The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-01-13

Oh bUe DdtTAAIGUS, thrones OA Au6 Angels
thrones of the apostles, thrones of the
martyrs, throne of Jesus-throne OF God.
And we turn round to see the glory and
it is thrones! &! thrones thronesI
John bids us look again and we see the
great procession of theredeem ed passing;
Jesus, on a white horse, lead the march, |
and all the armies of Heaven following on
white horses. Infinite cavaA cade passing,
passing; empires pressing into line, ages
following ages. Dispensation tramping
on after dispensation- Glory in the track /
of glory. Europe, Asia, Africa, North and
South America pressing into lines. Islands
of the sea shoulder to shoulder. Genera
tions before the flood following genera
tions after the flood, and as Jesus rises
at the head of that great host and waves
his sword in signal of victory, all /
crowns are lifted, and all ensigns flung
out, and all chimes rung. and all halle |
lujahs chanted, and some cry, "Glory to /
God, most high" aud some, "Hosanna to /
the son of David" and some, "Worthy is |
the Lamb that was slain"-till all ex- /
clamation of endearment and homage in |
the vocabulary of Heaven are exhausted, |
and there comes up surge after surge Of |
"Amen, amen, and amenp'
''Eye hath not seen it, ear hath not |
heard it," Skim from the summer wate
the brightest sparkles, and you "
no idea of the sheen of the - -
sea. Pile up the spler .ria.4;ss,s
cities and they - aa,ti.Iss5
sIepp4ng 4 : -s.on0 .gould not make
is ~ ma citJ, oF Cod I2,a,,. lt.1S bls,so
.-siaees Every step triumph. Every
-Overihg of the head coronation. Every
meal is banquet Every stroke from
the tower is a wedding bell. Every day
is Jubilee, every hour a rapture, and
every moment an ecstacy. Eye hath
not seen it, ear hath not heard it."
Iremark further, we can get no idea on
earth of the reunions of Heaven. If you
have ever boen across the seas and met a
friend, or even an acquaintance, in some
strange city, you remember how your
blood thrilled and how glad you were to
see him. What will he our joys after we
have passed the seas of death to meet in
the bright city of the sun those from
| whom we have long been separated.
After we have been away from our
friends ten or fifteen years, and we
come upon them, we see how differently
| they look. Their hair has turned and
| wrinkles have come in their faces, and
we say: How you have changed" Z" But
oh, when we stand before the throne, all
cares gone from the face, all marks of
| sorrow disappeared, and feeling the Joy
of the blessed land, methinks we will saw
to each other, with an exultation we can
! not now imagine: chow you h&ve
changed" In this world we only meet
in part. 1t is good bye, good -bye. Fare
wells floating in the air. We hear it at
| the rail- car window and al the steamboat
| wharf-good- bye. Children lisp it, and
old age answers 1T Sometimes we say it
in light way-'good- /" and some-
| times with anguish. in which the soul
! breaks down. od-bye! All that is
| the word that ends the Thanksgiving ban
| quetS that is the word that comes in to
close the Christmas chant Good bye,
| goodbye.
But not so I'm Heaven. Welcomes in the
| air, welcomes at the gates, welcomes at
the house of many mansion s-but no good
by. That group is constantly being aug
mented. They going up from our cir
cles of earth to join it, little voices to
! join the anthem-little hands to take hold
in the great home circle, little feet to
dance in the eternal glee, little crowns to
be cast down before the feet of Jesus.
Our friends are in two groups, a group
this side of the river, and a group on the
other side of the river. Now there goes
one from this to that, and another from
| this to that, and soon we will all
be gone over. How many of your loved
ones have already entered upon that
blessed place. If 1 should take paper
and pencil, do you think 1 could
put them all down? All, my friends, the
waves of Jordan roar so hoarselY we can
not hear the joy the other side when |
that group is augmented. 1t is graves
here, and cotfins and hearses here. A
little chiId's mother had died, and they /
comforted her. They sad: ''Your mother /
has gone to Heaven-don't cry :" and, the /
next day, they went to the gravey ard, i
and they laid the body of the mother /
down into the ground; and the little girl 4
came up TO the verge Of the grave, and, j
looking down at the body Of the mother, \
said: ''Is this Heaven?" Oh. we have no \
idea what Heaven Is. IL Is the grave i
here-it is darkness here-but there Is 4
meTry-making yonder. Methinks when /
soul arrives some angel takes IL /
around to show it the wonders of that /
blessed place. The usher angel says to /
the newly arrived "These are the martyrs /
that perished at Piedmont; these were |
torn to pieces at ths inquisition; this is |
the throne of the great jehovah; this Is /
Jesus" 81 am going to see Jesus" said
dying boy; II am going to see Jesus"
The missionary said; you are sure you
will see him?" ''Oh! yes; that's what /
want to go to Heaven for" But" said
the miss onary, suppose esus should go
away from Heaven-what thenY" Il
should follow him." said the dying boy.
"But if Jesus went down to hell-what
then?" The dying boy thought for a mo-
ment, and then said. ''Where Jesus is
there can be no heli!' Oh! to stand
in his presence! That will be Heaveni
Oh to put our hand in that hand
which was wounded for us on the cross
to go around amid the groups of the re-
deemed, and shake hands with the
prophets, and apostles. and martyrs, and
with our own dear, beloved ones That
will be the great reunion; we can not
imagine it now, our beloved ones seem so
far away. When we are in trouble and
lonesome, they don't seem to come to US.
We go the banks Of the Jordan and
call across to them, but they don't seem to
hear. We say: is it well with the child2
is IL we'll with the loved onesy" and we
listen to hear if any voice comes
back over the waters. None! none
Unbelief says: "They are dead,
and they are annihiIated;" but
blessed be God we have a Bible that
tells us different We open it and we
find they are neither dead nor annihilated
that they never were so much alive as
now-that they are only waiting for our
coming, and that we shall join them on
the other side Of the river. Oh, glorious
reunion We can not grasp 10 now.
Eye hath not seen. nor ear heard. @either
have entered into the heart Of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love
Him.
Oh what place Of explanation it will
bel
see, every day, profound mysteries Of
Providence. There Il no question we ask
oftener than WhyY There are hundreds
Of graves in Greenwood and Laurel Hill
that need TO be explained Hospitals for
the blind and lame, asylums for the
idiotic and insane aims houses for the
destitute, and a world Of pain and mis-.
fortunate that demand more than human
eDiuffOu. Ahf f9gH viii all ur,