The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-25

NOW we see JnrOuRn d glass UdEkly.
Can you tell me anything about that
heavenly place? You ask mers thou
sand questions about it that L cannot
answer. 1 ask You thousand questions
about it that you cannot answer. And
| do you wonder that Paul was SO glad
when martyrdom gave him chance to
go over and make discoveries in that
blessed country?
hope some day by the grace of God,
to go over and see for myself; but not
now. No well man, no prospered man,
/ think, wants to go now. But the time
will come, think, when shall go over.
l want to see what they do there, and
want to see how they do it. I do not
want to be looking through the gates
ajar forever. want them to swing
wide open. There are ten thousand
things 1 want explained-about you,
about myself, about the government OF
this world, about God, about every
thing. We start in plain path Of what
we know, and in minute come up
against high wall of what we do not
know. Iwonder how it looks over there.
Somebody tells me it is like paved city
paved with gold; and another man
tells me it is like fountain, and it is
like tree and it is like triumphal
procession; and the next man | meet
tells me it is all fgurative. | really
want to know, after the body is resur-
rected, what they wear and what they
eat; and have an unreasonable Curl
osity to know what it is, and how it is,
and where it is. Columbus rislzed his
life to find this continent, and shall
we shudder to go out on a voyage OF
discovery which shall reveal vaster
and more brilliant country? John
Franklin risked his life to find a pas
sage between icebergs, and shall we
dread to find passage to eternal sum-
mer? Men in Switzerland travel up the
heights of the Matterhorn with alpen-
stock, and guides, and rockets, and
ropes, and, getting halfway up, stumble
and fall down in horrible massacre.
They just wanted to say they had been
on the tops of those high peaks. And
shall we fear to go out for the ascent of
the eternal hills which start a thousand
miles beyond where stop the highest
peaks of the Alps, when in that ascent
there is no peril? A man doomed to die
stepped on the scaffold, and said in joy,
'INow, in ten minutes will
know the great secret" One
minute after the vital functions
ceased. The little child that died last
night knew more than Jonathan Ed
wards, or st. Paul himself before he
died. Friends, the exit from this world,
or death, if you please to call it, to
the Christian is glorious explanation.
1t is demonstration. 1t is illumi-
nation. 1t is sunburst. 1t is the
opening of all the windows. It is shut
ting up the catechism of doubt, and the
unrolling of all the scrolls of
positive and accurate information.
Instead of standing at the foot
of the ladder and looking up it is
standing at the top of the ladder and
looking down. It is the last mystery
taken out of botany, and geology, and
astronomy, and theology. 0, will it not
be grand to have all questions an
swered? The perpetually recurring in
terrogation point changed for the mark
of exclamation. All riddles solved. Who
when all the questions are to be decided
which we have been discussing all our
lives? Who shall not clap his hands in
anticipation of that blessed country if it
be no better than through holy curios-
ity crying, 'sThe time of my departure
is at hand?"
I remark, again, we ought to have the
joy of the text. because, leaving this
world, we move into the best society of
the universe. You see great crowd Of
people in some street, and you say,
"Who is passing there? What general,
what prince is going up THEREOF Well,
I see great throng in Heaven. say,
who is the focus of all that admira-
ton? Who is the center of that glitter
ing company?" 1t is Jesus, the cham
pion of all worlds, the favorite of all
ages. Do you know what is the first
question the soul will ask when it
comes through the gate of Heaven? T
think the first question will be, "Where
is Jesus, the Saviour that pardoned my
sin; that carried my sorrows; that
fought my battles; that won my VIC
tories?' o radiant Onei how I would
like to see Thee! Thou of the manager,
but without it's humiliations; Thou of
the cross, but without its pangs; Thou
of the grave, but without it's darkness
The Bible intimates that we will talk
with Jesus in Heaven just as brother
talks with brother. Now, what will
you ask him first? do not know.
can think what I would ask Paul first
if l saw him in Heaven. 1 think l
would like to hear him describe the
storm that came upon the ship when
there were two hundred and seventy-five
souls on the vessel, Paul being the only
man on board cool enough to describe
the storm. There is fascination about
ship and the sea that shall never get
over, and think would like to hear
him talk about that first. But when 1
meet my Lord Jesus Christ, of what
shall first delight to hear Him speak?
Now think what il is. shall first
want to hear the tragedy of His last
hours; and then Lulse's account of the
crucifxion, and Marks account of the
cT.Taifiy ion and Jobn,S .ooo,,u% of A.