The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-04-22

| UIC NOT mere, Or HOW Sldu dLl lllttb
| the children are not alive to see this
holrorr' And ought not we who are
down here amid the upturnings of this
life be glad that none of the troubles
which submerge us can ever alright our
friends assembled? Before this warrant
our departed ones have been introduced
to- al the celebrities of heaven.
Some one has said to them: 'Let me
introduce you to Joshua, the man who
| by prayer stopped two worlds for sew
| rr&l hours. Let me make you acquainted
| with this group of three heroes-John
IIuss. Philip Melancthon and Martin
Luther. Aha! here is Fenelon! Here is
Archbishop Leighton! Here are Laii-
mer and Ridley Here is Matthew Simp-
son! Here is poets row-James Mont
gomery and Anna Barbauld and Hora-
titus Bonar and Phoebe Palmer and
Lowell Mason"
Were your departed ones fond of mu-
sic? What oratorios led on by Handel
and Haydn. Were they fond of pictures?
What Raphaels pointing out skies with
III colors wrought into chariot wheels,
wings of seraphim and coronations
Were they fond of poetry? What eter-
nal rhythns led on by John Milton. Shall
we pity our glorifed kindred? No, they
nad better pity us. We, the ship
wrecked, and on a raft in the hurricane,
looking up at them sailing ON over calm
seas, under skies that never frowned
with tempests, we hoppled with chains
they lifted by wings Surely the bit
terness of death is past"
Further, if what have been saying is
true, we should trust the Lord and be
thrilled with the fact that our own day
of escape cometh. If our lives were go
ing to end when our heart ceased to pull
safe and our lungs to breathe, | would
want to take ten million years of life
here for the first installment. But, my
Christian friends, we cannot afford al |
ways to stay down in the cellar of our
Fathers house. We cannot always be
postponing the best things. We cannot |
always be tuning our violins for the |
celestial orchestra. We must get our |
wings out. We must mount. We can
not afford always to stand out here in
the vestibule of the house of many man
sions, while the windows are illuminated |
with the levee angelic, and we can hear
the laughter of those forever free, and
the ground quakes with the bounding
feet of those who have entered upon eter-
nal play.
OPEN THE GATES OF HEAVEN.
Ushers of heaven! Open the gates.
Swing them clear back ON their pearly
hinges! Let the celestial music rain on
us in its cadences! Let the hanging gar
dens of the king breathe on us their arc
MATES! Let our redeemed ones just look
out and give us one glance of their glo-
rifed faces! Yes, there they are now!
| see them. But | cannot stand the
vision. Close the gate, or our eyes will
be quenched with the overpowering
brightness. Hold back the song, or our
ears will never again care for earthly
lnthem. Withdraw the perfume, or we
shall swoon i'll the fragrance that human
nostril was never made to breathe.
All these thoughts are suggested as we
sand this Easter morn amid the broken
'ocks of the Saviour's tomb. Indeed, /
xnow that tomb has not been rebuilt,
'or stood in December of 1889 amid
he ruins Of that the most famous sepul-
cher of all time. There are thousands
# tombs in our Greenwood ana Laurel
Hill and Mount Auburn with more POI
shed stone aid more elaborate masonry
md more foliaged surroundings, but az
went down the steps of the supposed
omb of Christ on my return from Mount |
calvary | said to myself: This is the
omb of all tombs. Around this stand
more stupendous incidents than around
my grave of all the world since death
uttered it,
THE SEPULCHER OF CHRIST.
| could not breathe easily for over
Mastering emotion as | walked down
he four crumbling steps till we came
breast of the niche in which | think
thirst was buried. | measured the
epulcher and found it fourteen and a
alf feet long, eight feet high, nine feet
vide. 1t is family tomb and seems to r
ave been built to hold five bodies But
rejoice to say that the tomb was empty
nd the door of the rock was gone aud
he sunlight streamed in. The day that
'hrist rose and came forth the sepulcher
vas demolished forever and no trowel of
arthly masonry can ever rebuild it. F
md the rupture of those rocks, and the '
nap of that governmental seal, and the
rash of those walls of limestone, and
ne step of the lacerated but triumphant
Dot of the risen Jesus we today cele- '
rate with acclaim of worshiping thou
inds, while with all the nations of
hristendom and all the shining hosts of
eaven we chant, Nov is Christ risen
'om the dead and become the first
'uits of them that slept"
Oh weep no more your comforts slain,
The Lord is risen, he lives again.
"And now may the God of peace, who
rought again from the dead our Lord
esus, that great shepherd of the sheep,
trough the blood of the everlasting COW
lant make you perfect in every good ]
ord and work" Hallelujah! Amen ,
The Puritans and the Mormons.
President Eliot's eastern friends seem
IDLY aggrieved over his recent address
Il ,I,a Il fhar |