Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-06-30

your present mountaineering and COM
munication with your departed friends. |
have no sympathy, need not say, with the
ideas OF modern spiritualism, but what |
mean Is the theory set forth by the apostle
when he says, ave are surrounded by a
great cloud OF witnesses" Just as in tho
ancient amphitheatre there vera $4,000
or 100. 900 people looking down from the gal
leries upon the combatants In the center so,
says Paul, there Is u great host ofyOur
friends In all the galleries OF the sky looking
down upon our earthly struggles. 1t is a
sweet, n consoling, a sGrlptural idea. With
wing OF angel, earth an heaven arc in con-
stant communication.
Does not the Bible say, "Are they not sent
forth as minlstering spirits to those who
shall be heirs OF salyatIoni' And when
ministerinc spirits come down and See US, do
they not take some message back? IL Is i'm
possible to realize, know, the idea that
there IS such rapid and perpetual intcrcOm-
munication OF earth and heaven. hut it is q
glorious reality. You take rail train, and
the train s in tull motion, and another train
from the opposite direction flashes past you
30 swiftly that you are startled. Alltho way
between here and heaven Is filed with the
up trains and the down trains spirits com
ing-spirits going coming going coming
going.
That friend OF yours who died last month
do you not suppose he told all the family
news about you in the good land to the
friends who are gone; Do You not suppose
that when there are hundreds OF Opportuni-
ties every day for them ia heaven to hear
from you that they ask about You that they
know your tears, your temptations, your
struggles your vlctories2 Aye, they do.
Perhaps during the last war You had a boy
in the army. and you got a pass, and you
went through the lines, and you found him,
and the regiment coming from your neighOr-
hood and you knew most of the boys there.
Ono day you started for home. You said :
"Well now, have you any letters TO send2
Any messages TO send2' And they filled
your pockets with letters. and you started for
home Arriving home. the neighbors came
In, and one said "Did you ses my JuhnY"
and Others, did you see George do
you know anything about my Frank And
then YOU brought out the letters and gave
them the messages OF which you had icen
the bearer. Do you suppose that angels of
God, coming down to this awful battlefield
OF sin and sorrow and death and meeting US
and seeing us and finding out all about US,
carry back no message to the skies?
oh. there Is consolation In II You are in
present communication with that land. They
are In sympathy with you now more than
they ever were, and they are waiting for the
moment when the hammer stroke shall shatter
the last chain Of your earthly bondage and
your soul shall spring upward, and they will
stand on the heights OF heaven and see you
come, and when you are within hailing dis
tance your other friends will be called out,
and as you flash through the pearl hung gate
their shout will make the hills tremhlc,
"Hail ransOmed spirit, to the city OF the
blessed "
console you still further with the idea OF
.
many pcoplewho do not accept this because
| they cannot understand it but, my friends,
there are two stout passages could bring a
! hundred, but two swarthy passages are
| enough and one David Will strike down the
| largest Goliah. marvel not at this for the
| hour is coming when all who arc in their
graves shall come forth" The other swsrthy
! passage is this 1.-THE Lord shall descend
from heaven with shout, and the voice OF
the archanGol and the trump Of God, and
! the dead In Christ shall rise first Oh, there
will be such n thing as a resurrection.
You ask me great many questions can
not answer about this resurrection. You
say, for instance, 1T a mans body ID CON
stantly changing, and every seventh year he
has an entirely new body, and he lives on e
seventy years OF age and 50 has had ten dlt
fcrent bodies, and at the hour OF his death
there Is not particle Of flesh on him that
was lutGt Ill INC IiJs VI ulo cIlllh'phs ia tll'
resurrestion which Of the ten bodies vii
come up or will they all risc2"
You say, Suppose "a man dies, and his body
Is scattered in the dust, and out of that dust
vegetables grow, and men eat the vegeta'
bles, and c8nnibals slRy these men and ea
them, and cannibals fight with cannibals un
til at last there shall be hundred men who
shall have within them some particles that
started from the dead body first named
Al Nl.,. Oh thrpn %
the first man who ate II and through the can
nibals who atterward ate him, and there b'
more than hundred men who have right
In the particles of that body-in tho rcsur
rection how can they be assorted when thes
particles belong to them allr
You say, There Is q missionary buried II
Greenwood, and when he was in China h
had his arm amputated-in the resurrection
will that fragment Of the body fly 10000 mile
to Join the rest OF the body?'
You say, "Will it not be a very Difficult
thing for a spirit coming back in that day T.
find the myriad particles OF its own body
when they have been scattered by the wind
or overlaid by whole generations OF the dead
looking for the myriad PARTICLES OF its oTl
body, while there are a thousand millio
other spirits doing the same thing, and nj
the assortment to be made within one dayf
You say, "If $50 men go Into place G
| ht8f1lnR anu iVuNV Nh'i iih'
and overcoats In the hall, when they com
back IL is almost impossible for them TO ge
the right ones, or to get them without
great deal OF perplexity, and yet you tell IN
that myrads OF spirits in tho last day wi
come and find myriads OF bodies.
Have you any more questions to ask2 An
more difficulties to suggest2 Any more my.
teries? Bring them on! Against whol
regiment OF skeptoism | will march thes
mot Natt tort
hour is coming when oil who are In the
graves shall come forth" "The Lord sha
descend from heaven with shout, and Ii
voice OF the archangel, and the trump
God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
You see | stick to these two passages. VIII
, art thou, fool, that thou repliest again
God2 Hath He promised, and shall He n,
! do it? Hath He commanded, and shall
not bring 1t to pass? Haveyou not contident
, I'm His omnlpotence2 II He could in tho fir
! place build my body, after 1t Is torn dow
, can He not build 1t again?
! "Oh," you say, ~ would believe that II yc
I would explain 1t. an not disposed to
( skeptical, but explain how 1t can be done
/ NV brother, you believe great many thinl
D YOU cannot explain. You believe your mir
:. acts on your body. Explainth process Th
/. seed planted comes upa blue flower Anoth
D seed planted comes up yellow flower. Al
r other seed planted comes up white howe
i Why? Why that wart on your finger? Tt
: me why some cows have horns and 9th
COWS have no horns. Why, when two obst
A cles strike each other in the air, do you he
y the percussion2 What is the subtle enerl
b that dissolves "a solid in q crucible2 VIII
r makes the notches on an oak leaf differe
:, from any other kind OF leaf2 What max
/. the orange blossom different from that oftl
y rose? How can the almightlness which rid
u on the circle Of the heaven find room to tui
its chariot on heliotropep Explain thes
Can you not do it? Then will not expla
the resurrection. You explain one-haf
the common mysteries OF everyday life, al
| will explain all the mysteries OF the resu
rection. You cannot answer me very pla
questions In regard to ordinary affairs. | a
not ashamed to say that cannot explain Go
and tho judgment, and the resurrection.
simply accept them as facts, tremendous Al
innuitn