The Russellville Democrat., 1890-07-31


 Apain. the announcement of such an opened entrance suggests the truth that God is looking down upon the earth and observant of all occurrences. If we would gain wide prospect, VIC climb up into tower or mountain The higher up we are tho broader the land scape we behold. Yet our most com prehensive view is limited to only a few leagues--here river and there a lake and wonder mountain peak. But what must be the glory of the earth in the eye of Him who. from the door Of Heaven, beholds at one glance all mountains and lakes and prairies and oceans, lands bespangled with tropical gorgeousness and arctic regions white with everlasting snows, Lebanon ma jcstic with cedars and American wilds solemn with unbrolen forests of pine, African deserts of glistening sand and wildernesses of water unbroken by ships keel, continents covered with haryests of wheat and rice and maize, the glory of every zone, the whole world of mountains and seas and for ests and islands taken in single glance of their great Creator.
 But ought net prayer to be made up of golden words if it is to enter such a splendid door and live beside seraphim and archangel? Ought not every phrase be rounded into perfection, ought not the language be musical and classic, and poetic, and rhetoricali No the most illiterate outcry, the unjointed petition, the clumsy phrase, the son tence breaking into grammatical blunders, an unworded groan Is just as effected if it be tho utterance of the souls want. A heart all covered up with garlands of
 thought would be no attraction to God,
 but heart, broken and contrite, that is
 the acceptable sacrifice. T know that my Redeemer liveth," rising up in the mighty harmony of a musical academy may overpower our ear and heart, but it will not reach the ear of God like the broken-voiced hymn on some sufferer amid rags and desolation looking up trustfully to Sayiour's compassion, singing amid tears and bangs: Il know that my my Redeemer liveth."
 I suppose that there was more rhet- oric and classic elegance in the prayers of the Pharisee than of the publican,
 but you know which was successful. You may kneel with complete elegance on some soft cushion at an altar of alabaster, and utter prayer of Miltonic sublimity, but neither your graceful
 posture nor tho roll of your blank verse
 will attract heavenly attention, while over some dark celler in which a | Christian pauper is prostrate in the straw, angels bend from their thrones and cry one to another: Behold, he
 praysY Through this open door of Heaven what long procession of
 prayers is continually passing! What thanksgivingsl What confessions? What intercessions! What bescechings! And behold door was opened in Heaven" Again Tho door of Heaven is open ed to allow us the opportunity of look ing in. Christ when He came from
 Heaven to Bethlehem left it open, and
 no one since has dared to shut it. Mat thew threw it still wider open when he
 spoke of the glory to be revealed, and
 John in Revelation actually points us to the harps and the waters, and the | crowns, and the thrones. There are pro- found mysteries about that blessed place that we can otsolve. But look through this wide open door of Heaven and see what you can see. God means us to look and catsh up now something of the
 rapture, and attune our hearts to it's
 worship.
 It is wide open enough to ee Christ. Behold Him, the chief among ten thou tn ,>f lao
 at His feet. With your enkindled faith look up along those ranks of glory.
 Watch now their palms wave and hear
 how their voices ring. Floods clapping
 their hands, streets gleaming with gold,
 uncounted multitudes ever accumulat- ing in number ever rising up into glad der hosannas If you can not stand to
 look upon that joy for at least one hour, how could you endure to dwell among
 it forever? You would wish yourself out of 1t in three days and choose the
 earth again or any other placo where it
 was not always Sunday.
 My nearer in worldly prosperity, af- fluent honored, healthy and happy, look in upon that com pany of the re-
 deemed, and see how the poor soul in Heaven is 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 riches, to what royal ty. Hearers pleased to fascination
 with this world, gather up your souls for one appreciative look upon
 riches that never fly 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 re-
 lieve all our fangues, enough living fountains 10 quench all our thirst,
 enough glory to dash out forever and over all earth's signing and restlessness
 and darkness. Battles ended, tears
 wiped away, thorns plueked from the bosoms, stabs healed, the tomb riven- what scene to look upon.
 Again; The door of Heaven stands
 open for tho Christians entrance.
 Death to the righteous Is not climbing
 high walls or fording deep rivers but it ! ih tHltIAuH UN Olth uObIs II Jpa tNtE
 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 you put your hand
 on tho door and lift the latch, do you shudder with fear? No, you are glad to enter. So your last sickness will be only
 the lane in front of your Fathers house from which you hear the voice of sing ing before you reach the door And
 death, that is the lifting of the latch
 before you enter the greetings and em-
 braces 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
 entered those portals, bright and shin
 ing. Souls released from the earthly
 prison house, how they shouted as they
 went through. Spirits that sped up from
 tho flames of martyrdom, making Heay-
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