Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-12-04

OrpnduS court CQaC Wnen the IeSCaCOrS
made their last will and testament
they were crazy. The Geographic wires
In the air and the cables under the sea
thrill with Christian invitation. Pho
nographs charged with gospel SER
mons stand in every neighborhood.
The 5,OOO,OOO,OOO Of the worlds inhab-
ftants in that century are 5,O00,000,000
disciples.
"But,'' say to our escort, the spirit
of the twenty-first century, "you have
shown us much. But what about in
ternational conditions? When we lived
on earth, 1t was a century that bled
with Marengo and Chalons and Lodi
Bridge and Lucknow and Solferino
and Leipsic and Waterloo and San
Juan" Our escort replies, "Come with
me to this building of white marble
and glittering dome" AS we pass up
and on we are taken into a room where
the mightiest and best representatives
Of all nations are assembled to settle
international controversies. AS we en-
ter 1 hear the presiding officer opening
the council of arbitration, reading the
second chapter Of Isaiah: 'They shall
beat their swords into plowshares and
their spears into pruning hooks; ma
ton shall not lift up sword against ma
ton, neither shall they learn war any
more" Questions which in our long
past nineteenth century caused quar-
rel and bloodshed, as when Germany
and France were deciding about Alsace
and Lorraine, as when the United
States and Spain were deciding about
Cuba-such questions in this twenty
first century settled in five minutes,
one drop of ink doing more than once
could have been accomplished by
river Of blood.
But we cannot stay long in this hall
of arbitration, for it is almost time for
us to retrace our way heavenward.
This voluntary exile must soon end.
But" | say to our escort, the spirit
of the twenty-frst century, and you
and l say to each other, I'VE must go
home now, back again to heaven. We
have staid long enough on this terres-
trial visitation to see that all the best
things fOretold in the Scriptures and
which we read during our earthly resi-
dence have come to pass, and all the
Davidic, SolOmOnic and Paulinian and
Johannean prOphesfes have been full
filed, and that the earth, instead of
being a CHASTITY failure, is the might
est success in the universe. A star re-
deemed! A planet rescued! A world
saved! 1t started with a garden, and
it is going to close with a garden.
What a happiness that we could have
seen this old world after it was righted
and before it burned, for it's internal
fires have nearly burned out to the
crust, according to the geologist, max
ing it easy for the theologian to believe
in the conf1agration that the Bible pre-
diets
The Universal Song.
And now you and I have left our es-
cort as we ascend, for the law of gray
itatiOn has no power to detain ascend
ing spirits. Up through immensities
and by stellar and lunar and solar
splendors which cannot be described
by mortal tongue we rise higher and
higher, till we reach the shining gate
as it opens for our return, and the
questions greet us from all sides:
what is the news? What did you
find in that earthly tower? What have
you to report in this city of the sum-
And, standing on the steps of the house
of many mansions, we cry aloud the
news: Hear it, all We glorified Chris
tian workers of all the past centuries!
We found your work was successful
whether on earth you toiled with knit
ting needle, or rung a trOwel on a ris-
ing wall, or smote a shoe last, or en-
dOwed a university, or swayed scep-
ter; whether on earth you gave a cup
of cold water in the name of a disciple
or at some PeRtecOSt preached 5000
souls into the kingdom. In that world
we have just visited the deserts are all
abloom and the wiIdernesses are bright
with fountains. Sin is eXtirpated.
Crime is reformed. Disease is cured.
The race is emancipated. The earth
is full of the knowledge of God, as the
waters cover the sea- The redeemed
Of the Lord have come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their
heads The Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth, and the kingdoms of the
world have become the kingdoms of
our Lord Jesus Christ Let the harp
ers of heaven strike the glad tidings
from the strings of their harps, and the
put them in the mouth of |
their trumpets, and the orchestras roll |
them into the grand march of the eter
mites, and all the cathedral towers of |
the great capital of the universe chime |
them all over heaven"
And now 1 look up and see the cast |
ing down of the bejeweled and radiant |
crowns at the sacred feet of the en-
throned Jesus. Missionary Carey is |
casting down before those feet the |
crown Of India saved. Missionary Jud-
son is casting down the crown of Bur
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