The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-02-05

nance What 4 smilel What a gran
deurl What a loneliness What an
overwhelming look of kindness and
grace WHY, he looks as if he had
redeemed q world Bat come on, for
our time is short, Do you see that
row of palacesl That is the Apos,
tolic row, DO you see that long
reach of architectural gloriesl That
is Martyr row, Do you see that inn
monse structurel That is the biggest
house IN heaven; that is the House
of Many Mansions" Do you see that
walll Shade your eyes against its
burning spleador, for that is the wall
of heaven, jasper at the bottom and
amethyst at the top,
See this river rolling through the
heart of the great metropolisl That
is the river concerning which those
who once lived on the banks of the
Hudson, or the Alabama, OF the
Rhine, or the Shannon, say, 1--WE
never saw the like of this for clarity
and sheen" That is the chief river
Of heaven-so bright, so wide, so
deep, But you ask, Where are the
asylums for the oldF ! answer,
THE inhabitants are all young"
Where are the hospitals for the
lame| They are all agile Where
are the infilmaries for the blind and
deaf" They all see and hear"
Where are the almshouses for the
poorr They are all multimillion-
aires. Where are the inebriate
asylumst" Why, there are no
saloons, Where are the grave
yards2' Why, they never die"
Pass down those boulevards of gold
and amber and sapphire and see those
intelminable streets built by the
Architect of the universe into homes,
over the threshold of which sorrow
never steps, and out of whose win
dows faces, once pale with earthly
sickness, now look rubicund with i'm.
mortal health "Oh, let me go in
and see theml" you say No, you
cannot go in. There are those there
who would never consent to let you
come up You say, Let me stay
here in this place where they never
sin, where they never suffer, where
they never part" No, mol Our time
is short, our thirty minutes are al
most gone. Come on! We must get
back to earth before this half hour
of heavenly silence breaks up, for in
your mortal state you cannot endure
the pomp and splendor and resonance
when this half hour of silence is
ended
The day will come when you can
see heaven in full blast, but not now.
am now only showing YOU heaven
at the dullest half hour of all the
eternities Come onl There is some
thing in the celestial appearance
which makes me think that the half
hour of silence will soon be over.
Yonder are the white horses being
hitched to chariots, and yonder are
Seraphs lingering harps as if about
to strike them into harmony, and
yOnder are conquerors taking down
from the blue halls of heaven the
trumpets Of victory.
Remember, we are mortal yet and
cannot endure the full roll of heaven
ly harmonies and cannot endure even
the silent heaven for more than half
an hour Hark the clock in the
tower of heaven begins to strike and
the half hour is ended Descend .
Come back l. Come down. till your
work is done Shoulder little longer
your burdens Fight little longer
your battles Weep a little longer
your g1'iefs And then take heaven,
not in its dullest half hour, but in its !
pomp, and instead of tax
ing it for thirty minutes, take it
world without end.
YOUR FIRST HALF HOUR.
But how will you spend the first
half hour Of your heavenly citizen
ship after you have gone in to stay2 .
After your prostration before the
throne in worship of him who made
it possible for you to get there at all,
| think the rest of your first half
hour in heaven will be passed in re-
ceiving your reward if you have been
faithful | have a strangely beauti-
full book containing the pictures Of
the medals struck by the English
government in honor of great bat
ties; these medals pinned over the
heart of the returned heroes of the
army on great occasions, the royal
family present-the Crimean medal,
the Victoria Cross, the Waterloo
medal.
In your first half hour in heaven
in some way you will be honored
for the earthly struggles in which
you won the day. Stand up before
all the royal house of heaven and re-
ceive the insignia while you are an
nounced as victor over the droughts
and freshets of the farm field, victor
over the temptations of the stock ex-
change, victor over professional al
victor over domestic in
felicities. victor over mechanics shop,
victor over the storehouse, victor
over home worriments, victor over
physical distresses, victor over hered-
itary depressions, victor over sin and
death and hell. Take the badge that
those victories through our
Lord Jesus Christ Take it in the
presence of all the galleries sanity,
angelic and divinel
Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer though they die;
They see the triumph from afar
And seize it with their eye.