longed to be with the Master. Then
we have the cases of EnOch and Elijah
They certainly did not go into the
grave. 'EnOch was not, for God took
him." and Elijah did not taste of death
but was translated. Then there was
Moses, who did die and God buried
him, and yet Moses and Elias talked
with Christ OH the Mount of Trans
tiguratiOn. And Stephen cried to
Christ, Receive my spirit - and l can
not help thinking that when his spirit
left the body it winged its way up to
heaven. So now we have God, and
Christ, and the angels, and those who
have been redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ, in that world of light
Now, in the seventh chapter of Revela-
tons and the ninth verse, we read
''After this, l behold, and 10 a great
multitude, which no man could number
of all the nations, and kindreds, and
peoples, and tongues, stood before the
Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in theil
hands, Now, another question is very
often asked, Shall we know our friends
in heaven Shall we know that little
one we buried few years ago? Shall
we know that sainted mOtherq That
never troubles me. One sentence is
enough for me | shall be satisfied
when awake in His likeness | shall
be satisfied. What do you want more
than that | think there is no doubt
but we shall know our loved ones in
yOnder world. Moses has been gone
eighteen hundred years. l expect to
know Moses when go there. | expect
to know Elijah, the holy man of Mount
Carmel, Peter and James and John
knew them on the Mount of Trans
tiguration. So, my friends, / think we
need borrow no trouble about whether
we shall know our friends there. A
man preached sermon once on recog-
nizing our friends in heaven, and some
one in the congregation said that next
time he hoped he would preach about
/ mi. IL Il L.
been in that mans church six years and
nobody had ever spoken to him. 1t is
all very well to talk about how delight
full it will be when we get to heaven,
but let us remember we have some
thing to do now and down here. Now,
it is the privilege of every child of God
to know that his name is there. Christ
started out His disciples to preach the
Gospel, and when they returned and
told of their great success, how they
had been able to even cast out devils
in His name, he said to them, "Reioice
that your names are written in heaven
He did not say, "Rejoice that they are
going to be written" but, 'RejOice that
they are written" And if there is a
child of God here to day who don't
know that his name is written in the
Lambs Book of Life, don't sleep to-
night till God has revealed it to you.
There was Il man some time ago who
said he didn't like to hear this sort OF
talk, as though God kept books. Well,
according to the Scriptures it looks very
much as though there were books in
heaven.
In the twelfth of Daniel and the first
verse we read, "And at that time Thy
people shall be delivered, every one
that shall be found written in the
book" In the thirteenth of Revela-