Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-11-04

up, forever, forever.
Now, say these things about She
changes in heaven, about the new im-
proyements in heaven, for three stout
reasons First, because find that some
of you are impatient to be gone. You
are tired OF this world and you want to
get into that good land about which
you have been thinking, praying aud
talking so many years. Now be patient
/ could see why you would want to go
to an art gallery if some Of the best
pictures were to be taken away this
week or next week, but il some one tells
you that there are other beautiful pic
lures to ocome-other Kensetts, Raphaels
and Rubenses-Other masterpieces TO
be added to the gallery-you would
say: 81 can afford to wait. The place
is Improving all the time" Now,
want you TO apply the same principle
in this matter Of reaching heaven and
leaving this world. Not one glory is to
be subtracted, but many glories added.
Not one angel will be gone, not one
hierarch gone, not one Of your glorified
friends gone. BY the long practicing
the music wall be better, the procession
will be longer, the rainbow brighter,
the coronation grander. Heaven, with
magnificent addendal Why will you
complain when you are only waiting
for something better:
Always Bright.
Another reason why | speak in regard
to the changes in heaven and the new
improvements in heaven is because l
think it will be a consolation 10 busy
and enterprising good people. l see very
well that you have not much taste for
heaven that was all done and finished
centuries ago After you have been ac-
tive 10 or 80 or go years it would be
shock to stop you suddenly and forever,
/ but here is a progressive heaven, an
ever accumulative heaven, vast enter
( prise on foot there before the throne Of
! God. Aggressive knowledge, aggressive
/ goodness, aggressive power, aggressive
grandeur. You will not have to come
and sit down on the banks Of the river
/ Of life in everlasting inoccupation. Oh,
busy men, tell you Of heaven where
there is something to do That is the
meaning Of the passage, They rest not
day nor night" in the lazy sense Of rest
ing.
spea1 hese words on the changes in
! heaven and the new Improvements In
heaven also because want TO cure some
of YOU of the delusion that your depart
ed Christian friends have gone into
dulluess and silence and unconscious
ness. They are in stirring, pictur'
esaue. radiant. ever accumulative scene.
When they left their bodies they only
got rid of the last hindrance. They are
no more in Oakwood, Laurel Hill or
Mount Auburn than yen in holiday at
tire. having seated yourself at ban
quet. can be said to he in dark closet
where you have left the old apparel
that was not fit TO wear TO the banquet.
A soldier cannot use a sword until be
has unsheathed it, and the body OF your
departed was only the sheath OF bright
and glittering spirit which God has
lifted and is swaying in{he heavenly
triumph. According to what l am tell
ing you at present, your departed Chris
tian friends did not go so much into
the company Of the martyrs, and the
apostles, and the prophets, and the po-
tentates of heaven as into the company
of grandfather and grandmother. and
the infant sister that tarried just long
enough to absorb your tenderest anec-
ton. and all the home circle. When they
landed. il was not as you land in Ant
werp or Hamburg or Havre, wandering
up strange wharf. looking at strange
faces, asking for a strange hotel. They
landed amid your glorifed relatives,
who were waiting TO greet them.
No Frozen spIendor.
Oh, does not this bring heaven nearer'
Instead of being far off, it comes down
Just now, and it puts its arms arosnd
our necks and we feel its breath on our
faces. Ii melts the frigid splendor OF
the conventional heaven into domestic
scene. 1t comes very close TO us. IL we
had our choice in heaven, whom would
we first see: Rather than LOOK at the
great potentates Of heaven we would
meet our loved ones. | want 70 see
Moses and Paul and Joshua, but l
would great deal rather See my father,
who went away 80 years ago. wans
to see the great Bible heroines. Deborah
and Hannah and Abigail, but | would
rather see my mother than to see the
archangel.
| do not think il was superstitious
when, one Wednesday night, l stood ~
a deathbed within few blocks Of .he
church where l preached. and on the
same street, and saw one Of the aged
Christians of the church going into
glory. After / had prayed with her l
said 10 her: "We have all loved you
very much and will always cherish your
memory in the Christian church. You
will see my son before | see him, and
wish you would give him our love. y
She said. Il will, / wiz" aud in 20
minutes she was in heaven-the last
words she ever spoke. IL was a swift
message to the skies. II you had your
choice between riding il a heavenly
chariot and occupy ing the grandest pal
/ soc in heaven, and sitting ON the throne
, next highest TO the throne ef God AMI
| not seeing your departed loved ones, and
J on the other hand dwelling in h'
humblest place in heaven, withou
+ crown OF throne. and without garland
r and without scepter, yet having you
+ loved ones around you, you woul'
! choose the latter. | say these things be
= cause / want you to know it is do
| mestic heaven, and consequently it
all the time improving. Every one tha
goes up makes it brighter place, an
the attractions are increasing month b
month aud day by day, and heaven, $
( vastly more Of a heaven. a thousan
n times more OF a heaven. than it used
n be, will be better heaven yet. oh,
: say this 70 intensity ycur anticipation
{ The Jubilee.
y enter heaven one day. II is slmo
4 empty. enter the temples VI WORSHIP
~