The Opelousas courier., 1890-09-13

good man. and he said he heard the angels
Of God singing before the throne. | haven't
mitch poetry about me. but / listened and l
Heard them. too.n Said 1, II have no doubt
of it.n Why, we are to be taken up 70
heaven at last by ministering spirits. VINO
are they to be? Souls that went up from
Madras, or Antioch, or jerusalem On, no;
our gloriied kindred are going to troop
around them.
Heaven isnot a stately, formal place. as
sometimes hear it described, a very frlgldlty
of splendor, where people stand on cold for~
malities and &c around about with heavy
crowns of gold on their heads. No, taat Is
not my idea Of heaven. My idea of heaven
is more like this: You are seated In the
e~vsningtide by the fireplace. your whole
family there; or nearly all of them there.
While you are seated talking and enjoying
the evening hour there is q knock at the door
and the door opens, and there comes IN a
brother that has been long absent. He has
been absent, for years you have not seen
him, and no sooner do you make up your
mind that it is certainly he than you leap up.
and the question is who shall give him the
first embrace. That is nay idea OF heavens
great home circle where they are waiting Tor
US.
SAs l. 1oo INV NhO' JOeA
there? She who always called you by your
first name long after others had given you
the formal "Mister?" YOU were never any
thing but James, or John, or George, or
Thomas, or Mary, or Florence to her. Win
YOU not know your childis voice? She OF the
brighteye and the rudy cheek and the quiet
step, who came in from play and flung her
self into your lap, a very shower OF mirth
and beauty? Why, the picture is craven in
your soul. 1t cannot wear out. Ii that little
one should stand on the other side OF some
heavenly hill and call to you, you would hear
Aer voice above the burst of heavens great
orchestra. Know il? You could not help
but know it,
Now.l bring you this glorious consolation
of future recognition. IT you could get this
theory into U heart it would lift a great
many shadows that are stretching across it.
When | was a lad | used to go out to the
railroad track and put my ear down on the
track, and / could hear the express train
rumbling miles away Int coming on; n to-
day, my friends, if we only had faith enough
we could put our ear down to the grave OF
our dead and listen and hear in the distance
the rulnbling on of the chariots of resurrec-
ton vistory. 0 heaven, sweet heaveni You
do ~nobspefl heaven as you used to spell 1t.
You used to spell it h-e-a-v-e-n-heaven. But
uuW WAl6A YOU Vol W 6POA4 OA4t
place side by side the faces Of the loved ones
who are gons. and IN that irradiation of
light and love and beauty and JOY you spell
it as never before In songs n hallelujahs.
Oh. ys whose hearts are down under the sod
of the cemetery, cheer up dit the Thought OF
this reunion. Oh, how much You will have
to tell them when once you meet thenal
How much YOU have been through since
YOU saw them last. On the shining shore
you will talk 1t all over. The heartaches,
the Loneliness, the sleepless nights. the weep
ing until you had no more power TO weep,
because the heart was withered and dried
up. Story of vacant chair and empty era
die, ard little shoe only half worn out. never
to be worn again, just the shape of the foot
thataace pressed il. And dreams when you
thought that the departed had come back
again, and the room seemed bright with
their faces, and you started up to
greet them, and In the effort the dream
broke and you found yourself. standing amid
room fn the Neutrality-suspicious.. Talking 1t ali
over, and then hand In hand walking up
down in the light. No sorrow, no tears no
death. O, heaven, beautiful heavenl Heaven
whereHour friends are. Heaven where we
expect to be, In the east they take a cageof
birds and bring il to the tomb OF the dead,
and then they open the door of the cage and
the birds, flying out, sing. And / would to-
day bring q cage of Christian consultations &c
the grave of your loved ones, and / would
open the door and let them ELL all the air
with the music Of their voices.
Oh. how they bound in, these spirits before
the thronei Some shout with gladness, some
breakforth into u~ncontrolabie weeping Tor
ioy. some stand gpeachless In their shock OF
delight. They sing, they culver with excss-
sive eladness, they gaze on the temples, on
the palaces, on the waters on each other.
They weave their joy into g~arlands. they
spring it into triunphal arches tnsy stTake
it ON timbrals, and then all the loved ones
gather I'm q great circle around the throne of
God-fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters
sons and daughters, lovers and friends, hand
to haad around about the throne of God
the circle ever widening-hand to hand, joy
to Joy, jubilee to jubilees victory. to victory,
tsuntia the day break and the shadows fee
away Turn thou. my beloved. n be Ike
aroelor . young hart upon the mountains Of
Oh. how different it is on earth from the
way IL e In heaven when Q Christian dies!
We say. ssClose his eyes.n In heaven they
saw. aGive him a paln.a On earth ne say,
sTetAhim down in tho ground.n lin heaven
they say. ssRaise him ON o throne" On
earth it ID tsEarewell. farewell In haayen
it Is, "Walcome, welcome" And ! see .
Christian soul coming down to the river @
death. and ne steps into the river and Tho
water comes TO the ankle. He sayss ssLord
Jesns. Ii Shis deathFs ssNo,S sAys Christ,
s.fhis d not death.n And he wades still
deeper down into the wasers until tbs food
comes to the knee and he says lord
Jesus, tell me, tell ma Is this
deathfs And Christ says, "Nos no; this Is
down until the q comes 20 the girdle,
ana tie soul says, ssLord Jesus, 8 this
SrathYn ssNo.s SAYS Christ, this Is not"
And deeper in wades the soul till the billow