The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-06-22


ing forth hands of welcome, for do really
think that Is on the right hand Of God is
Christ, so on the right hand of Christ is
Paul. the second great in heaven
HE CHANGED KINGS.
He changed kings likewise. Before the
hour of death, and up to the last moment.
be was under Nero, the thick necked, the
cruel eyed. the filthy Tipped, the sculptured
features of that man bringing down 70 us
to this very day the horrible possibilities
of his nature-seated as he was amid
pictured marbles OF Egypt, under roof
adorned with mother-of-pearl, in a dining
room which, by machinery, was kept
whirling day and night with most bewitch-
ing magnificence, his horses standing in
stalls of solid gold, and the grounds around
his palace lighted at night by its victims,
who had been bedaubed with tar and pitch
and then set on fire to illumine the dark
ness
That was PauPs king. But the next
moment he goes into the realm of him
whose reign is love, and whose courts are
paved with love, and whose throne is set
on pillars of love, and whose scepter is
adorned with jewels Of love, and whose
palace is lighted with love, and whose life
time is an eternity of love. When Paul
was leaving so much on this side the pillar
Of martyrdom to gain so much on the other
side, do you wonder at the cheerful vale
dictory Of the text, THE time of my de-
parture is at handS"
Now, why cannot all the old people have
the same holJ glee as that aged man hadi
Charles l. when he cOmbing his head,
found a gray hair, and he sent it TO the
queen as a great joke, but old age is really
no Joke at all For the last forty years you
have been dreading that which ought 10
have been an exhilaration. You say you
most fear the struggle at the moment the
soul and body part. But millions have
endured that moment, and may not we as
welI9 They got through with it and so
can we.
Besides this. all medical men agree in
saying that there is probably no struggle
at the last moment-nOt so much pain as
the prick of a pin, the seeming signs Of
distress being altogether involuntary. But
YOU say. 1T is the uncertainty of the fu-
ture" Now. child of God, do not play the
infdel After God has filled the Bible till
it can hold no more with stories of the
good things ahead, better not talk about
uncertainties.
But you say, 81 cannot bear to think of
parting from friends here" If you are
old, you have more friends in heaven than
here just take the census. Take some
large sheet Of paper and begin to record
the names of those who have emigrated TO
the other shore; the companions of your
school days, your early business associates,
the friends of midlife and those who more
recently went away. Can it be that they
have been gone so long you do not care
anymore about them, and you do not want
their society On, no. There have been
days when you have felt that you could
not endure another moment away from
their blessed cOmpanionship They have
gone YOu say yoC would not like 10 bring
them back TO this world of trouble, even if
you had the power 1t would not do to
trust YOU God would not give you resur-
rection power.
Before tomorrow morning you would be
rafting at the gates Of the cemetery, crying
to the departed: Come back to the cradle
where you slept Come back TO the hall
where you used TO playl Come back to the
table where you used to sitp' And there
would be a great burglary in heaven. No,
no. God will not trust You with resurrec-
ton power, hut he compromises the mat
ter and says, You cannot bring them
where you are. but you can 90 where they
are" They are more lovely now than
ever. Were they beautiful here. they are
| more DcAulllul -iltFt-
A PLACE OF REMUNERATION.
Besides that. it is more healthy there for
you than here aged man: better climate
| here than these hot summers and cold
winters and late springs; better hearing
better eyesight; more tonic in the air;
moreperfume in the bloom; more sweetness
In the song. Do you not feel, aged man,
sometimes as though you would like TO get
your arm and foot free? Do you not feel
as though you would like to throw away
spectacles and canes and crutchess Would
/ you not like o feel the spring and elastic
/ ity and mirth of an eternal boyhOOd?
/ When the point at which you start from
/ this world is old age, and the point TO
/ which you 90 is eternal juvenescence, aged
man. clap your hands at the anticipation,
and say in perfect rapture of soul, The
time Of my departure is at hand"
] remark again, all those ought to feel
this JOY Of the text who have a holy curiOs-
ity to know what is beyond this earthly
terminus. And who has not any curiosity
about it? Paul. ! suppose. had the most
satisfactory view of heaven, and he says,
cit doth not yet appear what we shall be. f."
II is like looking through a broken tele-
scope Now we see through aglass dark
/ "" Can you tell me anything about that
questions about it that l cannot answer.
| j ask you a thousand questions about it
! that you cannot answer. And do you won
der that Paul was so glad when martyr
dom gave him a chance to 20 over AMI
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 we'll 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 il. do not want TO be look.
ing through the gates ajar forever. l want
them to swing wide open. There are ten
thousand things 1 want xplained-about
you, about myself. about the government
of this world, about God, about everything
We start In a plain path of what we
know, and in minute come up against q
high wall Of what we do not know. Iwon
der how il looks over there. Somebody
ellis me il is like paved city-paved with
gold; and another man tells me il is like a
fountain, and 1t is like a tree, and 1t is like
triumphal procession; and the next mar
meet tells me it is all igurative l really
want TO know, after the body is resurrect
ed, what they wear and what they eat, and
have an unreasonable curiosity to know
what it is, and how it is, and where it is.
Columbus risked his life to find this con
tinent. and shall we shudder TO 60 out on
voyage Of discovery which shall reveal q
vaster and more brilliant country Joh1
Franklin risked his life to find passage
between icebergs, and shall we dread t