Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1892-06-23

Paul, the second great ID heaven.
He changed kings likewise. Befor
the hour of death, and up to the las
moment, be was under Nero, the THO
necked, the cruel eyed, the filthy Tipped
the sculptured features of that MAJ
bringing down to US this very day tn
horrible possibilities of his nature
seated as he was amid pictured mar
bles of Egypt, under a roof adorne'
with mother-of-pearl, in a dining room
which by machinery was kept whir]in;
day and night with most bewitchin!
magnifcence; his horses standing il
stalls of solid gold, and the ground
around his palace lighted at night b,
its victims, who had been bedaubet
with tar and pitch and then set on fir
to illumine the darkness. That wa
Pauls king.
But the next moment he goes into tn,
realm of him whose reign is love, ant
whose courts are paved with love, AM
whose throne is set on pillars Of love
and whose scepte- is adorned with jew
els of love, and whose palace is Lighted
with love, and whose lifetime is an eter
nifty of love. When Paul was leaving
so much on this side the pillar Of mar
tyrdom to gain so much OF the othe.
side, do you wonder at the cheerful vale
dictory of the text, "The time of my
departure is at hand?"
Now, why cannot all the old people
have The same holy glee as that aged
man had? Charles l, when hewas comb
ing his head, found a gray hair, and hi
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 dreadine
that which ought to have been an ex
hilaration. 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 we'll
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, ut is the uncertainty OF
the future" Now, child of God, do not
play the intidel. After God has filed
the Bible TIL it can hold no more with
stories of the good things ahead, better
not talk about uncertainties.
II GLORIOUS COMPANY.
But you say. Il 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 namcs of those who have emf
grated to the other shore; the compan-
ions of your school days, Your early
business associates. the friends of mid
life. and those who more recently went
away. Can it be that they have been
gone SO long You do not care any more
about them. and You do not want their
society: Oh, 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 you would not like to 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
resurrection 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 play.
Come back to the table where you used
TO sir" and there would be d great bur
glary in heaven. No, no. God will not
trust you with resurrection power; but
he compromises the matter and says,
You cannot bring them where you are,
but you can go where they are" They
are more lovely now than ever. Were
they beautiful here, they are more a
tif1l there.
Besides that, il is more healthy there
for you than here, aged man; better
climate there than these hot summers
and cold winters and late springs; bet
ter hearing. better eyesight, more tonic
in the air, NOR. perfume in the bloom,
sweetness in the song. Do you
feel, aged lnan. sometimes as though
you would like to get Your arm and foot
free: Do yo5 not feel as though yon
would like to throw away spectacles
and canes and clutches: Would you
not like to feel the spring and elasticity
and mirth of IN eternal boyhood: When
the point at which you start from this
world is old age. and the point to which
you go is eternal juvenescence, aged
man, clap Your hands at the anticipa-
ton and say, in perfect rapture Of soul,
The time of my departure is at hand"
THAT WONDERFUL WORLD.
l remark again, all those ought to
feel this JOY Of the text who have a holy
curiosity to know what is beyond this
earthly terminus. And who has not
any curiosity about it: Paul, l suppose,
had the most satisfactory view of
heaven, and he says, 1t doth not yet
appear what we shall be-" 1t is like
looking through a broken telescope,
Now we see through a glass darkly.'
Can you tell me anything about that
heavenly place: You ask me a thou
sand questions about it that l cannot
answer. l ask you a thousand questions
about it that you cannot answer. and
do you wonder that Paul was SO glad
when m~artyrdom gave him a chance to
go over and make discoveries III that
blessed country:
l hope some day, by the grace of God,
to go over and SCI for myself, but not
now. No we'll man, no prospered man,
I think, wants to go now. But the time
will come, | think, when l shall go over.
l want TO see what they do there and !
want to see how they do it. l do not
want to 6e looking through the gates
ajar forever. l want them to swing
wide open. There are ten thousand
things l want explained-about you,
about myself, about the government of
this world, about God, about everything.
We start in plain path Of what we
know and in a minute come up against
a high val of what we do not know. |
wond r Low it looks over there. Some
body tells me it is like a paved city
paved with gold-and another MAJ: tells
me it is like a fountain, and it is like a
tree, and it is like a triSmphal process
sion, and the next man l meet tells me
it is all ~fgurative. l really want to
know, after the body is resurrected,
what they wear and what they eat, and
l have an immeasurable curiosity to
know what it is, and how it Is and
where it is.
Columbus risked his life to find this
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