Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-12-18

Again, remark that those OF our de-
parted Christian friends who In this world
had very strong military spirit are now ID
armies celestial and out in bloodlesS Dattie.
There are hundreds OF people born sol1lers:
They cannot help 1t. They belong to reSi-
ments In time OF peace. They cannot near
a drum OF fife without trying to keep step 70
the music. They are Christians, and when
thew fight they fight on the right SIDE Now,
when these our Christian friends who nad
natural and powerful military split entered
heaven they entered the celestial army. The
door OF heaven scarcely opens but you hear
a military demonstration. David cried out,
"Tha chariots OF Col are 20,000!' Elisha
saw the mountains filed with celestial cav
airy. st. John said, "The armies which are
in heaven followed Him on white horses. I
Now, when those who had the military spirit
on earth sanctiiei entered glory, suppose
they right away enlisted on some heavenly
campaign; they volunteered right away.
There must needs BIZ in heaven soldiers with
a soldierly spirit There are grand parade
days. when the King reviews the troops There
must be an armed escort sent out to bring up
from earth to heaven those who were more
than conauerors. There must be crusades
ever being fitted out for some part or Gods
domlnion--baitIes. bloodless, groanless.
naipless-angels OF evil to be fought down
be conquered, worlds to be put to the torch,
worlds to be saved, worlds to be demolished,
worlds TO be sunk, worlds to bs hoisted. Be-
sides that. in our own world there are bait
tIas for tho right and against the wrong
where we must have the heavenly military
| THAT Is what keeps US Christian reformers &C
buoyant, SO few cool men against so many
| bad mon; so few churches against 80 many
grogshops; 50 many pure printing presses,
against so many polluted printing PRESSES,
| and vet wa are buoyant and courageous,
because. while we know that the armies OF
evil in the world are larger In numbers
than the army OF truth. there are celestial CO.,
horts in the air fighting on our side. naVa
| MT 40 much faith In the army on the ground
| a., havs in the army In the air. COG,
| open our eyes that VIC may see them--tne
| military spirits that went up from eartn'to
| ioin the military spirits before the throne
| Joshua and Caleb and Gideon ana DaVio anu
| Samson and the hundreds OF Christian war
riors Who on earth fought with 1eshy arm,
and now, having gone up on high, ARE com.
| ing down the hills OF heaven ready to light
among the invlsiblcs.
But what are our mathematical friends to
| do in the next world? They found their Joy
and delight in mathematics. There was
more poetry to them In Euclid than in John
Milton. They were passlona.ely fond OF
mathematics rs Plato, wno wrote over MS
door, "Let no one enter here who is not ac-
qualntei with geometry" what are they
! doing now? They are busy with hgures YET.
No place in all the universe like heaven for
ngures. Numbers infil lite. distances infinite,
calculations infinite. If they want them.
arithmstics and algebras aud geometr'es and
trigonometries for all eternity. What fields
OF space to be surveyed! What magnitudes
TO measure! What diameter5, what clrcum.
ferencss, what trlangles, what quaternsons.
what epicycloids, what paralle!ogrlms, what
comic sections!
What are our departed Christian friends
who are explorers doing now2 Exploring
ye., but with lightning locomotion, with
vision microscopic and telescope at the same
time. A continent at glance, world In a
secon |, n planetary system in day. Cnrls-
tian John Franklin, no more in disabled
Erebus pushing toward the North Pole;
Christian De Long, no mora trying 10 free
blockaded Jeanette from the Ice; Christian
Livingstone, no more amid African matarias'
irving to make revelation OF dark con-
tinent. but all of them in the twinkling OF an
eve taking in that which was once unap-
1,roachable. Mont Blanc scaled without
alpenstock, the coral depths OF the ocean ex-
plorei without q diving bell, the mountains
unbarred and opened without Sir Humphrey
Davy's safety lamp.
What are our departed friends who found
their chief Joy in study doing nowP Study
ing yet, but, instead OF few Thousand vol
unes on o. few shelves, all the volumes OF the
universe open before them-geoogic, ornt-,
tho,oglc. conchologic. botanic. astronomic,
pnilosopblc. No more need OF Leyden jars
or yoltaic piles or electric batterieS, standing
as they do face to face with the facts OF the
universe.
What are the historians doing now?
Studying history yet, but not the history OF
few centuries OF our planet only, but the
history OF the eternlttes--whols millen-
NUNS. before Xenophen or Herodotu5 or
moses or Adam was born. History Of one
world. history of all worlds. What are our
departel astronomers doing2 Studying
astronomy vet, but not through the dull
lens of earthly observatory, but with one
stroke OF wing going right out to Jupi-
ter and Mars and Mercury and Saturn
and Orion and the Peiades, overtaxing
and passing the swlftest comet In their
flight. Herschel died Christian. have
you any doubt about what Her5chel IS doingE
Isaac Newton died a Christian. Have you,
any doubt about what Isaac Newton is dolngf
Joseph Henry died q Christian. Have you
any doubt about what Joseph Henry Is do
in92 They were In discussion, all these az
tronomers of earth, about what the aurora
boreals was, and none OF them could guess.
They know now; they have boon out there
to see for themselves.
What are our departed Christian chemists
do;ng2 Following out their own science, fol-
lowing out AMI following out forever. Since
they died they have solved 10000 questions
which puzzled the earthly laboratory. They
stand on the other side Of the thin wall OF
electricity-the thin wall that seems to d.
vide the physical from the spiritual world;
the thin wall of electricity, so thin the wall
that ever and anon 1t seems to be almost
broken through--broken through flom one
side by telephone and telegraphic ap-
paratus, brokon through from the otner
side by strange influences which
men in their ignorance call spirit
ushstic manifestations. AL that matter
cleared up. They laughing at US as older
brothers will laugh at inexperienced broth
| ers. as they see us with contracted brows eX-
perimenting aud experimenting, only wish,
| ing they could show us the way to open all
| the mysteries. Agassiz standing amid his
| student explorers down in Brazil, coming
across some great novelty In the rocks, tax
ing of his hat and saying: "Gentlemen, let
ma pray. We must have divine illumination.
| We want wisdom from the Creator to study
| these rocks. He made them. Let us pray.
| Agassiz going right on with his studies Tor
ever and forever.
But what are the men of the law, who in
| this world found their chief Joy IN the legal
profession what are they doing nowi study
| Inc law in universe where everything IS
controlled by law from the flight Oh hum
| ming birds to flight OF world-'aw not dry
and hard and drudging, but righteous and
magnificent law. before which man ana