The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-02-26
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Wesshal no longer think with falIibe mind, but
He will substitute His great noble and luminous
ideas for our weak, contracted and confused ones
He will give us OF the happiness which makes
Him happy.
We may say just here that the expression
The Lord God giyeth them light" seems to
indicate that our future state, like our present,
| will be progressive. Here we see with imperfect
intellectual sight, but there, we shall have our
powers OF sight increased Indefinitely. The diii-
culties Of Scripture will then be solved the dark
| disPensations Of Providence will be Iradiated;
the seeming discord Of all things in Gods moral
| government shall be harmonzed. There will
| break forth upon the glorifed soul grand views
OF the august nature OF God and the wonderful
character of His works. Then shall the dark
and H.e bright things, which checkered this path
of life, appear equally necessary, equally merri-
ful. Doubt shall give place to adoring reverence,
as the problem ia cleared up of oppressed right
eomsnesa and successful villainy. But all this
will be learned az Etet nifty unfoids her leaves OF
knowledge Of the King eternal. And il knoyl-
edge shall advance, ehall not love and happiness
also ascend until we shall approach nearer to
| sweling the notes OF choral symphony which bo-
| long alone TO Heaven2 Eternity shall be one
long, long, long morning, with the sun ever
| elrabing higher and higher--ous long, blessed
sprlngt1me, and yet richest summer; every plant
| lovelier.
| But why should / strive to describe that
which ID indescrbaDle. Yes, heaven hss never
| been described. Il never will be. IL is to be
possessed and enjoyed | is for this reason that
| | have made the attempt to get You to think
upon what has been dmy revealed OF it--hop-
ing to duce you to seek it's glores. Why, be.
loved, the vary Observation-Disclosures of heaven
| ougho to urge US to labor to reach it. st. Paul,
| caught up In the third heaven, Jaw more than
st. John in Lis vision on the Isle of Patn,os Bnt
| he does not dare attempt description OF it, He
aays. "he heard unspedkdble aoords, ochioh G is
not tdtgtM, or not possible, for q TO utter"
| Ay, my brethren, it would be poor heaven,
| CTeatur9E nYra.t
| bend or anticipate. Our faith and hope may be
strengthened by this very impossibllity OF our
ever obtaining clear ideas Of heaven. II is the
| loitness of the mountain that causes Il to be
lost in the clouds. We may, however, comfort
| ourselves with these words. even though we may
not be able to penetfate the great depth of thei-
meaning: There shall be no night there: and
they need no candle, neither light Of the sun; for
ae Lord cod gipeta them Hgist" WV '' - ~
And new let me wind up the presentation OF
these grand, glowing and ennobling assurances,
with the last words Of the text. 'They shall
reign for ever and ever" Yes there Ia kere-
God made him In His image. He marred
1T In the fall but did not totally destroy it, That
image was restored in the man OH ist Jesus. The
place of q redeemed sUul--of man sitting upon
the thrones OF glory in heayenis to be, relative-
~, higher than that Of angels. Angels have
never had the divine and the human united ia
their organism as 1t Ii IN mankind, and we there
fore believe man will be nearest God in heaven,
Reign we ehall, says the Holy spitit. nnls we
shall have such as we could not conceive of here
We shall rule ourselves perfectly THERE VI
shall contend with no unruly desires there
s as we DO now, We shall have our affections
] thoroughly disciplined there. shalt be higher
than any earthly king, who 10 so often his own
| slave. shall have no war Of the flesh with the
spirit--no rebellion OF the will, no battle with
error or ignorance--but with the true ROYALTY of
holiness shall serye God WI. hout wavering and
ina In that service my true sovereignty.
Here, then, let me cease my sermon. at the
close OF another Christian year--with encourage
ment to the Christian to strive more earnestly TO
reach those uuspeakable joys, and an exhorta-
ton to ungodly and irreligions men to turn away
from SIN and begin to prepare for heaven Ali
men want to 60 to heaven when they debut wo
must go as sons Of God. We can never, never.
never enter as servants of satan. The
| heaven OF the Mobammedan and the philosopher
is different altogether from that of the humble
| child OF God. The former views heaven as
place where M h he can fully crafty, forever, the
latter Ia merely state where, with immortal
vigor, he may follow out the workings OF some
great thought or science reach its highest maj
esty. But the Christians heaven is that state
where God Himself shall be his strength and pos
ton forever. Beloved zoe should ask ourselves
as question aclteter zoe desire hedDen because God
is there, Christ is MereP Would these be heaven
enough for your Or do you merely long FOR
| heaven, merely because ii is place OF sweet re-
pose, because departed kinsfolk are there, or be-
| cause you are to be so highly exalted there
These are not the proper title deeds to heavenly
possession. do not say we are not to long for
heaven because We are to have these privileges,
but they are to be. subordinate, and only sesond-
| ary. The great thought, the leading idea which
should make heaven attractive for u.s. should be
to dwell with God, and to secure His happiness
| Glorious empire. promised by God, but not
Internationally, but on the positive condition OF
repenting, believing and doing. Heavens gates
stand open to all. None are shut out who seek to
lfnr7 hTyh havr tv,
death and sin and opened the kingdom Of heaven
| to all believers. tremble when think how some
i who have heard the Gospel in this church 80
long, and who refuse TO entt Chrisfs kingdom on
earth-His church-may lie down on the bed OF
death and be suddenly launched into eternity
without any preparation for Heaven, and shall
find themselves, like the foolish virgins-,osM
ate door shut. Who Of this congregation will re-
fuse to love the Savior here, and thus shut them-
| Whom Of this flock shall its shepherd meet In
| Heaven2 Will he be faithful unto death 2
Come, beloved, let MS oil resolve to prepare for
| Heaven.
/ In the deepening twilight of summer even
ing pastor called at the residence OF one of his
parishioners, and found seated in the doorway o
little boy. with both hands extended upward,
| holding q line.
"what are you doing here, my little frisnd?"
inquired the minister.
aNying my kite. was the prompt reply.
"Flying your ktel" exclaimed the pastor; Ct
can see no kite; you can see none."
1 ST know il. sir, !" responded the lad ST cannot
see it, but kaois it is there, for feel it pull"
&c. too, beloved, il our affections are set on
heaven, we shall know 1t in such way as not
to be mistaken. How many of us can or desire
to sing
"One swestly solemn thought
Comes to me DER and o'er;
I'm nearer my Home to-day
| Than I've ever been before
Nearer my Fathers house
IL $40 he.