The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-26

but no JESUS l 60 into the Arlmatnean
cemetery; but the door is gone, and
By faith look up to the Kings palace; and
behold | have found him! JosephJesus is
still alive! Glorious religion,a religion made
not out of deaths heads, and crOSs-uoneS,
and undertaker'S screw-driver, but one
bounding with life, and sympathy and glad
ness. Joseph is yet alive!
! "Iknow that my Rcdccmcr lives.
| What comfort this sweet sentence gives.
lie lives, He lives, who once was dead,
He lives, my everything lead!
"He lives 10 grant me daily breath,
Hc lives, and shall conquer Death.
| He lives my mansion to prepare,
He lives to bring mo safely there
vile lives, all glory to His name;
He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
| Oh, the sweet Joy this sentcrcc gives,
! know that my Redeemer liyesl"
The Kings wagons will after awhile un.
load, and they will turn around, and they
will go back to the palace, and really think
that you and will 60 with them. The King
will not Leave, Us IN this tamlne-strlcken
world. The King has ordered that
we be lifted into the wagons, and that we
: 60 over into Goshen where there shall be pas.
turage for our lergest flock of Joy, and then
we Will drive up TO the palace, whore there
are glories awaiting us which will melt all
the snow Of Egyptian marble into torgettul-
ness.
| l think that the Kings wagons will take
us up to sec our lost friends. Jacobs chief
anticipation was not seeing the Nile, nor OF
seeing the long to,onnaGes of architectural
beauty, nor of seeing the throne-room. There
was focus to all his journeyngs, to all his
anticipations; and that was Joseph. Well
friends, I do not think heaven would be
worth mach il our bi "fher Jesus was not
there. If there were t." Eeavons, the ore
with all the pomp aud paraphernulia of an
eternal monarchy, but no Christ, and the
! other were plain heaven. humbly thatched.
were there l would say: "Let the Kings
wagons take me up to the old farmhouse"
| If Jesus were not in heaven, there would
be no music there; there would bo but few
people there: they would DO off looking for
the lost Christ, crying through the universe:
! "Where is Jesus' where is Jesus" and
after they had found him, with loving
violence they would take him and bear him
through the gates; and it would be the great
est day known in heaven within the memory
of the oldest inhab tant Jesus never went
of from heaven but once, and He Yves so
badly treated on that excursion they will
never let Him go again.
Oh, the joy of meeting our brother. Jo-
! seph-JeSus! After we have talked about Him
! for ten, or fifty, or seventy years, to talk
with Him, and TO clasp hands with ths hero
of the ages; not crouching as underlngs in
His presence, but as JACOB and Joseph, hug
each other. We will want some new term by
which to address Him. On earth We call Him
: Saviour. or Redeemer, or friend; but when
we throw our arms around Him in everast-
/ ing embrace, we will want somc new nams of
endearment can think of what we shall do
! through The long ages Of eternity; but
what we shall do the first minute | cannot
guess. In the first flash of His countenance,
/ in the first rush of our emotions, what we
shall do l cannot imagine. Oh, the over
| whelming glory of the first sixty seconds in
heaven! Methinks we will just stand, and
look, and look, and look.
| The Kings wagons took Jacob up to see IS
lost bov. and so really think that the Kings
wagons will take lis up to see our lost kim
dred. How long is it since Joseph went out
of your honsehold7 How many years is it
! now last Christmas, or the fourteenth of
next month! 1t was dark night when he
! died, and q stormy day it was at the
burial; and tho clouds wept with you and
the winds sighed for the dead. HE bell at
Greenwooi'S gate rang only few moments,
but your heart has been tolling, tolling, ever
since. You have been under de-
lusion, like Jacob OF old. You have
Thought that Joseph was dead. You
! put his namo first in the hirth-record
! of the family Bible, and then you put
! it in the dtath-recnrl of the family Bible,
and you have been deceived. Joseph Is yet
/ alive. He is more alive thnn you are. Of all
the sixteen Thousand millions of children that
! statisticians soy have gone into the future
world. there is not one Of them dead, and tho
Kings wagons will take you up to SEQ
them. You often think how glad you will be
to SEQ them. Have you never thought, my
brother, my sister, how glad they will be to
! see you! Jacob was no moro glad to see
Joseph than Joseph was to see Jacob.
Every time the door in Heaven opens, they
look to see if it is you coming in. Joseph,
once standing in the palace, burst out crying
when he thought of Jacob-afar off. And
the heaven OF your little ones will not be
fairly begun until you get there. All the
kindnesses shown them by immortals will not
make them forget you There they are,
the radiant throngs that went out
sweet darlings They arc all we'll now
in the palace The crippled child
has q sound foot now. A little
fame child says: "Ma. will I be lame in
heavenN mo, my darling you won't be
lame in heaven" A little sick chiId Nd says:
MA, will be sick in heaven" mo, my
dear, you won't bs sick in heaven!" A
little blind Child says: MA. will be blind in
! heavens" mo, my dear, you won't be blind
II heaven" They are all well there.
In my boyto,d, for some time we lived
three miles from church, and on stormy days
the children staid at home, but father and
| mother always went to church, that was O
habit they had. On those stormy Sabhaths
when we staid at home, the aGsence Of our
parents seemed very much protracted,
for the roads were very bad, and they
coull not get OH very fast. SO we
would 80 to the window at twelve
o'clock to SEQ if they were coming,
and then VIC would 60 at half past twelve to
see if they were coming, and at quarter to
Mary, or David, or Dewitt would shout:
The wagons coming" ami then we would
see it winding out of the woods,
and over the brook, and through
the lane, and up in front OF
tho old farmhouse; and then we would
rush out leaving the doors wide open. with
many things 20 tell them, asking them
rem, I think We are many of us in the King
wagons, and we are on the way home. The
road is very bad, and We get on slowly; but
| after a while we will come winding out OF
the woods, and through the brook OF death,
ard up in front Of the old heavenly home
stead: AMI our departed kindred, who have
been waiting and watching for US, will rus
out through the doors and over the lawn,
crying: The wagons arc coming! the Kings
wagons are coming" Hark! the bell of the
City Hall strikes twelve. Twelve o'clock on
earth, and likewise it is high noon in heaven.
Does not the subject Of to-day take the
gloom out of the thoughts that would other
wise be struck through with midnight: we
use to think that when we died we wc,lld
have to go afoot, sagging down in the miIe,
and the hounds OF terror might get after us,
and il we got throug h into Heaven at oil, we
would come in torn, and wounded, and bleed