The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-07-05

and put him down in the grave yard of
Somerville, 1t did not seem so sad TO
leave him there, because right beside
him was my dear, good, old, beautiful,
Christian mother, and it seemed as if
she said: ~ was tired, and came to
bed little early. am glad you have
come; it seems as of DID," oh, it is a
consolation to feel that when men
come, and with solemn tread carry
you out to your resting place,
they will open the gate through
which some of your friends have
already gone, and through which many
of your friends will follow. Sleeping
under the same roof, at last sleeping
under the same sod. The autumnal
leaves that drift across your grave will
drift across theirs; the bird-songs that
drop on their mound will drop on yours;
and then, in starless winter nights,
when the wind comes bowling through
the gorge, you will be company for
each other. The child close up to the
bosom of its mother. The husband and
wife remarked; on their lips the sacra-
ment of the dust. Brothers and SIS
tiers, who used in sport to fling them
selves on the grass, now again reclining
side by side in the grave, in fecks Of
sunlight sitting through the long, 1.-THE
willows.
Then at the trumpet of the archangel
to rise side by side, shaking themselves
from the dust Of ages. The faces that
were CHASTITY and fixed when you saw
them last all atiush with the light Of
interruption. The father looking
around on his children, and saying:
'Come, come, my darlings, this is the
morning of the resurrection"
Oh, yes, we want to be buried togeth-
or. Sweet antelope of everlasting resi-
dence in each others companionship.
When the wrecker went down into the
cabin of the lost steamer he found the
mother and child in each others arms.
1t was sad, but it was beautiful, and it
was appropriate. Together they went
down. Together they will rise. One
on earth. One in Heaven. Isthere not
something cheering in all this thought,
and something to impress upon US the
idea that the departed are ours yet
| ours forever?
But console you again with the fact
of your present acquaintanceship and
communication with your departed
friends. have no sympathy. need
not say with the ideas of modern spirit
ualism; but what mean is the theory
set forth by the apostle, when he says:
"We are surrounded by great cloud
of witnesses" Just as in the ancient
amphitheater there were eighty or one
hundred thousand people looking down
from the galleries upon the cobatants
in the center, SO, says Paul,
there is a great host of your friends
in all the galleries Of the sky looking
down upon our earthly struggles. 1t
is sweet, consoling, a Scriptural
idea. With wing of angel, earth and
Heaven are in constant communication.
Does not the Bible say, "Are they not
sent forth as ministering spirits to
those who shall be heirs of salvation?"
And when the ministering spirits come
|
message back? 1t is impossible to real
ize know, the idea that there is such
rapid and perpetual intercommunica-
ton of earth and Heaven, but it is a
glorious reality.
You take rail train, and the train is
in full notion and another train from
the opposite direction dashes past you
SO swiftly that you are startled; all the
way between here and Heaven is filed
with the up-trains and the trains
spirits coming-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 hun
dreds of opportunities every day for
them in Heaven to hear from you that
they ask about you? That they know
your tears, your temptations, your
struggles, your victories? Aye, they
do. Perhaps during the last war you
had boy in the army, and you got a
pass and went through the lines and
you found him, and the regiment com.
ing from your neighborhood, you knew
most of the boys there.
One day you started for home. YOU
said: "Well, now, have you any letters
to send? any messages to send?" And
they filed your pockets with letters
and you started home. Arriving home
the neighbors come in, and one said
"Did you see my John?" and others
Ibid you see George?" do you know
anything about my Frank?" And ther
you brought out the letters and CAV,
them the messages of which you hat
been the bearer. Do you suppose thai
angels of God, coming down to this aw
! full battlefield of sin and sorrow ant
death, and meeting us and seeing us
and finding out all about us, carry bacl
no message to the skies?
o, there is consolation in It'll You ar,
in present communication with thai
/ land. They are in sympathy with yo,
now more than they ever were, anC
| they are waiting for the moment whel
the hammer stroke shall shatter tn,
last chain of your earthly bondage an,
your soul shall spring upward; anC
? they will stand on the heights o
t Heaven and see you come; and whel
you are within hailing distance you
, other friends will be called out, and, a
you flash through the pearl-hung gate
| their shout will make the hills tremble
Hail! ransomed spirit to the city o
| the blessed"
t console you still further with tn