The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1892-03-12

~ Ho'"o IA"C ILL llOG OuIy utdVcu, UttG
is heard to earths remotest bounds,
blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord, they rest from their labors; their
works follow them''
No longer the chamber of horrors,
no longer the dark flowing Styx with
its gloom somber and fearful, no long
err the grim ferryman, death is the be-
ginning of life to the child of God.
The gate of endless joy, the longing
thought, the clinging hope, the eager
expectation, the burning desire OF all
hearts and all ages is
beyond the flight of time.
Beyond the reign Of death.
There surely is some blessed cline,
When life is not breath,
Nor life's affections transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upward and EXPIRE"
In the glorious Ii bit of revelation this
question is lifted out of the realm of
speculation and becomes a matter of
knowledge. The christian knows:
There is a world above,
Where parting is unknown;
A long eternity of love,
Formed for the good alone:
And faith beholds the dying here,
translated to that glorious sphere"
Knows it, for hath not God said,
"Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have eternal life.'
Knows it for did not the beloved dis
ciple say "These things have l written
unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God, that We may know that
ye have eternal life.' BLESSED are
the dead which die in the Lord.'
I. This state of blessedness comes
in part from the place where the dead
which die in the Lord, dwell. -,
We cannot conceive of a person en-
joying that state of existence described
as ''blessed,' unless the place where
such existence continues is separated
from all unpleasant conditions.
So long as the bitter blasts of winter
sweep across the earth, so long as the
scorching rays of the summer sun beat
down upon the head of suffering hu-
manity, so long as pestilence Shall
touch the sons of men with it's wither-
ing blight, so long as crime will stalk
in brazen effrontery through earths
fairest fields and vice propagate but to
curse, so long as we receive good
things only to see them perish and
learn to love only to lose, so long will
earth be stranger to blessedness in it's
highest sense.
But heaven is a holy place, earth 8
sins carry no blight there, "And God
shall wi pc away all tears from their
eyes and there shall be no more death
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall
there be any more palms, mo lion,"
says the old prophet. "shall be there
nor any ravenous beasts shall 90 up
therein. ....
1t shall not be found there, but the
redeemed shall walk there and the ran
somed of the Lord shall return to Zion
with songs and everlasting JOY upon
their heads. They shall obtain iov
and gladness and sorrow and signing
shall flee away.
Earth's fairest lands though bathed
in glorious sunlight and wrapped in
rich nantes of everlasting green, has
ever an ill to man or blemish that
pains. The most beautiful landscape ever
swept by human eye had somewhere a
defect The coolest breeze that ever
touched the brow of men in the swell.
tering heat of summer carried Il twin ge
Of pain to some delicate organism.
The grandest burst of eloquence which
ever tell from human lips, touched in
some heart chord which vibrated dis.
cordantly. The fairest day sun ever
shone upon the earth, it saw some.
where heads bowed in sorrow, it saw
somewhere eyes bedimmed with tears
it saw somewhere cheeks blancheC
, with fear; it saw somewhere one deal
to many hearts, stretched upon hi
cooling bier and stricken ones sorrow
ing near; it saw somewhere lovin!
hands planting flowers over a j Iittli
| mound under the willows; it saw some
!, where innocency abused, purity defiled
helplessness oppressed, expectation
!, blasted and lives ruined. But in tina
: fairer world it is not thus, Heaven
!, sweet Heaven, blessed, thrice blesse,
: are thine inhabitants.
$ There is sal g land far away mid the stars we ar
Where they know not the sorrows of time