Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-02-16

| Ibis Is O0dTiPS wesley. WIZ DbiOHHOu vi
earth to different church from mine, but
we are all now members of the same church.
the temple OF God AMI the Lamb" And
told Charles Wesley that almost every Sab
bath we sang one OF his old hymns. "Arm OF
the Lord, Awake" or. "Come, Lei Us Join
Our Friends Above y or. Glove Divine, All
Love Excellng.' And while we were talk
ing on that street called Song row, Kirk
White, the consumptive college student. now
everlastingly well, came up, and we talked
over his old Christmas hymn, "When Mar
shaled on the Nightly Plain. And William
Cowper came up, now entirely recovered
from his religious melancholy and not look
ing as il he had ever in dementia ATTEMPTED
suicide. and we talked cvef the wide earthly
celebrity and heavenly power of his old
hymns. "When I Can Read My Title Clear"
and "There Is Fountain Filled With
Blood"
And there we met George W. Bethune OF
wondrous Brooklyn pastorate, and told him
OF how his comforting hymn had been sung
at OhseQuies all around the worl1-"It Is
Not Death to Die" Aud Toplady came up
and asked about whether the church was
still making use OF his old hymn, crock Of
Ages, Cleft For Me-" And we also met on
Song row Newton and HASTINGS AMI Mont
gomery and Horatio Bonar. and we heard
floating from window to window snatchos Of
the old hymns whicht they started on earth
and started never to die.
"But, say some o. my hearers, "did you
see anything OF our frien Is in heaven?" Oh,
yes, l did. "Did YOU sec my. children there?'
says some one, "and are there any marks OF
their last sickness still upon them" Ibid
seethem, but there WAS no pallor, no cough,
no fever, no languor, about them. They are
| all well and ruddyanl songful and bound
ing with eternal mirtb. They told me to give
their love to you that they thought Of you
hour by hour, and that when they could be
excused from the heavenly Fairgrounds they
came down, AMI hovere1 over you, an1
kissed your cheek, and filed your dream
with their glad faces and that they would be
at the gate to greet you when you ascen1e1
| 10 b5 with them forever
"But," say other voices, "did you see our
glorihed friends?' Yes. [ saw them. and
they are we'll in the land across which no
! pneumonias or palsies or dropsies of typhoids
ever sweep. The aroma blows over from or.
cnarls With trees bearing twelve manner OF
fruits, and gardens compared with which
Chatsworth is desert. The climate is
minglng of an earthly June and October
the balm of the one and the tonic of tho
other. The social life in that realm wher0
they are is superb AMI perfect. No contro-
versies or jealOusies or hates, but love- uni
versal love- everlasting love. And they told
meto tell you not to weep for them. fortheir
| happiness knows no bound, and it is only
! question 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
lin obi l. rat1 hnx fhnxy lOaf
their childish vivacity2 Do my departed
parents remain aged, or have they lost the
venerable out Of their nature?' Well, from
what | saw think childhood has advanced
to full maturity OF faculty, retaining all tho
residence OF childhood, and that the aged
had retreated to midlfe, freed from all de-
cadence, but still retaining the charm Of the
venerable. In other words it was fully de-
veloped and complete life of all souls,
whether young or old.
Some one says, "Wil you tell US what most
impressed you in heaven?" ] will. I was
most impresse with the reversal Of earthly
con iitions. l knew. Of course, that theirs
would be differences of attire anl residence
in heaven, Tor Paul had declared long ago
that souls would then differ CAS- one star diff
fered from another as Mars from Mercury,
RS Saturn tromJup;ter. But at every stop in
my dream in heaven l was amazed to seq
tHot SOihO WIZ WSEO tNpSCtOu 10 DD uiSu Ill
heaven were low down, and SOME who wers
expected to be low down were high up. You
thought, for instance, that those born of
plous parentage, and OF naturally good dis
POSITION, and of brilliant faculties, and of all
styles OF attractiveness will move in the high
est range of celestial sTlenlor AMI pomp.
No, no. found the highest thrones the
brightest coronets, the richest mansions,
were occupied by those who had repro
bate father or ba mother and who
inherited the twisted natures of
ten generations of miiscreants, and who
had compressed in their body all the de-
PRAYED appetites and all evil propensitlea,
but they laid hold of Coils arm, they cried |
for especial mercy, they conquered seven |
devils within and seventy devils without an |
were washed in the blood of the Lamb, AMI |
by so much as their contest was terrific and !
awful and prolix their victory Was consum-
mate and respondent, and they have taken |
PLACES UNNECESSARILY higher than those of |
good parentage, who could hardly help be-
Ing good. because they had ten generations |
of preceding piety to aid them. The steps by
which many have mounted to the highest
places in heaven were made out of the era
dies OF corrupt parentages When | saw that,
L said TO my attending angel: "Tnat is fair;
that is right. The harder the struggle ths
more glorious the reward"
Then | pointed to one OF the most colon
nade1 AMI grdndy donei residences in all
the city and said "Wno lives there?' AMI
the answer was, "The widow who gave two
mites" "And VINO lives there?" and the
answer was. "The penitent thief TO whom
Christ said, This day shalt thou be with No
in paradise. "Anl who lives there2' [
said. and the answer was. "The bird beggar
who prayed, Lord that my eyes may be
opened"
Some Of those professors OF religion who
were famous on earth asked about, but no
one could tell me anything concerning them.
Their names were not even in the city dirac-
tory ofthe 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 Kings park, and q back lawn sloping 70
the river clear as crystal, and the highest no.
bility OF heaven were guests at their table,
and often the white horse OF Him who "hath
the moon under His feet champed it's bit at
their doorway. Infinite capsize OF earthly
conditions AlEsocial life in heaven graded
according to earthly struggle AMI usefulness
as proportional TO talents given
As [ walked through those streets | APP
preciated for the first time what Paul said to
Timothy, ''If we suffer, we shall also reign
With Him" 1t surprised me beyond descrp
ion that all the great of heaven wsre great
"Not all?' Yes, ALL Moses, him
Of the Red Sea, great sufferer David. him
Of Absalom's sunflial behavior, and Ahitho-
0hels betrayal. and a Nations dethronement,
great sufferer Ezekiel, him of the captiv-
ty, who had the dream on the banks OF the
Jhebar, great sufferer. Paul, him OF tho