News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-01-25

outrage. But Jacob, at Bethel, with a
pillow of mountain rock, had blissful
dream Of the ladder angel blossoming.
.Bunyan, with his head ON a hard
plank OF Bedford Jail, saw the gates OF
! the celestial city. St. John, on the bar
renest island Of the H5gean sea, in his
dream heard trumpets and saw cavalry
men on white horses and new heaven
| and a new earth. No amount Of rough
j pillow can disturb the night vision OF a
| saint, and no amount OF amcthEstine
| charm can delectate the dream Of q mis-
Creant.
But, some one viii say, why have you
brought us to this amethyst, the top row
of the foundation of the heavenly wall,
if You are not able to accept the theory
of the ancient Greeks, who said that the
AMETHYST was charm against intoxica-
ton, or if you are not willing to accept
the theory of the ancient Hebrews that
the amethyst was Il producer Of pleasant
! dreams? My answer is, have brought
you to the top row, the twelfth layer of
the foundation Of the heavenly wall Of
800 miles of circling amethyst, to put
you in position where you can get a
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 en-
chantment of soul, look far down and
look far up, and to force upon you the
conclusion that if all our climbing has
only shown us the foundations OF the
wall. what must the wall itself be; and
if this is the outside Of heaven, what
must the inside be: and if all this is fig
urative, what mu t the reality be? Oh,
this piled up ma2nifcence of the heav
emily wall! Oh, this eternity Of decOra-
ton! Oh, this opalescent, forescent,
prismatic miracle Of architecture! What
enhancement of Ill cOlors! A mingling
of the blue Of SKI, 3, and the surf Of seas,
and the green of !eadows, and the up
holstery of autumn lal forests, and the fire
of August sunset Al the splendors Of
earth and heav, dashed into those
twelve rows of foundation wall. III
that, mark You, .ly typical of the spir-
itual glories that roll over heaven like
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans swung
n one billoW.
Do you not see that it was impossible
thar you understand a hundredth part
of the suggestivcnCss of that twenty
first chapter of Revelation without 60
ing into some Of the particulars Of the
wall Of heaven and dipping up some OF
its dripping cOlors, and running your
eye along some of its wondrous crystal
Hzations, and examining some of the
frozen light in its turquoise, and feeling
with your own finger the hardness of its
sapphire, and shielding your eyes against
the shimme1ing brilliance i'll its beryl,
and studying the ! 500 miles Of emerald
without flaw? Yet all this only the out
eide of heaven, and the poorest part of
the outside; not the wall itself, but only
the foot of the wall, for my text says, 1.-The
foundations 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 palm branch
if you can reach one! Why, it makes Is
all feel like crying out with James Nom
gOmery:
When shall these eyes thy heaven built wells
And pearly gates behold?
Oh, my soul! If my text shows us only
the outside, what must the inside be?
While riding last summer through the
emperor's park, near st. Petersburg, |
was captivated with the groves, trans
planted from all zones, and the flower
beds-miles this way and miles that way
-incarnadined with beauty, and the
fountains bounding in such revel with
the sunlight as nowhere else is seen, l
said: This is beautiful. l never saw
anything like this before"
But when l entered the palace and saw
the pictured walls, and the long line Of
statuary, and aquariums ahoat with all
bright scales, and aviaries a-chant with
bird voices, and the inner doors of the
palace were swung back by the cham
berlain, and | saw the emperor and en-
press and princes and princesses, and
they greeted me with a cordiality of old
mountaineering, l forget all the groves
and floral bewitchment l had seen out
side before entrance. And now | ask, if
the outside Of heaven attracts our souls
today, how much more viii be the up
lifting when we get inside and see the
King in his beauty and all the princes
and princesses Of the palaces of anne
thyst?
Are you not glad that we did not stop
in our ascent this morning until we got
to the top round Of the foundation wall
of heaven, the twelfth row, the anne
thyst? 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 it this hour gives me Il very
pleasant dream. Standing ON this anne
thyst l dream dream. close my eyes
and see it all. We are there. This is
heaven! Not the outside, but the inside
Of heaven.
With what warmth of welcome our
long ago departed loved ones have kissed
us. Ny! How they have changed in
looks! They were so sick when they
Went away, and now they are so well.
Look! YCHder is tho 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 1
i'll heaven but thee:"
CHILDREN IN HEAVEN.
But, look! YoIder is the playground
of the children. Children do not wanta
throne. A throne would not fit a child.
Tbprn fhnv ora on the T1avoTOT1DdS of