The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1888-01-12
A u0nyx ana clryBOpI -
mountain of light, eatA. q sea
Of glass, and city like the sun.

martyrs, throne of Jesus-thr0ne OF God.
And we turn round to see the glory and 1t
is thrones! thrones! thrones!
John bids US look again, and we see the
great procession OF the redeemed passing;
Jesus, on q white horse, leads the march,
and all the armies of Heaven following on
white horses. Infinite caValcade passing,
passing; empires pressing into line, ages
following ages. Dispensation tramping on
after dispensation. Glory in the truck of
glory. Europe, Asia, Africa, North and
South America pressing into line. Islands
of the sea, shoulder to shoulder. Genera
tions before the flood following generations
after the food, 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 slung out and all chimes
rung, SRa all hallelu1ahs chanted, and
some cry; @Glory to God most high, and
some, "Hosanna to the son of David" and
some, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain"
till all ordinations OF endearment and
homage in the vocabulary of Heaven are
exhausted, and there comes up surge after
surge of "Amen! amen! and amen!" "Eye
hath not seen it, ear hath not heard il"
Skim from the summer waters the
brightest sparkles and you will get no idea
of the sheen of the everlasting sea. Pile
up the splender of earthly cities and they
would not make stepping stone by which
you might mount to the city Of God.
Every house is q palace. Every step
triumph. Every covering of the head o
coronation. Every meal is banquet.
Every stroke from the tower is a wedding
bell. Every day is jubilee, every hour
rapture, and every moment an ecstasy.
"Eye hath not seen it, ear hath not heard it."
remark further, we can get no idea on
earth of the reunions of Heaven. II you
have ever been across the seas and met o
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 be our Joy, 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. The
hair has turned, and wrinkles have come in
their faces, and we say, "How you have
changed" But oh, when we stand before
the throne, all cares gone from the face,
all marks of sorrow disappeared, and feel
ing the Joy Of that blessed land, methinks
we will say to each other, with an exulta-,
tion we cannot now imagine, allow you
have changed" In this world we only
meet to part. 1t is gocd-by; good-by.
Farewslls floating in the air. We hear it
at the rail car window, and at the steam
boat wharf-good- Children lisp it,
and old age answers it. Some
times We say it in light way
good by" and sometimes with anguish
in which the soul breaks down. Good
by! All, that is the word that ends the
Thanksgiving banquet; chat is the word
that comes in to close the Christmas chant.
Good-by; good-by. But not so in Heaven.
Welcomes in the air, welcomes at the
gates, welcomes at the house of many man
sions-but, no good-by. That group is
constantly being augmented. They are 60
ing up from our circles 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 gles, little crowns to be cast down
at the feet of Jesus. Our friends are in
two groups-a group this side Of the river,
| and group 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 should take paper and
pencil, do you think could put them all
down? All, my friends, the waves of Jor-
dan roar so hoarsely, we cannot hear the
| joy on the other side when that group is
augmented. 1t is graves here, and
cofins and hearses here. A little child's
mother had died, and they comforted her.
They said: "Your mother has gone to
Heaven-don't cry, and the next day they
! went to the graveyard and they laid the
body of the mother down into the ground;
and tie little girl came up to the verge of
the grave, and, looking down at the body
of her mother, said: "Is this Heaven?"
| is the grave here-it is darkness here-but
there is merrymaking yonder. Methinks
| when q soul arrives some angel
takes it 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 the Inquisition; this
is the throne of the great Jehovah; this is
Jesus" 81 am going to see Jesus, !" said a
| dying boy; 81 am going to see Jesus" The
missionary said, "You are sure you will
see Him." ooh! yes; that's what want to
go to Heaven for" "But," said the mis-
sionary, Suppose Jesus should go away
| from Heaven-what them" 81 should fol-
low Him." said the dying boy. "But if
Jesus went down to hell-what then?"
The dying boy thought for moment and
then said, "Where Jesus is there can be no
hell" Oh! to stand in his presence,
| That will be Heaven. Oh! to put our hand
in that hand which was wounded for US on
the cross-to go around amid the groups
/ of the redeemed, and shake hands with the
prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, and
| with our own dear beloved ones! That
| will be the great reunion; we cannot i'm
| a0ine it now, our loved ones seem SO far
away. When We are in trouble and lone
some, they don't seem to come to US. We
90 on the banks of the Jordan and call
across to them, but they don't seem to hear.
We say, "Is it we'll with the child2 Is it
we'll with the loved ones?" and we listen to
hear if any voice come back over the water.
None! nenel Unbelief says, "They are
dead, and they are annihilated;" but
blessed be God, we have little Bible that
tells us different. We open it and we find
hat they are neither dead nor annihilated-
hat they never were so much alive.as now
that they are only waiting for our coming,
side of the river. Oh, glorious reunion
we cannot grasp it now. eye hath moi
seen, nor ear heard, neither 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 be!
1 see every day profound mysteries o.
Providence. There is no question we ask
pftener than WhyP There are hundreds
Of graves in Greenwood and Laurel Hill
need to be explained. Hospitals fol
ihe blind and lame, asyIums for the idiotit
and insane, almshouses for the destitute,
and world of pain and misfortune thai
demand more than human solution. All
God will clear it all up. In the light thai
pours from the throne ne dark mystery can
live. Things now utterly inscrutable will
be illumined as plainly as though the
answer were written on the jasper wall, OF
sounded in the temple anthem. Bartimsus
will thank God that he was blind; and