The Penn's Grove record., 1894-02-09

answer was, "These are they who came out
lEof great tribulation and had their robes
washed and made white in the blood of the
! Lamb p-
1 My walk through the city explained a
thousand things on earth that had been TO
me tnexplicable. When saw up there the su-
pertor delight and the superior heaven of
many who had on earth had it hard with
cancers and bankruptcies and prosecutions
and trials of all sorts, l said, "God has equal
lied it all at last excess of enchantment in
heaven has more than made up for the de-
tlcits on earth"
But" said l to my angelic escort. ~
must go now. 1t is Sabbath morning on
earth, and 1 must preach to-day and be in my
pulpit by half past 10 o'clock. Good-by," 1
said TO the attending angel. Thanks for
what you have shown me. know 1 have
seen only in part, but 1 hope to return again.
through the atoning mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Good-by."
Then l passed on amid chariots OF saliva
ton, and along by conquerors' thrones, and
amid pillared majesties, and by windows of
agate, and under arches that had been hoist
, ed for returned victors. And as [ came
toward the walls with the gates, the walls
flashed upon me with emeralds and sapphires
and c~hrysoprases and ~amethysts, until L
trembled under the glory, and then l heard
a bolt shove, and q latch lift, and a gate
swing, and they were all OF pearl, and 1
passed out loaded with raptures, and down
by worlds lower and lower, and lower still,
until l came within sight OF the city of my
earthly residence, and until through the
window Of my earthly home the sun poured
so strong upon my pillow that my eyelids
felt it, and in bewilderment as to where /
was and what I had seen L awoke.
Reflection the First-The superiority OF our
heaven to all other heavens. The Scandina-
Wan heaven : The departed are in everlast-
ing battle, except as restored after being cut
to pieces they drink wine out of the skulls
of their enemies. The Moslem heaven as
described by the Koran There shall be
hours with large black eyes likes pearls hid
| den in their shells" The Slav's heaven g.;
After death the soul hovers six weeks about
the body, and then climbs a steep mountain,
on the top Of which is paradise. The Tasma-
MAS heaven A spear is placed by the dead,
that they may have something to fight with,
and after awhile. they go into n long chase
for game of all sorts. The Tahitian's heaven /;
The departed are eating up of the gods. The
native African heaven A land of shadows,
and in speaking of the departed they say all
is done for ever. The American aborigine's
heaven Happy hunting grounds, to which
the soul goes on q bridge OF snake. The
philosophers heaven Made out of a tn ok
fog or an infinit don't know. But hearken
and behold our heaven, which, though mostly
described by figures OF speech in the Bible
and by parable of q dream in this discourse,
has for its chief characteristics separation
from all that is vile absence from all that
can discomfort !; presence of all that can con-
! graduate. No mountains to climb no chasms
to bridge no night to illumine no tears to
wipe. Scandinavian heaven, Slav's heaven,
Tasmanian heaven, Tahitian heaven, African
heaven, ~aborigines' heaven, scattered into
tameness and disgust by a glimpse OF ST.
| Vnhpfo haau nf DaJ1la haouan of GhriGt'E
heaven, of your heaven, of my heaven!
Reflection the ~Second-You had bettertake
patiently and cheerfully all pangs, affron.s,
hardships, prosecutions and trials Of earth,
since, If rightly borne, they insure heavenly
payments of ecstasy. Every twinge OF phys
icaI distress, every lie told about you, every
earthly subtraction, if meekly borne, will be
heavenly addition. If you want to amount
to anything in heaven and to movein its best
society, you must be perfected through suf-
~fering." The only earthly currency worth
anything at the gate Of heaven is the silver
of tears. At the top OF all heaven sits the
greatest sufferer, Christ of the Bethlehem
caravansary and OF Pilates oyer and term
liner, and Of the Calvarean assassination.
What H endured, oh. who can tell,
To save our souls from death and hell1
Oh, We of the broken heart, and the disap.
pointed ambition, and the shattered fortune,
INT the blighted life, take comfort from
what l saw in my Sabbath morning dean /!
Reflection the Third and Last-How de-
sirable that we all get there! Start this
moment with prayer and penitence and faith
in Christ, who came from heaven to earth
to take us from earth to heaven.
Last summer, a year ago, l preached one
Sabbath afternoon In Hyde Park, London, to
a great multitude that no man couldnumber.
But 1 heard nothing from 1t until a few
weeks ago, when Rev. Mr.. Cook, who for
twenty-five years has presided over that
Hyde Park outdoor meeting, told me that
last winter, going through a hospital in Lon
don, he saw a dying man whose face bright
ened as he told him that his heart was
changed that afternoon under my sermon in
HYDE Park, and all was bright now at his
departure from earth to heaven.
Why may not the Lord bless this as well as
that? Heaven as I dreamed about it, and as
] read about ii, is so benign a realm you can
not any OF you afford to miss it. oh, will it
not be tra~nscendently glorious after the strug-
gle of this life is over TO stand 1t in that eter-
nal safety? Samuel Rutherford, though they
yiciously burned his books and unjustly ar
rested him for treason, wrote of that celes-
tial spectacle:
The King there in His beauty,
Without q ven, is seem
1t were a well spent journey,
Though seven deaths lay between.
The Lamb with His fair army
Doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land,