The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-05-24

SOmb, w OftDY is the Lamp tNdL
siain!' till all ordinations of endearI
and homage in the vocabulary of he'd II
are exhausted and there comes up sls n
| after surge Of ''Ameu Amenl and AND
eve bath not seen it; ear hath not he
| IT, Skim from the summer waters 4
| brightest sparkles, and yoa will get
| idea of the shaen of the everlasting sci
| Pile up the splendors of earthly cities, AM
| they would not make a stepping stone 81 Z
which you might mount to the city OF God
Every house Is palace; every house is
! triumph; every covering of the head
| coronation; every meal is a banquet; every
| stroke from the tower is a wedding bell
every day is jubilee, every hour a rap8s
| ture and every moment an ecstasy. "Eye4
hath not seen it; ear hath not heard it,"
remark further we can get no idea Of
! the reunions of heaven. If you have eva 4
| been across the seas and met friend. N
even an acquaintance, in some stran@
| land, you remember how your bloc
| thrilled and how glad you were to see hin4&7
What will be our joy, after we have passe1~
! the seas of DEATH to meet in the brightly
city of the Lord those from whom we haveE
| long been separated. After we have been
| away from our friends ten or fifteen years
and we come upon them we see how diff
| ferentiy they look. Their hair has turned,
and wrinkles have come in their faces,
and we say, ''How you have changedl"l
| But, oh, when we stand before the throne,
i
sorrow disappeared, and, feeling the Joy
OF that blessed land, methinks we will say
| to each other, with an exultation we can
not now imagine, How you have
changed"
little child's mother had died, and
they comforted her. They said: Your
mother has gone to heaven Don't cry."
And the next day they went to the grave
yard, and they laid the body of the mother
down into the ground, and the little girl
came up to the verge of the grave and,
looking down, said: els this heaven?" We
have no idea what heaven is. 1t is the
grave here, it is darkness here, but there is
merrymaking yonder. Methnks when Il
soul arrives some angel takes it around to
show 1t the wonders of that blessed place.
The usher angel says TO the newly arrived:
'These are the martyrs that persisted at
Piedmont; these were torn to pieces at the
lnquisition; this is the throne of the great
Jehovah; this is Jesus 81 am going to
see Jesus" said a dying boy; 81 am going
to see Jesus" The missionary said You
are sure You will see Him?' ooh, yes;
that's what | want to go to heaven for'
"But," said the missionary, suppose Jesus
should go away from heaven-what them"
81 should follow him. said the dying boy
"But If Jesus went down to hell-what
then?" The dying boy thought for mo-
ment and then said, ''Where Jesus is there
can be no help Oh, to stand in his pres
hand into that hand which was wounded
for us on the cross, to go around amid the
groups OF the redeemed and shake hands
with the prophets and apostles and mar
tyrs and with our own dear beloved onesi
That will be the great reunion. We cannot
imagine it now. Our loved ones seem so far
away. When we are in trouble and lone
some, they don't seem to come to US. We go
on to the banks of the Jordan and call across
to them, but they do not seem to hear.
We say, SIS it well with the child is it
we'll with the loved ones?" and we listen to
hear II any voice comes back over the
watersl None, monet Unbeliet says, "They
are dead, and they are annihilated," bur,
blessed be God, we have a Bible that tells
US different. We open it, and we find they
are neither dead nor annihilated, that they
were never so much alive as now, that they
are only waiting for our coming and that
we shall join them on the other side OF the
river. On, glorious reunion we cannot
grasp it now! eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath pre-
pared for them that love Him"
What place OF explanation it will bel
see every day profound mysteries of provi-
dence. There is no question we ask often
er than why? There are hundreds OF
graves in Greenwood and LAUREL Hin that
need to be explained. Hospitals fort
blind and lame, asylums for the idlotic Ght
world of pain and misfortune that demand
more than human solution. God will
clear it all up. In the light that pouIs
from the throne no dark mystery can live.
Things now utterly iuscruta5ie will ba
illumined as plainly as though the an
sWer were written on the jasper wall
or sounded in the temple anthem. Bar
timeus will thank God that he was
blind and Joseph that he was cast into the
pit and Daniel that lie denned with the
lions and Paul that he was hump-backed
and David that he was driven from Jeru-
salem and that invalid that for twenty
years he could not lift his head from the
pillow, and that widow that she had such
hard work to earn bread for her children.
The song will be all the grander for earth's
weeping eyes and aching heads and ex-
hausted hands and scourged backs and
martyred agonies. But we can get no
idea OF that anthem here. We appreciate
the power of secular music but do we APP
precate the power of sacred sonS2 The
is nothing more inspiring to me tn -.
whole congregation lifted on the ", of
holy melody. When we sing some of those
dear old psalms and tunes, they rouse all
tho memories OF the past. Why, some OF
them were cradle songs in our fathers
house. They are all sparkling with the
morning dew Of thousand Christian Sab
baths. They were sung by brothers and
sisters gone now, by voices that were aged
and broken in the music, voices none the
less sweet because they did tremble and
break.
When I hear these old songs sung, |.
seems as il all the old country meeting
houses Joined in the chorus and city church
and sailors bethel and western cabins I'M. =
til the whole continent lifts the poxolog%
and the scepters of eternity beat time III
the music. Away then with your starvelt
ing tunes that chill the devotions of the
sanctuary and make the people sit silent
when Jesus is marching on to Victory.
When generals come back from victorious
wars, do we not cheer them and shout,
"Huzza, huzza?" and when Jesus passes
along in the conquest of the earth shall
we not have for Him one loud, ringing
cheerg
All hail the power OF Jesus'5 namel
Let angels PROSTATE fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord OF all.
But, my friends, If music on earth Is so
sweet what will it be in heaven? They all