The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-12-17

there and heard the song and looked al !,
their raptured faces and mingled it,
the supernal society, we would cry out:
"Let us stay! We are coming here any
how. Why take the trouble of going |
back again to that old world? We are
here now. Let us stay!" And it would
take angelic violence to put us out of
that world If once we got there. but as
people who cannot afford to pay for an
entertainment sometimes come around
il and look through the door ajar, or
through the openings in the fence, SO
we come and look through the crevices
into that good land which God has pro-
vided for us. We can just catch a
glimpse OF it. We come near enough 10
hear the rumbling of the eternal or.
chestra, though not near enough to
know who blows the cornet or who fin.
gers the harp. My soul spreads out
both wings and claps them in triumph
at the thought of those upper springs.
One of them breaks from beneath the
throne Another breaks forth from be-
meath the altar of the temple. Another
at the door of ''the house of many man
sions." Upper springs of gladness! Up
per springs of light! Upper springs OF
love! 1t is no fancy of mine. "Ths
Lamb which is in the midst Of the
throne shall lead them to living foun-
tains o. water"
o Saviour Divine, roll in upon our
souls one of those anticipated raptures!
Pour around the roots of the parched
tongue one drop of that liquid life!
Toss before our vision those fountains
of God. rainbowed with eternal victory!
Hear it! They are never sick there;
not so much as headache or twinge
rheumatic or thrust neuralgia. The In.
habitant never says: II am sick" They
are never tired there. Flight to farthest
world is only the play Of holiday.
They never sin there. 1t is as easy for
them to be holy as it is for us to sin.
They never die there. You might 60
through all the outskirts of the great
city and find not one place where the
ground was broken for a grave. The
eyesight of the redeemed is never
blurred with tears. There is health in
every cheek. There is spring in every
foot. There is majesty on every brow.
There is joy in every heart. There is
hosanna on every lip. How they must
pity us as they look over and look
down and see us and say: Poor things
away down in that world" And when
some Christian is hurled into a fatal
accident they cry: Good! He is com.
ing!" And when we stand around the
couch of some loved one whose strength
is going away and we shake our heads
forebodingly they cry: "I'm glad he
is worse. He has been down there long
enough. There, he is dead! Come
home! Come home!" Oh, if we could
only get our ideas about that future
world UNFINISHED, our thought of trans"
fer from here to there would be as
pleasant to us as it was to little child
that was dying. She said: "Papa
when will l go home?" And he said,
"To-doy Florence" To-day? So soony
I am so glad!"
wish l could stimulate you with
these thoughts, 0 Christian man. to The
highest possible exhilaration! The day
Of your deliverance is coming-is com.
ing, rolling on with the shining wheels
of the day. and the jet wheels of the
night. Every thump Of the heart is
only a hammer stroke striking off an
other chain of clay. Better scour the
deck and coil the rope, for harbor is
only sin miles away. Jesus will come
down the Narrows to meet you. snow
is your salvation nearer than when you
believed"
Man of the world, will you not ~
day make choice between these two
| portions, between the ''south land" OF
this world, which slopes to the desert,
and this glorious land which thy Fa-
Their offers thee, running with eternal
water courses? Why let your tongue
be consumed Of thirst when there are
the neither springs and the upper
| springs-comfort here and glory here
| after?
You and l need something better
than this world can give us. The TACT
is that it cannot give us anything after
awhile. 1t is a changing world. DO
you knew that even the mountains on
| the back of thousand streams are
leaping into the valley? The Allie.
ghenies are dying. The dews with
crystalline mallet are hammering away
the rocks. Frosts and showers and
lightnings are sculpturing Mount
Washington and the Catskills. Niagara
every year is digging for itself a
quicker plunge. The sea all around the
earth on its shifting shores is making
mighty changes in bar and bay and
firth and promontory. Some of the old
seacoasts are midland now. Off NAH.
tucket, eight feet below low-water
mark, are found now the stumps OF
trees, showing that the waves are COR
quering the land. Parts of Nova Scotia
are sinking. Ships to-day sail over
what. only little while ago, was solid
ground Near the mouth OF the St
Croix river is an island which. in the
movements of the earth, is slowly but
certainly rotating All the face of the
earth is changing-changing. In 1881
an island Springs up in the Mediter
ranean sea. In 1866 another island
comes up under the observation Of the
American consul as he looks off from
the beach. The earth all the tim.
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