Dodge City times., 1888-01-12

sapphire, q mountain Of light, cataract
of color, q sea Of glass. and city like the
sun.
John bids us look again, and we SEQ
thrones; thrones of the prophets, thrones
| of the patriarchs, thrones OF the 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 thrones!
John bids us look again and we see the
great procession of thersdsemed 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 track
Of glory. Europe, Asia, Africa, North and
South America pressing into lines. Islands
of the sea shoulder to shoulder. Genera
tions before the food following genera.
tions 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 flung
out. and oil! chimes rung. and all halle
lujahs 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 ex.
clamation 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 it," Skim from the summer waters
the brightest sparkles, and you will get
no idea of tho sheen of the everlasting
sea. Pile up the splendors OF earthly
cities and they would not make a
stepping -stone by which you might
mount to the city of God. Every house
is palace. Every step triumph. Every
covering of the head a coronation. Every
meal is a banquet. Every strok, from
the tower is a wedding bell. Every day
is jubilee, every hour a rapture, and
every moment al ecstacy. 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 evor been acros the seas and met
friend, or even an acquaintance. in some
strange city, you rem member how your
blood thrilled and how glad you were to
see him. What will be our joys aftor we
have passed the seas Of death to meat in
the bright city of the sun those from
whom we have long been separated.
After we have bsen 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" !" 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 say
to each other, with an exu!tation we can
not now imagine: ''How you have
changedW In this world we only meet
in part. 1t is goodbye, goodbye. Fare
wells floating in the air. We hear it at
the rail-car window and at the steamboat
wharf-good-bye. Children lisp it, and
old age answers IT. Som, ,times we say it
in light way-''good.bye and some-
times with anguish. in which the soul
breaks down. Goodbye! All! that is
the word that ends the Thanksgiving ban
quot; that is the word that comes in to
close the Christmas chant. Goodbye,
goodbye.
But not so in Heaven. Welcomes in the
air, welcomes at the gates, welcomes at
the house of many mansions-but no good
by. That group is constantly being aug
mented. They are going up from our cir
c.es of earth to join it, little voices to
join the anthem-little hands to take hold
iu the great home circle, little feet to
dance in the eternal glee, little crowns to
bs cast down before the feet of Jesus.
Our friends are in two groups, group
this sida of the river, and a group en- 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 1 could
put them all down? All, my friends, the
waves of Jordan roar SO hoarssly we can
not hear the joy on the other side when
that group is augmented. It is graves
here and ccffins and hearses here. A
little child's mother had died, and they
comforted her. They said: "Your mother
has gone to Haaven-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 the little girl
came up to the verge of the grave, and,
looki ing down at the body of the mother,
said: 'Is this Heaven" Oh. we have no
idea what Heaven Is. It is the grave
here-it is darkness here-but there is
merry-making yonder. Me5binks when
a soul arrives some angel takes it
around to show it the wonders of that
blessed place. Ths 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
dying boy; 81 am going to see Jesus"
The missionary said: "You are sure you
will see him." Goa! yes; that's what l
want to 60 to Heaven for" ''But," said
the miss ionary, suppose Jesus should go
away from Heaven-what them" II
should follow him." said the dying boy.
"But if Jesus went down to hell-what
them" The dying boy thought for mo-
ment, and then said. "Where Jesus is
there can be no hellw 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 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 60 OH the banks of the Jordan and
call across to them, but they don't seem to
hear. We say: SIS it we'll with the child:
is it we'll with the loved ones:" and we
listen to hear il any voice comes
back over the waters. None! none
Unbeief says: ''Thsy are dead,
and they are annihilased;" 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