The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-13
A VISION OF ETERNAL LIFE.
Rev. Charles II. strong's Sermon on
Heaven.

Heaven.
Heaven; or the Vision of Eternal Life
was the subject of Rev. Charles Strong 5
discourse at St. Johns Church last night.
being the third of the series upon The
Four Last Things"
The sermon of the previous Sunday night
was upon the Judgment, in which MIR.
Strong made q strong presentation of the
idea of a present and daily judgment Of
the deeds and thoughts of men, as COM
pared with the older idea of a distant and
final day of reckoning aud contrasted the
effects of the two ideas upon the lives OF
men.
The sermon last night was direct con-
tinuance Of the same line OF thought as
applied to eternal life, the meaning of
which, as expressed in the scripture prom
ises, had not been rightly interpreted. Mr..
Strong contended He held that the begin
ming of eternal life is here on earth, that
1t is so taught by Christ and the sacred
writer's and was intended to be SO under
stood. The effect of this view as applied
to the lives of men, he held, would be
vastly instrumental for good and would
bring about a proper understanding and
| realization of the promises held out by
Christ.
Mr. Strong began his discourse by draw
ing attention to the fact that, as with the
day Of judgment mems ideas with regard
to heaven and eternal life have become
dim and indefinite, and that with the con-
fusions on the various questions with re-
gard to the future life, the scriptural
teachings on the subject had TO a large
extent, lost the hold which they formerly
had upon the professed followers of Christ
and were consequently of fess effect. The
question, Mr.. Strong said, was how TO
abolish these mistaken ideas which make
the eternal life seem unreal and 10 make 1t
real. The first idea to be considered in
this direction, he said, is that the Lord
Jesus Christ makes of eternal life a pres
ent and not a future life. It's beginning is
in the present life and not in some distant
future period. Christ said of himself that
| he was the way, the truth and the life.
| His purpose was to make this life which
| he represented known 10 men and to
| thereby give them higher and nobler ideals
of living.
| Mr. Strong discussed the knowledge of
| this eternal life a 8 revealed by Christ, who
is one with God and who came to earth
| that He might make this life known and
| said that to know God is life eternal. To
| know God means TO know him not only
in his heavenly grandeur, but to know
| him in all the splendor of his creation. To
| know Christ is to know him in all the
meekness and lowllness, in all his majesty
of person and in all the royalty Of his mis-
| sion, in all the sublimity of his sympathy
| with humanity, and in all the intnitude
| of His love. Possessing this knowledge OF
| Christ and the eternal life which He gives
| we will be able to resist the temptations
| hfna I,aTtsa
to live honestly and uprightly and to per-
| form good and noble deeds. Truth, purity,
| honesty, justice and equity are always
eternal things. Instead of weary waiting
and vain conjecture as to the future life.
we are enabled to taste of the blessings
| of eternal life to-day.
! Instead of future expectations we have
the blessedness which comes to the pure
In heart. This is it's beginning. Its full
| fillment Is beyond the grave. How can
! we conceive of this life? BY means OF
the great fact that goodness in this world
is In its nature the same goodness every
where. The goodness of the life here be.
| dow is the same goodness which reigns by
the throne of God. The goodness of Goo
is different only in its perfection, but II
| Is the same in quality"
The two great things of this eternal life
Mr.. Strong said, are It's peace and prog.
ress. "St John tells u.s." ne said, ''oi
| tne absence OF all the causes IN the future
| life which give us pain here below. There
are no sorrows there. At last Gods
hands shall wipe all tears away st. Pau
| tells of the progress of this eternal life
when we shall no more be as children. bus
shall know as we are known. Peace and
progress are the characteristics of thi:
| eternal life"
Mr. Strong compared this view of the
life in Christ with other systems of re-
ligion and thought to show their inferior.
ity to the Christian vision of eternal life