The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-08-06

altar Of alabaster and utter prayer Of Mil
tonic sublimity, but neither your graceful
posture nor the roll Of your blank versa will
attract heavenly attention, while over some
dark cellar in which Christian pauper Is
PROSTATE in the straw angels bend from
hold, he prays~ Through this open door Of
heaven what long procession Of prayers is
continually passing! What thanksgivings.
What confessions! What intercessions.
What beseechings! sand behold door was
opened in heaven"
Again, the door of heaven is opened to al.
low us the opportunity Of looking in. Christ
when He came from heaven to Bethany left it
opan and no one sincs has dared to shut it.
Matthew threw it still wider open when he
came to write, and Paul pushed the door
revealed, and John in Revelation actually
points us to the harps, and the
thrones. There are profoun1 mysteries
about that blessed place that we cannot
solve. But look through this wide open door
Of heaven and see what you can see. God
means US to hook and catch up now soma
thing Of the rapture and attune our hearts
to its worship.
1t is wide open enough to see Christ. Be
hold Him, the Chief among ten thousand, all
! the bannerel pomp of heaven at His feet.
! With your enkindled faith look up along
these ranks of glory. Watch how their
palms wave, and hear how their voices ring
| Floods clapping their hands, streets gleam.
ing with gold, uncounted multitudes ever
accumulating in number and ever rising up
into gladder hosannas. If you cannot stand
to look upon that joy for at least one hour
how could you endure to dwell among it for
ever? You would wish yourself out Of it in
three days and choose the earth again or
any other place where it was not always
| Sunday.
My bearer in worldly prosperity, afiuent.
| honored, healthy and happy, look in upon
that company Of the redeemed, and see how
the poor soul in heaven is better off than
higher in power. Hearers afflicted and
tried, look in through that open door, that
you may see to what gladness and glory you
are coming, to what life, to what royalty.
| Hearers pleased to fascination with this
world, gather up your souls for one appre-
ciatlye look upon riches than never fy away,
| upon health that never sickens, upon scepters
that never break, upon expectations that are
never disappointed. Look in and see If
there are not enough crowns to pay US for
all our battles, enough rest to relieve all our
! fatigues enough living fountains to quench
all our thirst, enough glory to dash out for
ever and ever all earth's signing and restless
ness and darkness. Battles ended, tears
wiped away, thrones plucked from the
bosoms, stabs healed, the tomb riven-what
scene to look upon!
Again, the door Of heaven stands open for
the Christians final entrance. Death to the
righteous is not climbing high walls or ford
| ing deep rivers, but it is entering an open
| door. II you ever visit the old homestead
where you were born, and while father and
| mother are yet alive, as you go up the lane
| in front of the farm house, and put your
hand on the door and lift the latch. do you
shudder with fear? No, you are glad to en-
ter. So your last sickness will be only the
lane in front Of your Fathers house. from
which you hear the voice Of singing before
you reach the door. And death, that is the
| lifting of the latch before you enter, the
| greetings and embraces Of the innumerable
| family of the righteous. Nay, there is no
latch, for John says the door is already open.
| What company of spirits have already en-
tered those portals, bright and shining!
Souls released from the earthly prison house
| how they shouted as they went through
| Spirits that sped up from the flames of mar
| tyrdom, making heaven richer as they went
in, pouring their notes into the celestial har-
mony.
And that door has not begun to shut. II
redeemed by grace we all shall enter it. This
Sllle VI IL we NepV, UuG On til- OpuCl oiu0
| Of it we shall never weep On this side we
| may have grown sick with weariness, but
| on the other side Of it we shall be without
| fatigue On this side we bleed with the war
| rior's wounds, on the other side weshall wave
the victor's palm. When you think OF dying
what makes your brow contract, what makes
| you breathe so deep sigh? What makes
| you gloomy in passing graveyard? Fol-
lower of Christ, you have been thinking
that death is something terrible, the measur-
| ing of lances with a powerful antagonist,
the closing in Of conflict which may be your
| everlasting defeat. You do not want much
| to think of dying. The step beyond this
life seems so mysterious you dread the taking
| Of it. Why, who taught you this lesson
| of horrors? Heavens door is wide open,
and you step outo your sick room into those
| portals.
Not as long as minute will elapss between
your departure and your arrival there. Not
half so long as the twinkling Of an eye. Not
the millionth part Of an instant. There is no
stumbling into darkness. There isno plung-
ing down into mysterious depths. The door
| is open. This instant you are here, the next
| you are there. When vessel struck the
rocks of the French coast, while the crew
were clambering up the beach cage OF birds
| in the ships cabin, awakened began to sing
most sweetly, and when the last man left the
vessel they were singing yet. Even SO in the
last hour Of our dissolution, when driven on
the coast Of the other world, may our disem-
barkation from this rough, tossing life be
amid the eternal singing of thousand prom
iSss Of deivarance and victory!
For ali repenung and believing SOULS the
door Of heaven is now wide open, the door
of mercy, the door of comfort, for the poor
est as we'll as for the wealthiest for the out
Law az we'll as for tho moralist for Chinese
coolie as we'll as his Emperor, for the Rus
sian boor as we'll as the Gar, for the Turk
as we'll as the Sultan. Richer than oil
wealth, more refreshing than all fountains,
heights and broader than all breadths IS
the salvation of JESUS Christ which I press
upon your consideration. Come all .ye trav-
elers Of the desert under these palm trees
Oh, if could gather before you that tre-
mendous future upon which you are
invited to enter-dominions and princi-
palities, day without night, martyrs
under the throne, and the four-and.
twenty elders falling before it, stretching on
in great distances the hundred and forty and
four thousand and thousands Of thousands,
host beside host, rank beyond rank, in inf
mite distance nations Of the saved beyond
nations of the saved, until angelic visions
cease to catch anything more than the faint
outline of whole empires yet outstretching
beyond the capacity Of any vision. save the
eye of God Almighty. Then, after had
finished the sketch, would like to ask you
if that place is not grand enough and high
enough, and if anything could be added,
any purity to the whitenesS Of the robes, any
power to the acclaiming thunders OF its
worship. And all that may be yours.
OK May 6, 1921, DIR. Automachi, as
sisted by Thomas Carswell, proceeded
to make an autopsy on the body of Ma
poleon I. at Longwood. The post NOR