Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-06-08
som-,rom the ar .tics of trouble toward the

som-srom the ar .tics of trouble toward the
tropics of eternal Joy.
oh. what an ado about dyingi We get so
attached to the malarial marsh in which
we live that we are afraid to go up and
live on the hilltop. We are alarmed be-
cause vacation Is coming. Best programme
OF celestial minstrels and halleluiah, no in
ducement. Let us stay here and keep lg-
norant and sinful and weak. Do not IN
troduce US to Elijah, and John Milton and
Bourdalone. Keep our feet on the sharp
cobblestones of earth instead OF planting
them on the bank of amaranth in heaven
Give us this small Island of leprous world
instead of the immensities of spiendor and
delight Keep our hands full OF nettles.
and our shoulder under the burden, and
our neck In the yoke. and hoppieS on our
ankles, and handouts on our wrists.
"Dear Lord" we seen to say, keep us
down here where we have to suffer, instead
of letting us up where we might live ana
reign and rejoice"
We are like persons standing on the cold
steps of the national picture gallery IN
London under umbrella in the rain, afraid
to go in amid the Turner's and the Titians.
and the Raphaels. | come to them and
say, ''Why don't you go inside the gal
lery?" oh" they say, I'VE don't know
| whether we can get in." | say: Don't
| YOU see the door is open?" Yes, they
! say; but we have been so long on these
! cold steps, we are so attached to them we
! don't like to leave" "But," I say, lit is
much brighter and more beautiful in the
| gallery, you had better go in" NO"
| they say, I'VE know exactly how 1t Is out
| here, but we don't know exactly how it is
! inside
| So we stick to this world as though we
| preferred cold drizzle to warm habitation,
/ discord to cantata, sackcloth to royal pur-
! pleas though we preferred piano with
! four or five of the keys out of tune to an in
! strument fully attuned-aS though earth
! aud heaven had exchanged apparel, and
! earth had taken on bridal array and
heaven had gone into deep mourning, all
! its waters stagnant, all its harps broken,
| all chalices cracked at the dry wells, all
the lawns sloping to the river plowed with
graves with dead angels under the furrow.
! am amazed at myself and at yourself
! for this infatuatiOn under which We all
rest Men you would suppose would get
! frightened at having to stay in this world
instead of getting frightened at having to
! go toward heaven. This world is as bright
to me as to any living man, but l congrat-
ulate anybody who has right to die. BY
that I mean through sickness you cannot
avert, or through accident you cannot
/ avoid-your work cOnsummated. Where
did they bury Lily?" said one little child
to another. "Oh," she replied, they
buried her in the ground 'Whatl in the
| cold ground?" "Oh. no. no; not in the cold
ground, but in the warm ground. where
! ugly seeds become beautiful flowers"
But" says some one, lit pains me so
much to think that / must lose the body
with which my soul has so long compau-
ioned'' You do not lose 1t. You no more
lose your body by death than you lose your
watch when you send it to have it repaired,
or your jewel when you send it to have it
reset, or the faded picture when you send
it to have it touched up, orthe photograph
( of n friend when you have it put in a new
locket You do not lose your body. Paul
will go to Rome to get his, Payson will go
to Portland to get his, President Edwards
will go to Princeton to get his, George
Cookman will ge to the bottom of the At
lantic to get his and We will go to the viii
lage churchyards and the city cemeteries
to get ours; and when we have our perfect
spirit rel oined to our perfect body then we
will be the kind of men and women that
the resurrection morning will make pos
sible.
So you see you have not made out any
doleful story yet. What have you proved
about death? What is the case you have
made out? You have made out just this =
that death allows US to have perfect
body, free of all aches, united forever with
a perfect soul free from all sin. Correct
your theology. What does ii all mean?
Why, it means that moving-day is coming,
and that you are going TO quit cramped
apartments and be mansioned forever.
The horse that stands at the gate will not
be the one latherei and bespattered, car
rying bad news, but it will be the horse
that St.sJohn saw in ApOcalyptic vision
the white horse on which the King comes
to the banquet. The ground around the
palace will quake with the tires and hOofs
3 of celestial suuipage, and those Christians
who in this wrold lost their friends and
lost their property and lost their health,
and lost their life. will find out that God
was always kind, and that all things
worked together for their good, and that
those We're the wisest people on earth who
made the best of everything. See you not
now the bright light in the clOuISl