Milford chronicle., 1893-01-27

awful famine was prefgured. Pilates
/ wife, amid clouds of richest upholstery,
had startling dream, because Of which
she sent a message in hot haste to court
room to keep her husband from enacting
| judicial outrage. But Jacob, at Bethel,
with a pillow Of mountain rock, had a
| blissful dream Of the ladder angel blossom
ing
Bunyan, with hts head on q hard plank of
/ Bedford Jail, saw the gates Of the celestial
city St. John, on the barrenest island Of
the Asgean sea, in his dream heard 'trum-
pets and saw cavalrymen on white horses
/ and new heaven and new earth. No
amount Of rough pillow can disturb the
night vision Of a saint, and no amount of
amethystine charm can delectate the dream
/ of a miscreant.
ONLY THE BEGINNING.
But, some one will say, why have you
! brought US to this amethyst the top row of
| the foundation OF the heavenly wall, il you
| are not able to accept the theory of the an
cient Greeks, who said that the amethyst
was a charm against intoxication or if you
arenot willing to accept the theory Of the
l ancient Hebrews that the amethyst was
producer of pleasant dreamsf My answer
/ is, have brought you to the top row, the
twelfth layer Of the foundation of the heav-
/ enly wall Of 800 miles Of circling amethyst,
\ to put You in position where you can get
new idea of heaven; to let you see
that after you have climbed up twelve
strata of glory you are only at the base
| of the eternal grandeurs; to let you, with
enchantment of soul, look far down and
look far up; and to force upon you the con
clusion that if all our climbing has only
shown US the foundation Of the wall, what
must the wall itself be; and if this is the
outside of heaven, what must the inside
! be; and il all this is figurative, what must
| the reality bef Oh this piled up mag
nificence Of the heavenly WALL Oh, this
eternity Of decorationl Oh, this opalescent,
horescent, prismatic miracle of architec-
ture! What cnthronement of all c0lorsl
A mingling Of the blue of skies, and the
| surf of seas, and the green Of meadows, and
the upholstery Of autunlnal forests, and
! the fire of August sunsetsl All the splen-
dors Of earth and heaven dashed into those
twelve rows Of foundation WALL All that,
mark you, only typical of the spiritual
glories that roll over heaven like the At
lantic and Pacific oceans swung in one bill
low.
Do you not see that it was impossible that
you understand hundredth part of the
| suggestiveness of that twenty-first chapter
Of Revelation without going into some OF
| the particulars Of the wall Of heaven, and
| dipping up some of It's dripping colOrs, and
running your eye along some Of its won
! drous crystallizations, and examining some
| of the frozen light in its turquoise, and feel
| ing with your own finger the hardness OF
| itssapphire, and shielding your eyes against
( the shimmering brilliance in its berYl, and
studying the 800 miles of emerald without
IL II. q T. -. Il s.e
heaven and the poorest part Of the outside
not the wall itself, but only the foot of
the wall, for my text says, The founda-
tions of the wall Of the city were garnished
with all manner Of precious stones" Oh,
get down your harp, if you can play one!
Get down a palm branch, if you can reach
one. Why, it makes us all feel like crying
out with James Montgomery:
! When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
And pearly gates behold2
THE HEAVENLY PALACE.
Oh, my soull If my text shows US only
the outside. what must the inside be2
While riding last summer through the
emperor's park, near st. Petersburg, l
was captivated with the groves, trans
planted from all zones, and the flower
beds, miles this way and miles that way,
incarnadincd with beauty, and the foun-
tains bcunGi. 3 in such rcvel with the sun
light as nowhere else is seen. l said: This
is beautiful. l never saw anything like
this before"
But when 1 entered the palace and saw
the pictured walls, and the long line Of
statuary, and aquaIiums afioat with all
bright scales, and aviGries a-chant with
bird voices, and the inner doors of the pal
ace were swung back by the chamberlain
and 1 saw the emperor and empress and
nrinces and princesses, and they greeted me
with cOrdtanty OF ola acquatntanceshlp
| forgot all the groves and floral bewitch-
ment had seen outside before entrance.
And now I ask, if the outside Of heaven
attracts our souls today, how much more
will be the uplifting when we get inside
and see the King in his beauty and all the
princes and princesses Of the palaces Of
amethyst? Are you not glad that we did
not stop in our accent this morning until
we got to the top round of the foundation
wall of heaven, the twelfth row, the am
ethyst? Perhaps the ancient Hebrews were
not after all so far out Of the way when
they thought that the touch of the amethyst
gave pleasant dreams, for the touch OF 1t
this hour gives me q very pleasant dream.
Standing on this amethyst l dream
dream. close my eyes and see it all.
We are there. This is heavenl Not the
outside. but the inside Of heaven. With
what warmth of welcome our long ago de-
parted loved ones have kissed us. Myl
How they have changed in looks. They
were so sick when they went away, and
now they are so well. Lookl Yonder is
the palace Of our Lord, the King. Not kept
a moment outside, we are ushered into the
throneroOm.
Stretching out his SCARED hand he says,
81 have loved thee with an everlasting
love-" and we respond, Whom have in
heaven but theeT' But lookl Yonder is
the playground Of the children. Children
do not want throne A throne would not
fit child. There they are on the play
grounds of heaven-the children. Out of
the sick cradle of earth they came into this
romping mirth of the eternal Fairgrounds.
clap my hands to cheer them in the glee.
Yonder are the palaces Of the martyrs,
and before their doorways the flowers, Grim
son as the bloody martyrdoms through
which they waded up to glory. Yonder is
Apostolic row, and the highest turret is
over the home sf Paul Here is Evangelist
place. Yonder are the concert halls in which
the musicians CT earth and heaven Gro tax
ing part-Hendel with organ, and David
with harp, and Gabriel with trumpet, and
four and twenty elders with voices.
And an angel Of God says to me:
'Where shall l take your On what street
of heaven would you like to liver What
celestial habitation would you like to oc-
cupygn And I answer; snow that l have
got inside the wall made up Of all manner
OF precious stones I do not care where you
put me. Just show me where my departed
loved ones arc. / have seen the Lord, and
next I want to see them. But here are
those with whom toiled in the kingdom
Of Gcd on earth They are from my old
pa1ishes at Bellevllle and Syracuse and
Philadelphia and Brooklyn and from many
places on both sides the sea where I have
been permitted to work with them and for
them. Give them the best places you cen
find. ! viii help steady them as they
mount the thrones. ] viii help you bur
nish their coronets.
a. -,-Il frfss q