The Penn's Grove record., 1891-11-20

s~arcophagus of all the dead or che sunkes
shipping, and the earth gives way, and ths
heavens vanish. Again we rest a moment
from the spectacle.
The panorama moves on before the cavern
Of Patmos, and John the exile behol1s a city
of gold, and a river more beautiful than ths
Rhine or the Hudson rolls through 1t, and
fruit trees bend their burdens on either
bank, and all is surrounded by walls in
which the upholstery of autumnal forests,
and the sunrises and sunsets of all the ages,
and the glory of burning worlds seem to be
commingled. And the inhabitants never
breathe q sigh, OF utter a groan, or discuss
q difference. or frown a dislike, or weep q
tear. Thu fashion they wear is pure white,
and their foreheads are encircled by gar
lands, and they who were sick are well, and
they who were old are young, and they who
were berest are reunited. And as the last
figure of that panorama rolled out OF sight
1 think that John must have fallen back into
his cavern nerveless and exhausted. Too
much was it for the naked eye to look at.
Too much was 1t for human strength to ex.
perience.
NV friends, I would not wonder II you
! should have a very similar vision after
awhile. You will be through with this world,
its cares and fatigues aud struggles, and II
you nave served the Lord and have done the
best you could, I should not wonder IL your
dying bed were a Patmos. 1t often has been
80. i WIS Tfiulue VI q uyAh8 wy WIN, Wliiid
the family stood around sorrowfully,
pecting each breath would be the last, cried,
i'Open the gatesi Open the gatesi Happy
| Happyi Happyr' John Owen, in biz
last hour, said to his attendant,
"Oh, brother Paynei the long wished
for day has come at lastp Ruther
ford, in the closing moment of his
his life, cried out, 81 shall shine, 1 shall see
Him as He Is, and all the fair company with
Him, and shall have my large share. l have
gotten the victory. Christ is holding forth
Nis arms to embrace me. Now l feeli Now
sujoyi Now / rejoicei l feed on mama.
fh.rs ange a,,r food d., Ny yv syss will q r see any
sers land" Yes, ten thousand times In the
history of the world has the dying bed been
made a Patmos. =
You see the time will come when you will,
Oh, child of God, be exiled to your last SICK
ness as much as Job was oxiled tc 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 yoI
than He has ever donei There will be such
visions let down to your pillow as God gives
no man IL he is ever to return to this anne
world. The apparent feeling OF uneasinesi
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, and l think In many
cases it is the vision of heavenly gla1ness too
great for mortal endurance. It u only
heaven breaking in on the departing epirit
You see your work will be done and che
time for your departure will be at hand, and
there will be wings over you and wings an.
der you, and songs let loose on the air, and
your old father and mother zone for year6
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 voicef
long ago hushed.
In many a Christian departure that you
nave known and l have known there was in
the phrassology Of the departing ones some
thing that indicated the temperance OF
those long deceased. 1t is no delirium, no
delusion, but a supernal fact. Your glor-
flied loved ones will hear that you are about
to come, and they will say in heaveni MAY
l go down to show that soul the way upl
May / be the celestial escort? May ! wait for
that soul at the edge of the pillowY' And the
Lord will say: "Yes. You may fly down
on tina mission.' And l think all your
giorified brethren will oome 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 tieshly 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 GGdf'
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
eye on the ~enchantment as long as L 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, behold the tab
srnacle Of God is with men, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be His peo-
pie and God Himself shall be with them and
be their God; and God shall wipe away oil
tears from their eyes, and there shall be no
more death, neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain. for the
former things are passed away"