Sistersville oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901, 1898-03-23
self or your fellowman than enjoy
mani ot everlasting rest.

4 luCAl vi QYClldoIiAS <ASols
Who can measure all the good
that thought has done? It has come
into the sorrowing heart, and it has
entered into places of persecution.
and it has lifted up the men of earth
and made them to see some of the
beauties of everlasting life, and made
them to feel that they have some
thing better to do than merely to
breathe the air about them.
And so the Lord has offered to
his people the consolation of rest
in the future, which remains to the
people of God.
Then, in the next place, there is
here the idea of time-a future en-
joyment of a rest for the people of
God. How long it shall be in the
future, no man knows for himself,
but every man knows that some
time, as Gods child, he shall be-
come the possessor of this rest. l
mean this: You do not know the
day of you death; l mean that it is
perhaps wisest thaty you do not, but
God has made it certain that every
man shall die. Oh! how frequently
we are brought to a realization of
this truth; and how, after we see
that in the home, in the church, in
the community and In the nation,
death comes; and generations pass
away, but the outlook for the peo-
pie of God is, that they shall enter
into rest when death comes-and
into a state OF rest that is unknown
on earth.
1t may be that the conception of
Heaven as place of rest is not sat
istactory to some, Yet it seems to
me to be satisfactory if we consider
just what that state of rest is.
1 do not think it is inactively. 1
do not think rest here is inactivity;
nor shall it be in the hereafter.
What causes us unrest? Well,
labor does, in the first place. Toll
is the curse of sin. and the disobe-
dance of Our first parents and labor
and toll of body and mind, is a
cause of unrest. There are other
things corrected with it; for exam
pie. sin causes unrest; for example,
sickness causes unrest; for exam
pie, Satan causes unrest; for ex-
ample, the followers of Satan cause
unrest. Now, put all these things
together, in life, and you have the
explanation of the unrest of men.
How is it when we come to heaven?
There is no labor such as we have
here. What need can there be in
heaven for the kinds of labor men
must engage in here? So we are
free from it and that source of I'M
rest is eliminated. There is no sin
to cause unrest-that source is elm
mated. There is no sorrow-that
cause of unrest is eliminated. And
so of every cause of unrest here.
Heaven is free from it.
And, if heaven is free from every
source of unrest here, why, then,
we can easily conceive of the per-
feet rest of heaven. And yet, 1 do
not think that we can fully realize
it, because in speaking of rest here,
we must use earthly language, but
when we get to heaven and use
heavenly language and understand
heavenly conditions we will find
that we have had but very faint
glimpse of the wondrous beauty of
our heavenly rest. The single
thought of the Christian is: Oh,
how blessed it will be to be free
from the things that cause us un-
rest to our souls and our lives.
And yet, I said, I do not think
Heaven is a place of inactivity; but,
l think the activity of Heaven will
be very different from the activity
Of earth, for the conditions of
Heaven will be different from the
conditions on earth.
Yes, we shall have our bodies af-
ter the resurrection, but il heaven
ly conditions; yes, we shall have
our minds, but in heavenly condi-
tons; yes, we shall have our souls,
but in heavenly conditions; and
these conditions will necessitate
different lines of activity.
l do not think it is true that those
who are at work here on earth,
shall be given the same line of work
hereafter. 1t would not do, and
there is no Bible for it. But, l do
think that Gods word teaches us
that there are three lines of activity,
so far as we know, in the heavenly