The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-07

world without end"
Meeting the Saints.
Then we came out, and the temple
is always open, and some worship at
one hour and others at other hours. we
passed down the street amid the throngs
| coming and going from the great tenn
/ pie. And we passed through a street
/ called Martyr-pace and we met there
/ or saw sitting at the windows the souls
| of those who on earth went through fire
| and flood and under sword and rack.
| We saw John Wickliff. whose ashes were
by decree OF the council OF Constance
! thrown into the river, and Rogers, who
| bathed his hands in the fire as though il
/ had been water. and Bishop Hooper and
| McKail and Latimer and Ridley and
/ Polycarp. whom the flames refused To
/ destroy as they bent outward till a
/ spear did the work, and some of the
/ Albigenses and Huguenots and conse-
/ Grated quakers who were slain for their
religion. They had on them many scars,
| but their scars were Illuminated and
| they had on their faces a look Of espe-
/ cial triumph.
Then we passed along Song row. and
we met some of the old gospel singers.
That is Isaac Watts said my attend
/ ant. AS we came up to him he asked
/ me if the churches on earth were still
/ singing the hymns he composed at the
/ house OF Lord and Lady Ahney,. to
whom he paid a visit of thirty-six years,
and 1 told him that many of the
| churches opened their Sabbath morning
| services with his old hymn, Welcome,
/ Sweet Day OF Rest" and celebrated
their gospel triumphs with his hymn.
| salvation. o the Joyful Song!' and
/ often reused their devOtions by his
hymn. Come We That Love the
/ Lord
While we were talking he introduced
/ me to another of the song writer's and
/ said This is Charles Wesley. who be-
| longed on earth to a different church
| from mine, but we are all now members
! of the same church. the temple of God
/ and the Lamb" And 7 told Charles
/ Wesley that almost every Sabbath we
sang one of his old hymns, Arm of the
! Lord Awaken or Come. Let Us Join
| Our Friends Above" or Love Divine,
/ All Love Excelling." And while we
were talking on that street called Song
row, Kirk White the consumptive col
| lege student. now everlastngly well.
| came up. and we talked over his old
/ Christmas hymn. when Marshaled on
! the Nightly Plain" And William Cow
! per came up, now entirely recovered
/ from his religious melancholy and not
! looking as if he had ever in dementia
| attempted suicide, and we talked over
| the wide earthly celebrity and heavenly
| power of his old hymns, when 1 Can
/ Read My Title Clear and There Is a
| fOuntdlu ill-Q WIN DAOpu-
Health in Heaven.
And there we met George w. Bethune
| Of wondrous Brooklyn pastOrate, and L
I told him Of how his comforting hymn
had been sung at Obsequies all around
/ the world-"It Is Not Death to Die"
And Toplady came up and asked about
whether the church was till making use
of his old hymn, Rock of Ages, Cleft
For Me-" And we met also on Song row
| Newton and Hastings. and Montgomery
4 and Horatio Bonar, and we heard float
| ing from window 10 window snatches of
the old hymns which they started on
earth, and started never to die.
But" say some of my hearers, did
/ you see anything of our friends in
heaven?' Oh. yes, 1 did. Did you see
are there any marks of their last sick
ness still upon them?" 1 did see them,
! but there was no pallOr, no cough, no
| fever, no languor about them. They
! are all well and ruddy and sOngfuI and
| bounding with eternal mirth. They told
me TO give their love to you, that they
\ thought of you hour by hour. and that
I when they could be excused from heaven
| " Fairgrounds they came down and
! lowered about you. and kissed your
| cheek, and filed your dreams with their
| glad faces, and that they would be at
| the gate TO greet you when you ascend
| ed TO be with them forever.
| But" say other voices, did you see
our glorified friends" Yes, ] saw them.
and they are well in the land across
! which no pneumOnias or palsies or drop
! sizes or typhoids ever sweep. The aroma
. blows over from orchards with trees
| bearing twelve manner of fruits and
| gardens compared with which Chats
worth is desert. The climate is q
! mingling of an earthly June and Octo-
Der, the balm Of the one and the tonic
I Of the other The social life in that
! realm where they are is superb and per
/ feet. No controversies or jealOusies or
/ hates, but love- universal love, eyerlast-
/ ing love. And they told me to tell you
/ not to weep for them, for their happiness
/ knows no bound, and il is only a ques-
ton Of time when you shall reign with
| them in the same palace and join with
| them in the same exploration of planets
| and the same tour OF worlds.
| But yonder in this assembly is an up
| turned face that seems to ask how
( about the ages Of those in heaven. DO
| my departed children remain children
! or have they lost their childish vivacity2
! Do my departed parents remain aged,
or have they lost the venerable out of
their nature?" Well. from what l saw
| 1 think childhood had advanced to full
/ maturity of faculty, retaining all the
| residence of childhood, and that the
! aged had retreated to midlife freed from
charm of the venerable. In other words.
it was fully developed and complete life
Of all souls, whether young or old.
A Glorious Gift.
Some one says, will you tell US what
most impressed you in heaven" 1 will
was most impressed with the reversal
Of earthly conditions. I knew of course
that there would be differences of attire
and residence in heaven, for Paul had
declared long ago that souls would then
differ "as one star differeth from
another" as Mars from Mercury, as
Saturn from Jupiter. But at every step
in my DEAN in heaven 1 was amazed
TO see that some who were expected TO
be high in heaven were low down, and
some who were expected to be low down
were high up. You thought. for in
stance, that those born Of pious parent
age and Of naturally good disposition,
and of brilliant faculties, and of all
styles Of attractiveness will move in the
highest range OF celestial splendor and
pomp. No, no,
! found the highest thrones, the bright
est coronets, the richest mansions were
! occupied by those who had reprobatc
| father or bad mother, and who inherited
the twisted natures of ten generations of
miscreants, and who had compressed in
their body all depraved appetites and
all evil propensities, but they laid hold
OF Gods arm, they cried for especial
mercy, they conquered seven devils with
in and seventy devils without. and were
/ washed in the blood of the Lamb, and
| ~ much their contest was terrific