Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1899-03-09

| die or lie Is well put together-the
body, the mind. the soul. Who but
the Omnipotent God could bind such
a bundle? Anatomists, psychologists.
| physicists, logicians, metaphysicians.
declare that we are fearfully and won
derfully made. That we are a bundle
we'll put together / prove by the
amount OF journeying we can endure
without damage. by the amount OF
rough handling we can survive, by the
fact that the vast majority of us go
through life without the loss OF an eye,
or the crippling of limb, or the de-
struction OF a single energy OF the
body or faculty OF mind. l subpoena
for this trial that man in yonder view
seventy or eighty years OF age. and ask
him to testify that after all the storms
and accidents and vicissitudes of
long life he still keeps his five senses;
and though all the lighthouses as old
as he Is have been reconstructed or
new lanterns put in, he has In under
his forehead the same two lanterns
with which God started him; and
though the locomotives OF sixty years
ago were long ago sold for old iron.
he has the original powers OF locomo-
ton in the limbs with which God start
ed him; and though all the electric
wires that carried messages twenty
five years ago have been torn down,
his nerves bring messages from all
parts OF his body as we'll as when God
strung them seventy-five years ago.
Was there ever such a complete bun
die put together as the human being?
What factory! What an engine!
What mill-race! What light
house! What a locomotive! What an
electric battery What furnace,
What a masterpiece of the Lord God
Almighty! Or, to employ the anti
climax and use the figure Of the text
what bundlel
Know, also, that this bundle OF life
Will be gladly received when it comes
TO the door of the Mansion for which
1t was bound and plainly directed
With what alacrity and glee we await
some package that has been foretold
by letter; some holiday presentation;
something that will enrich and orna-
ment our home; some testimony Of adj
miration and affection! With what
glow OF expectation We unite the knot
and take off the cord that holds 1t to-
gether in safety, and with what glad
exclamation we unroll the covering,
and see the gift or purchase in all its
beauty of color and proportion. Well,
what a day it will be when your pre-
cious bundle of life shall be opened in
the House Of Many Mansions" amid
sanity and angelic and divine inspec-
ton! The bundle may be spotted
with the marks of much exposure; it
may bear inscription after inscription
to tell through what ordeal it has
passed; perhaps splashed of wave and
scorched of flame. but all 1t has with
in unchanged of the journey. And
with what shouts of JOY the bundle of
life will be greeted by all the voices of
the heavenly home circle!
In our anxiety at last to reach heav-
en- we are apt to lose sight of the glee
or welcome that awaits us II we get
in at all. We all have friends up there
They will somehow hear that we are
coming. Such close and swift and
constant communication Is there be-
tween those up-lands and these low
lands that we will not surprise them
by sudden arrival. If loved ones on
earth expect our coming visit and are
at the depot with carriage to meet us,
surely we will be met at the shining
gate by old friends now sainted and
kindred now glorified. II there were
no angel of God to meet us and show
us the palaces and guide us to our
everlasting residence these kindred
would show us the way and point out
the splendors and guide us to our
celestial home, powered, and foun-
tanned, and arched. and illumined by
a sun that never sets. Will II not be
glorious. the going in and the settling
down after all the moving about and
upsettings of earthly experience. We
will soon know all our neighbors,
kingly. queenly, prophetic. apostolic,
seraphic, archangelic The precious
bundle of life opened amid palaces,
and grand marches, and acclamations
They will all be so glad we have got
safely through. They saw us down
here in the struggle They saw us
when we lost our way. They knew
when we got off the right course.
None of the thirty-two ships that were
overdue at New York harbor in the
storm of week before last were greeted
so heartily by friends, on the dock or
the steam tugs that went out to meet
them at Sandy Hook. as we will be
greeted in the heavenly world, IL BIZ
the pardoning and protecting grace of
God we come to celestial wharfage
We shall have to tell them OF the
many wrecks that We have passed on
the way across wild seas, and amid
Caribbean cyclones. 1t will be like
our arrival some years ago from New
Zealand at Sydney, Australia; people
surprised that we got in at all. because
we were two days late. and some OF
the ships expected had gone to the
bottom and we had passed derelicts
and abandoned crafts all up and down
that awful channel,-our arrival in