The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-02-16

lives here?r and the answer was, ssThe
widow who gave two mites And
who lives there?- and the answer was.
'The pcnitcnt thief to whom Christ
said: This day shalt thou be with me
i'm Paradise" "And who lives there?''
said, and the answer was, ''Thd
blind bcggar who prayed. Lord, that
my eyes may be opened
Some of those professors of religion
who were famous on earth l asked
about, but no one could tell anything
concerning them. Their names were
not even in the city directory of the
New Jerusalem. The fact is that
suspected some of them had not
got there at all. Many who had
ten talents were living on the
back streets of Heaven, while many
with one talent had residences fronting
on the King park, and back lawn
sloping TO the river clear as crystal,
and the highest nobility of Heaven
were guests at their table, and often
the white horse of Him who hath the
moon under His feet!'' champed its bit
at their doorway. Infinite eapslze of
earthly conditions! All social life in
Heaven graded according to earthly
struggle and usefulness as proper toned
to talents given!
My walk through the city explained
thousand things on earth that had
been to me inexplicabIe When / saw
up there the superior 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. / said; God has
equalized il all at last; excess of en-
chantment in Heaven has more than
made mp for the deficits on earth"
Then / passed on amid chariots of
salvation. and along by conquerors'
thrones, and amid pillared majesties.
and by windows of agate, and under
arches that had been hoisted for re-
turned victors. And as I came toward
the walls with gates, the walls flashed
upon me with emefalds, and sapphires
and chrvsoprases and amethysts, UNI
til / trem6led under the glory,
and then / heard bolt shove, and
a latch lift, and a gate swing, and
they were all of pearl, and / passed
out loaded with raptures, and down by
worlds lower and lower, and lower
still, until came within sight of the
city of my earthly residence. and un-
til through the window of my earthly
home the sun poured so strong upon
my pillow that my eyelids felt it, and
in beyilderme mt as to wheresI was and
whatI had seen. awolSe., A
Reflection the first: The superiority
of our Heaven to ali other heavens.
4
parted are in everlasting battle, ex-
cept as restored after being cut to
pieces, they drank wine out of the
skulls of their enemies. The NIoslem
Heaven as described by the Koran:
There shall be houris with large
black eyes like pearls hidden in their
shells" The Slav's Heaven: After
death the soul hovers six weeks about
the body, and then climbs a steep
mountain. on the top of which is Para
disc. The Tasmanian's Heaven: A
spear is placed by the dead, that they
may have something to fight with, and
after awhile they go into long chase
for game of all sorts. The Tahitian's
Heaven: The departed are eaten up
of the gods. The native Afri-
can Heaven: Al land of shadows,
and in speaking of the departed
they say, all is done forever.
The American aborigine's Heaven:
Happy hunting grounds, to which the
soul goes on bridge of snakes. The
philosophers Heaven, made of a
thick fog or an infinite don't know.
But harken! and behold our Heaven,
which though mostly described by
figures of speech in the Bible and
by parable of dream i'm this
discourse, has for its chief charac-
teristics separation from all that is
vile; absence from all that can .discom-
fort; presence of all that can graduate.
No mountains to climb, no chaSms to
bridge, no night to iilumine, no tears
TO wipe. Scandinavian Heaven, Slav's
Heaven, TaSmanian Heaven, Tahi-
tian Heaven. African Heaven, aborig-
ines Heaven scattered into tameness
and disgust by glimpse of st. Johns
Heaven, of PauFs Heaven, of Christ's
Heaven, of your Heaven, of my Heaven!
Reflection the second: You had bet
ter take patiently and cheerfully all
pangs, affronts, hardships, prosecutions
and trials of earth since if rightly
borne they insure heavenly payments
of ecstasy. Every twinge of phys
ical distress, every lie told about
you, every earthly subtraction, if
meelxlv borne. viii be heavenly
addition. If YOU want to amount to
ANYTHING in Heaven and to move in its
best society you must be perfected
through suffering" 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 car
avansary, and of Pilates Oyer and
Terminer, and of the Calvarean assast
sination.
What He endured. oh. who can tell?
To save our souls from death and hell
Oh. We of the broken heart, and the
disappointed ambition, and the shat
tered fortune, and the blighted life, /
take comfort from what l saw in my
Sabbath morning dream.
Reflection the third and last: How
desirable that we all get there! Start
this moment with prayer and penitence
and faith in Christ, who came from
Heaven to earth TO take MS from earth
TO Heaven. Last summer. year ago,
preached one Sabbath afternoon in
Hyde Park, London, to a great
multitude that no man could
number. But heard nothing
from il until few wcegs ago, when
Rev. Mr.. Cook, who for twenty-five
years has presided over that Hyde