The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-01-29

/ body should perish and lie there for
ever, and there should be no resurree-
ton, still the soul has enough features
and the disposition has enough features
to make us distinguishable. l can I'M
derstand how in sickness a man will
become so delirious that he will not
know his own friends: but will we be
blasted with such inSufferable idiocy
that, standing beside our best friends
for all eternity, we will never guess
who they are?
There is mother before the throne
of God. You say her Joy is full. Is it?
| You say there can be no augmentation
of it. Cannot there be? Her son was
wanderer and a vagabond on the
earth when that good mother died.
/ He broke her old heart. She died leav-
/ ing him in the wilderness of sin. She
is before the throne of God now.
Years pass. and that son repentS of his
crimes and gives his heart to God and
| becomes a useful Christian. and dies
and enters the gates of Heaven. You
4 tell me that that mothers Joy cannot
/ be augmented. Let them confront
each other, the son and the mother.
oh" she says to the angels of God,
''reioice with me. The dead is alive
again. and the lost is found. Hallelu-
! jah. | never expected to see this lost
one come back" The Bible says ma
tions are to be born in a day. When
| China comes to God will il not know
DIR. Abeel? When India comes, will it
not know DIR. John Scudder? When
the Indians come to God will they not
know David Brainerd?
l see a soul entering Heaven at last,
with covered face at the idea that it
has done so little for Christ, and feel
ing borne down with unwOrthiness. and
it says to itself, Il have no right to be
here" A voice from a throne says,
"Oh. you forget that Sunday school
class YOU invited to Christ. l was one
of them" And another voice says,
You forget that poor old man to whom
you gave a loaf of bread. and told OF
the heavenly bread. | was that man.
Another one says. You forget that
sick one to whom you gave medicine
for the body and the soul. l was that
one. And then Christ. from a throne
overlapping all the rest. will say, In
asmuch as We did it to one of the least
of these, We did it to Me-" And
then the seraphs will take their harps
from the side of the throne, and cry,
What song shall it be?" And Christ,
bending over the harpers, shall say,
1T shall be the Harvest HOmer"
One more reason why / am disposed
to accept this doctrine of future rec
ognitiOn is that so many in their last
hour on earth have confirmed tins
theory. l speak not of persons who,
have been deliriOus in their last
moment and knew not what they were
about. but of persons who died in calm
ness and placidity. and who were not
naturally suPerstitiOus. Often the
glories of Heaven have struck the dy-
ing pillow, and the departing man has
said he saw and heard those who had
gone away from him. How often it is
in the dying moments parents see their
departed children and children see
their departed parents. / came down
to the banks of the Mohawk river. It
was evening. and | wanted to go over
the river, and so | waved my hat and
shouted. and after awhile l saw some
one waving on the opposite bank, and
heard him shout. and the boat came
across. and | got in and was trans
ported. And so | suppose it will be
in the evening of our life. We will
come down to the river of death and
give a signal to our friends on the other
shore, and they will give a signal back
to us, and the boat comes, and our de-
parted kindred are the oarsmen, the
fires of the setting day tingeing the
tops of the paddles.
Heaven is not a stately, formal place,
as l sometimes hear it described, a very
frigidity of splendor. where people
stand on cold formalities and go around
about with heavy crowns of gold on
their heads. No. that is not my idea
of Heaven. My idea of Heaven is more
like this: You are seated in the even
ing-tide by the fireplace; your whole
family there, or nearly all of them
there. While you are seated talking
and enjoying the evening hour there is
knock at the door and the door opens
and there comes in brother that has.
been long absent. He has been absent,
for years you have not seen him, and
no sooner do you make up your mind
that it is certainly he than you leap.
up. and the question is who shall give
him the first embrace. That is my idea
of Heaven-a great home circle where
they are waiting for us o, will you
not know your mothers voice there?
She who always called you by your first
name long after others had given you
the formal Mister" You were never
ANYTHING but James. or John or George
or Thomas. or Mary, or Florence to her.
VIII you not know your child's voice?
She of the bright eye and the ruddy
cheek. and the quiet step. who came IN
from play and flung herself into your
lap. very shower of mirth and beauty?
Why. the picture is craven in your soul
1t cannot wear out. If that little one
should stand on the other side OF some
Heavenly hill and call 70 you. you
would hear her voice above the burst
of Heavens great orchestra. Know it,
You could not help but know il.