Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-11-12

sea empties its sarcophagus of all the
dead of the sunken shipping, and the
earth gives way, and the Heavens
vanish Again we rest moment from
the spectacle.
| The panorama moves on before the
! cavern OF Patmos, and John the exile be-
lolds city of gold, and river more
rautiful than the Rhine or the Hudson
: rolls through it, and fruit trees bend
! their burdens on either bank, and all is
surrounded by walls in which the up
holstery of autumnal forests, and the
sunrises and sunsets Of all the ages, and
the glory of burning worlds seem to be
commngled. And the inhabitants never
| breath sigh, or utter a grOan, or dis
| cuss difference, or froWn dislike, or
weep tear. The fashion they wear is
pure white, and their foreheads are en-
circled by garlands, ana they who were
| old are young, and they who were bereft
are reunited And as the last figure of
that panorama rolled out of sight L think
| that John must have fallen back into
his cavern nerveless and exhausted. Too
much was it for naked eye to look at.
| Too much was it for human strength to
| experience
My friends, [ would not wonder if you
should have very similar vision after
awhile. You will be through with this
world, it's cares and fatigues and strug-
| giles, and if you have served the Lord
| and have done the best you could, /
should not wonder if your dying bed
were a Patmos. 1t often has been so. [
was reading OF a dying boy who, while
the family stood around sorrowfully, eX-
pecting each breath would be the last,
cried: ''Open the gates Open the gates!
Happy! Happy! Happy" John Owen,
in his last hour, said to his attendant,
''Oh, brother Payne! the long-Wished for
| day has come at last.' Rutherford, in
the closing moment of his life, cried out:
II shall shine, / shall see him as he is.
and all the fair company with him, and
shall have my large share. l have got
ten the victory Christ is holding forth
His arms to embrace me. Now [ feel!
Now [ enjoy! Now | rejoice! l feed on
mamma l have angels food. My eyes
will see my Redeemer. Glory, glory
dwelleth in Immanuels land" Yes,
10, 900 times in the history of the world
mas the dying bed been made q Patmos.
You see the time will come when you
will, oh, chid of God, be eXiled to your
last sickness as much as John was ex-
lied to Patmos. You will go into your
room not to come out again, for God is
! going to do something better and grand
er and happier for you than He has ever
vet done. There will be such visions let
down to your pillow as God gives no man
if he is ever to return to this tame world.
The apparent feeling of uneasiness and
lestlessness at the time OF the Christians
departure, the physicians say, is caused
by no real distress. 1t is an unconscious
and involuntary movement, and l think
in many cases it is the vision OF heavenly
gladness too great for mortal endurance.
1t is only Heaven breaking in on the de-
parting spirit.
You see your work will be done and
the time for your departure will be at
hand, and there will be wings over you
and wings under you, and songs let loose
on the air, and your old father and
mother gone for years will descend into
the room, and your little children whom
you put away for the last sleep years ago
will be at your side, and their kiss will
be on your forcheads, and you will see
gardens in full bloom, and the swinging
open Of shining gates, and Will hear
voices long ago hushed.
In many Christian departure that
you have known and / have known there
was in the phraseology of the departing
ones something that indicated the re-
appearance of those long deceased.
1t is no delirium, no delusion,
but a supernal fact Your glorifed
loved ones will hear that you are
about to come, and they will say in
Heaven: May go down to show that
soul the way up? May be the celestial
escort? May l wait for that soul at the
edge of the pillow?" And the Lord will
say: eyes. You may fly down on that
mission" And l think all your glorified
kindred will come down, and they will
be in the room, aud although those in
health standing around you may hear
no voice aud sec no arrival from the
Heavenly world, you will see and hear.
And the moment the fieshy bond OF the
soul shall break, the cry will be: "Fol
low me! Up this way! BY this glded cloud,
past these stars, straight for home,
straight for glory, straight for God!"
AS on that day in the Grecian archi-
pelago, Patmos began to fade out OF
sight l walked to the stern Of the ship
that | might keep my eye on the en-
chantment as long as | could, and the
voice that sounded out OF Heaven to
John the exile in the cavern on Patmos
seemed sounding in the waters that
dashed against the side Of our ship, "Be-
hol the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them, and they
shall be His people and God himself shall
be with them and be their God; and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall
their be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away"