The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-11-04

until this world, that was once so bright
to me, has lost its charm" / congratu-
late you, for, when you go, there will
be fewer here to hold you back and
more there to pull you in. Look
ahead The finger of God is pointing
forward. We sit here in church, and
by hymn and prayer and sermon and
Christian association we try to get into
a frame of mind that will be acceptable
to God and pleasant to ourselves. But
what stupid thing it all is compared
with what it will be when we have
gone beyond psalm book and sermon
and Bible, and we stand, our last imper-
lection gone, in the presence of that
charm of the universe-the blessed
Christ-and have him look in our face
and say: 81 have been watching you
and sympathizing with you and help
ing you all these years, and now you
are here. Go where you please and
never know a sorrow and never shed a
tear. There is your mother now-she
is coming to greet you-aud there is
your father, and there are your chill
dren. Sit down under this tree of life
and on the banks of this river talk il
all over"
My friends, l do not know how we
are going to stand i'll mean the full
thrush of that splendor. Last summer
1 saw Moscow, in some respects the
most splendid city under the sun. The
emperor afterward asked me if l had
seen it, for Moscow is the pride of Rus
STA. told him yes and that l had seen
Moscow burn. / will tell you what /
meant After examining 900 brass can
mons which were picked out of the snow
after Napoleon retreated from Moscow,
each cannon deep cut with the letter
en-" l assembled tower of some $50
feet, just before sunset, and on each
platform there were bells, large and
small, and climbed up among the bells,
and then as / reached the top, all the
bells underneath me began to ring and
they were joined by the bells of 1,4OO
towers and domes and turrets Some
of the bells sent out a faint tinl1le of
sound, a sweet Naturalization that
seemed to bubble in the air, and others
Numbered forth boom after boom, boom
after boom, until it seemed to shake
the earth and fill the heavens-sound
so weird, so sweet, so awful, so grand,
so charming, so tremendous, so soft, so
ripping, so reverberating-and they
seemed to wreathe, and whirl, and rise,
and sink, and burst, and roll, and mount
and die.
The mingling ,ofl so many colors with
so many sounds was an entrance almost
too much for human nerves or human
eyes or human ears l expect to see
nothing to equal it until you and see
Heaven. But that will surpass it and
make the memory of what | saw that
July evening in Moscow almost tame
and insipid. All Heaven aglow and all
Heaven airing, not in the sunset but in
the sunrise. Voices of our own kim
bred mingling with the doxologies
of empires. Organs of eternal worship
responding to the trumpets that
have Weakened the dead. Nations in
white. Centuries in coronation. An
thems like the voice of many waters.
Circle of martyrs. Circle of apostles.
Circle of prophets. Thrones of cherubim.
Thrones of seraphim. Throne of arch
angel Throne of Christ. Throne of
God, Thrones! Thrones! Thrones.
The finger of God points that way.
Stop not until you reach that place.
Through the atoning Christ, all l speak
of and more may be yours and mine.
Do you not hear the chime of the bells
of that metropolis of the universe? Do
you not see the shimmering of the
towers? Good morning.