The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-08-07

lation looking up trustfuIly to Saviour's
COMPASSION, singing amid tears aud pangs,
81 know that my Redeemer liveth.n
I suppose that there was moro rhetoric
and classic elegapSe in the prayers Of the
Pharisee than Of the publican, but you know
which was successful. You may kneel with
complete eleganc, on some soft cushion at an
altar of alabaster and utter prayer or Mill
tonic sublimity, but neither your graceful
posture nor the roll Of your blank verse will
attract heavenly attention, while over some
dark cellar in which a Christian pauper ls
PROSTATE in the straw angels bend from
hold, he praysp Through this open door OF
heaven what long procession Of prayers Is
continually passingl What than ssgivingsl
What confessions! What intercessions!
What beseechiugsl Sand behold o. 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 lett IL
open, and no one since has dared 10 shut 1t.
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
waters and the crowns, and the
thrones There ara profound 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 look and catch up now some
thing of the rapture and attune our hearts
to it8 worship.
1t is wide open enough to see Christ. Be.
hold Him, the Chief among ten thousand, all
the hammered 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
accumrlating in number and ever rising up
into glsdder hosannas. If you cannot stand
to look upon that joy for at least ono 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 1t was not always
Sunday. =.
My hearer in worldly prosperity, afluent,
honored, healthy and happy, look in upon
that company Of the reIeemed, and see how
the poor soul in heaven !; better Off than
you are, brighter in apparel, richer in estate,
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-
riative look upon riches than never fly away,
upon health that never sickens, upon scepters
that never break, upon expectations that are
never disappointed. Look in and see IL
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
O 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. If you ever visit the old homestead
where you were born, and while father and
mother ore yet alive, rs you 60 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
yoa, reach tho door. And death, that Is the
lifting Of the latch before you enter, the
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 shiningl
Souls released from the earthly prison house
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.
Aud that door hos not begun to shut. If
redeemed by grace we all shall enter it. This
side of it we havewept but on the other side
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 we stall wave
the victor's palm. When you think OF dying
what makes your brow contract what makes
you breathe SO deep a sigh? What makes
you gloomy in passing graveyardf Fol
lower of Christ, you have been thinking
that death is something terrible, the measur-
ing Of lnnces with a powerful antagonist
the closing in of conflict which NAV 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 out Of your sick room into those
portals.
Not as long as minute will elapse between
your departure and your arrival there. Not
half 50 long as the twinkling of an eye. Not
the mil.ionth part Of an instant. There is nc
stumbling into darkness. There is 10 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 bird!
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 or
the coast Of the other world, may our dise.n
barkation from this rough, tossing life bt
amid the eternal singing Of a thousand prom
ises Of deliverence and victory!
For all repenting and believing souls the
door Of heaven is now wide open, the door
of mercy, the door of comfort, for the poor
est as as we'll as for the wealthiest, for the out
law as we'll as for the moralist, for Chinese
coolie as we'll as his Emp ,ror, for the Rus
sian boor as we'll as the Gar, for the Turk
rs we'll as the Sultan. Richer than all
wealth, more refreshing than all fountains,
deeper than oil depths, higher than all
heights and broader than all breadths is
the salvation of Jesus Christ which press
upon your consideration Com. all ye tray
elers Of the desert undor these palm trees
Oh, if could gather before yon that tre
mcndous future upon which you arc
invited to enter--dominions and princi
palitics, day without night, martyr
under tho throna, and tho four-and
twenty elders falling before it. stretching of
in great distances the hundred and forty anc
tour thousand and thousands of thousands
host beside host, rank beyond rank, in inf
mite distance, nations of tue saved beyond
nations Of the saved, until angelic visions
cease to catch anything more than tho faint
outline of whole empires yet outstretchint
beyond the capacity OF any vision save tn
eye of God Almighty. Then, after ha'
finished the sketch, I would like to ask 20.
if that place is not grand enough and ,his,
enough, and il anything could be added
any purity to the whteness of tho robes, an,
naiyer to the ncclaiminr tlundars Of it: