The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-07-27

upon the hosts OF Heaven-thousanus
upon thousands, ten thousand times ten
thousand, one hundred and forty and
four thousand, and thousands OF thou
sands, until put down the field-glass
and say: 81 can not estimate it-a great
multitude that no man can number"
You may tax your Imagination, and
torture your ingenuity, and break down
your powers of calculation in attempt
ing to express the multitudes of the re-
leased from earth and the enraptured OF
Heaven, and talk of hundreds of hun
dreds of hundreds; of thous ands OF
thousands of thousands; of millions OF
millions of millions, until your head
aches and your heart faints, and ex-
hausted and overburdened you exclalm;
II can not count them-a great nlitl-
tude that no man can number"
But my subject advances and tells
you of their antecedents, "of all nations
and kindreds, and tongues" Some OF
them spoke Scotch, Irish, German,
English, Italian, Spanish, Tamil, Choc-
taw, Burmese. After men have been
long in the land you can tell by their
accentuation from what nationality
they came; and 1 suppose that in the
great throng around the throne 1T Will
not be difficult to tell from what part OF
the earth they came.
These reaped Sicilian wheat fields
and those picked cotton from the pods.
These under blistering skies gathered
tamarinds and yams. Those crossed
the desert or camels, and those
glanced over the snow, drawn by
Siberian dogs, and these milked the
goats far up Oh the Swiss crags. These
fought the walrus and white bear in re-
gions of everlasting snow, and those
heard the song of fiery-winged birds in
African thickets. They were white.
They were black. They were red.
They were copper color From all
lands, from all ages. They were
plunged into Austrian dungeons. They
passed through Spanish inquisitions,
They were confined in London Tower.
They fought with beasts in the amphi-
theater. They were Moraviaps. They
were Waldenses. They were Albigenses,
They were Scotch Covenanters. They
were Sandwich Islanders
In this world men prefer different
kinds of government. The United
States want a republic. The British
government needs to be a constitutional
monarchy Austria wants absolutism.
But when they come up from earth
from different nationalities, they will
prefer one great monarchy-King Jesus
ruler over it. And if that monarchy
were disbanded, and it were submitted
to all the hosts of Heaven who should
rule, then by the unanimous suffrages
of all the redeemed, Christ would be-
come the president of the whole uni
verse. Magma Chartas, Bills of Rights,
Houses of Burgesses, Triumvirates,
Congresses, misunderstanding in the
presence of Christ's scepter, swaying
over all the people who have entered
upon that great glory. Oh! can you
imagine it? What strange comming-
ling of tastes, of histories, of nationali-
ties, "of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues"
My subject advances and tells you of
the dress of those in Heaven. The OBJ
iect Of dress in this world is not only
to veil the body, but to adorn it. The
God who dresses up the spring morning
with the blue ribbon of sky around the
brow, and earrings of dew-drops hung
from tree branch, and mantle of Grim
son cloud flung over the shoulder, and
the violeted slippers of the grass for
her feet-I know that God does not
despise the beautiful apparel Well,
what shall we wear in Heaven? 81 saw
a great multitude clothed in white
robes" 1t is white In this world we
had sometimes to have on working ap
parel. Bright and lustrous garments
would be ridiculously out of place swell
tering amid FORCES, or mixing paints, o,
plastering ceilings, or binding books
In this world we must have the work
ing day apparel sometimes, and we care
not how coarse it is. 1t is appropriate
but when all the toll of earth is past
and there is no more drudgery and NJ
more WEAKNESS, we shall stand before
the throne robed in white.
On earth we sometimes had to wea'
mourning apparel-black scarf for tn,
arm, black veil for the face, blacl
gloves for the hands, black band for tn,
hat Abraham mourning for Sarah
Isaac mourning for Rebecca; Rache
mourning for her children; Davit
mourning for Absalom; Mary mourning
for Lazarus. Every second of ever.
minute of every hour of every day
heart breaks The earth from zone t,
zone and from pole to pole is cleft wit
sepulchrai rent; and the earth cal
easily afford to bloom and blossom
when it is so rich with moldering life
Graves graves! graves! But whel
these bereavements have all passed
and there are no more graves to dig
and no more collins to make, and n
more sorrow to suffer, we shall pull OF
this mourning and be robed in white
see a soul going right up from all thi
scene of sin and trouble into glory.
seem to hear him say:
Tourney forth rejoicing
From this dark vale of tears,
To heavenly Joy and freedom,
From earthly care and fears.
When Christ my Lord shall gather
All his redeemed again,
His kingdom to Inherit
: Goodnight till then.
I hes- my Saviour calling:
The joyful hour has come,
The angel guards are ready
To guide me- 20 our home.
Whom Christ o,Nr ord cball TO than