The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1889-12-05

/ righteous Ia Heaven. 1nnIea say
Your Heaven will b very small
place compared with the world Of the
/ lost; for according to your teaching, the
majority az men viii be destroyed.
deny the charge. ! suppose that the
multitude OF the finally lost, as com
pared with the multitude 81 the finally
saved. win be a handful. suppose
that the fewsick people in the hospitals
OF our great cities, as compared with the
hundreds of thousands of well people,
would not be smaller than the number
Of those who shall be cast out in suffer
ing, compared with those who shall have
upon them the health Of Heaven. For
we are to remember thatwe are living in
only the beginning Of the Christian dis
pensation, and that this W hole world Is
to be populated redeemed, and that ages
OF light and love are to aow on. II This
be so, the multitudes % the saved will
be in vast majority.
Take all the congregations that have
assembled for worship throughout Chris
tendon. Put them together, and they
would make but small audience COM
pared with the thousands and tens of
thousands, and ten thousand times ten
thousand, and the. hundred and forty
and four thousand that, shall stand
around the throne. Those flashed up to
Heaven in martyr fires; those tossed for
many years upon the invalid couch;
those fought in the armies Of liberty,
and rose as they fell; those tuInbled
from high scaffoldings, or slipped from
the mast or were washed off into the
sea. They came up from Corinth. from
Laodicea, from the Red Sea bank and
Gennesarets wave, from Egyptian brick
yards and Gideon's threshing floor.
Those thousands OF years ago slept the
last sleep, and these are this moment
having their eyes closed, and their
limbs stretched out for the sepulcher.
a General, expecting an attack from
the enemy, stands on the hill and looks
through field-glass and sees in the
great distance multitudes approaching,
but has no idea of their numbers. He
says: 81 can not tell any thing about
them. / merely know that there are a
great number" And so John, without
attempting to count, says: "A great
multitude that no man can number
We areA. told that Heaven is q
place of happiness; but what do
we know about happiness? Happi-
ness in tins world is only a haH-fedged
thing; a flowery path, with a serpent
kissing across ID; a broken pitcher, from
which the water was dropped before. we
could drink it; thrill Of exhilaration,
followed by disastrous reactions. To
help understand the JOY of Heaven, the
Bible takes us TO a river. We stand on
the grassy bank. We see the waters
filth of the cities is emptied into it. and
the banks are torn, and unhealthy ex-
halations spring up from it. and we
fail to get an idea Of the River of Life
in Heaven.
We get very imperfect ideas of the re-
unions of Heaven We think OF some
festal day on earth, when father and
mother were yet living, and the chill
dren come home, a good time, that!
But it had this drawback -rall were not
there. That brother went off to sea,
aud never wassheard from. That sister
did we not lay her away in the fresh
ness of her Young life, never more in
this world to look upon her? All!
there was skeleton at the feast; and
tears mingled with our daughter on
that Christmas Day. Not so with
Heavens reunions. twill be an uninter,
rupted gladness. Many a Christian par
emit viii look around and find all his
children there. .'Ahr' he says, can it
be possible that we are all here-life's
perils over, the Jordan passed and not
one wanting? Why, even the prodigal is
here. / almost gave him up How long
he despised my counsels, But grace hath
triumphed. All hereI All here! Tell
the mighty joy through the city, Let
the bells ring, ami the angels mention
it in their song. Wave it from the top
Of the walls. All herer'
No more breaking of heart strings.
but face to face, The orphans that were
left poor, and in merciless world.
kicked and cuffed of many hardships,
shall join their parents over whose.
graves they so long wept, and gaze into
their glorifed countenance forever, face
to face. We naaycorne pfrom different
parts of the world. one from the land
and another from the depths of the sea;
from lives afiluent and prosperous, or
from scenes Of ragged distress; but we
shall all meet in rapture and jubilee,
face to face.
Many of our friends have entered up
on that JOY a few days ago they sat
with us studying these Gospel themes;
but they only saw dimly-now revela-
tion hath come. Your time win also
come. God will not leave you founder
ing in tho darkness. Yon stand Won
derstruel and amazed. You feel as il
all the loneliness Of life were dashed
out. You stand gazing into the open
chasm of the grave. Wait little.
In the presence of your depart
ed and of Him who carries them
in His bosom, you shall soon stand face
to face, OH that our last hour may
kindle up with this promised JOY! May
we be able to say, like the Christian not
long ago, departing; Though pilgrim
walking through the valley, the mount
ain tops are cleaning from peak to
peak" or, like my dear friend and
brother, Alfred Goodman, who took his
AisAt W 0AS ehiNHV Va hVd' say ing an
his last moment this which has already
gone into Christian classics Il am
sweeping through the pearly gate,
washed in the blood OF the Lambl''
--. s----
Some Curious fIindoo Notions.
A curious light is thrown on the rural
life of Bengal by the contents Of pa
per reprinted lately in the annual re-
port OF the Bombay Anthropoloyieal
Society. From this paper we are told
the following among other things:
Shouting the name Of the king Of birds
tGaruda) drives away snakes. Cholera
that attacks on Monday or Saturday
ends fatally, but not cholera that at
tacks on Thursday. The towering Of
bamboos augurs famine. In tanning, il