Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-11-20

sculptured hanging gardens, suddenly going
crash! crash! and the pipers cease TO pipe,
anu tue trumpets cease to trumpet, and the
dust, and the smoke, and the horror fill the
canvas, while from above and beneath are
voices announcing, Babylon Is fallen, Il
lallenW And we halt again to rest from the
spectacle.
Again the panorama passes before the
cavern of Patmos, and John the exile sees q
mounted Christ on a snow white charger
leading forth the cavalry of heaven. the long
line of white chargers galloping through ths
scene, the clatteriEg of hoofs, the clinking OF
bride bits, and the flash OF spears, all the
earth conquered and all heaven in Doxology.
And we halt again to rest from the specta-
Gle. Again the panorama passes before the
cavern of Patmos, and John the exile sees
great thrones lifted, thrones Of martyrs,
thrones of apostles, thrones Of prophets,
thrones of pltrarchs, and a throne higher
than all on which Jesus sits, and ponderous
books are opened. their leaves turned over.
revealing the names of all that have ever
lived, the good and the bad, the renowned
and the humble the mighty and the weak,
and at the turn Of every leaf the universe Ia
in rapture of fright, and the sea empties its
sarcophagus of all the dead OF the sunken
shipping, and the earth gives way and the
heavens vanish. Again we rest a moment
from the spectacle.
The panorama moves on before the cavern
of Patmos, and John the exile beholds city
OF gold, and river more beautiful than the
Rhine or the Hudson rolls through it. and
fruit trees bend their burdens on either
bank, and all is surrounded by walls I'm
which the upholstery of autumnal forests,
and the sunrises and sunsets of all the ages,
and the glory OF burning worlds seem to bs
comminglei. Aud the inhabitants never
hrnQtha 81 Siuh ,F nj lar "a .lisc,.au
a difference, or frown a dislike, or weep q
tear. The fashion they wear is pure white,
and their foreheads are encircled by gar
lands, and they who were sick are we'll, and
tuey who were old are young and they who
were bereft are reunited. And as the last
figure of that panorama rolled ont Of sight
| think that John must have fallen back into
his cavern nerveess and exhausted. Too
much was 1t for the naked eve to look at.
Too much was it for human strength to ex-
perience.
My friends, would not wonder IL you
should have a very similar vision after
awhile. You will be through with this world,
its cares and fatigues and struggles, and II
you have served the Lord and have done tho
best you could, should not wonder If your
dying bed were Patmos. 1t often has been
so. | was reading of dying boy who while
the family stood around sorrowfully, ex-
pecting each breath would be the last, cried:
"Open tle gates! Open the gates Happyi
Happy! Happyp John Owen, in his
last hour, said to his attendant,
"Oh, brother Paynel Che long wished
for day has come at lastp Ruther-
ford, in the closing moment of his
his life, cried out II shall shine, shall sec
Him as He is, and all the fair company with
Him, and shall have my large share. have
gotten the victory. Christ is holding forth
His arms to embrace me. Now feell Now
| enjoy! Now rejoice! feed on mama.
Ihave angels food. My eyes will see my
uels land" Yes, ten thousand times in the
history Of the world has the dying bed been
made Patmos.
You see the time will come when you will,
oh, child of God, be exied to your last sick
ness as much as John was exiled to Patmos.
You will GO into your room not to come Out
again, for God is going to do something
better and grander and happier for you
than He has ever donel There will be such
visions let down to your pillow as God gives
no man il he is ever to return to this tame
world. The apparent feeling OF uneasiness
and restlesSness at the time of the Christians
departure, the physicians say, Is caused by
no real distress. 1t is an unconscious and
involuntary movement, aud 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 departing 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 un.
der 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 foreheads, 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 some
thing that indicated the reappearance OF
| those long deceased. 1t is no delirium, no
delusion, but supernal fact. Your glor-
flied 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 upf
May be the celestial escortS May wait for
that soul at the edge Of the pillowT And the
Lord will say: Eyes. You may fly down
on that mission" And l think all, your
| glorifled brethren will come down, and they
will be in the room, and although those in
health standing around you may hear no
voice and see no arrival from the heavenly
world, YOU will see and hear. And the mo-
ment the fieshly bond Of the soul shall
break, the cry will be: Follow mel Up this
wayl BY this gilded cloud, past these stars,
straight for home, straight for glory, straight
for Godm
AS on that day in the Grecian archipelago,
Patmos began to fade out Of sight, l walked
to the stern of the ship that might keep my
eve on the enchantment as long as l could,
and the voice that sounded out OF heaven TO
John tho exile in the cavern on Patmos
seemed sounding in the waters that dashed
against thesde Of our ship, Behold the tab.
ernacle of God is with men, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be His peo.
pie ani Cot 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 there be any more pain. for tha
former things are passed away"