Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-12-15

so narrow that we can hail each other
from bank to bank. 1t Is only four
arms length across. The arm OF earth
ly farewell put out from this side, the
arm Of heavenly welcome put out from
the. other side, while the dying Chris
tian, standing midstream, stretches out
his two arms, the one to take the fare
well Of earth and the other to take the
greeting Of heaven. That makes four
arms length across the river.
Blessed be God that when we leave
this world we are not to have a great
and perilous enterprise Of getting into
heaven; not a dangerous Franklin cx-
pedition to find the northwest passage
among icebergs: only n ferry. That
accounts for something you have never
been able to understand. You never
supposed that very nervous and timid
Christian people could be so unexcited
and placid In the last hour. The fact Is
they were clenr down oil the bank. and
they saw there was nothing to be
frightened about such short distance
-only ferry. With one ear they
heard the funeral psalm In their MEM
DRY. and with the other ear they heard
the song of heavenly snlutation. The
willows on this side the Jordan and the
Lebanon cedars on the other almost In
terlocked their branches-only ferry.
The Landing Safe.
My subject also suggests the fact
that when we cross over at the last We
shall find solid landing. The ferry
boat, as spoken Of In my text. means
place to start from and place to land.
David and his people did not find the
eastern shore OF the Jordan any more
solid than the western shore where he
landed, and yet to a great many heav-
en- is not q real place. To you heaven
Is q fog bank In the distance. After the
resurrection has come you Will have
resurrected foot and something to
tread on and resurrected eye and
colors to see with II and resurrected
ear and music to regale It. Smart men
In this day are making great deal or
fun about St Johns materialistic de-
scriptions Of heaven. Well, now, my
friends, II you will tell me what Will be
the use Of a resurrected body In heaven
with nothing to tread on and nothing
to hear and nothing to handle and
nothing to taste then | VIII laugh too.
Are you going to float about In ether
forever. swinging about your hands
and feet through the air indiscrimi-
nateIy, one moment sweltering In the
center of the sun and the next moment
shivering In the mountains OF the
moon? That Is not my heaven. Dis
satisfied with Johns materialistic heav-
en-, theological tinkers are trying to
patch up heaven that will do for
them at last. never heard OF any
heaven want to go to except st.
Johns heaven. believe | shall hear
Mr. Toplady sing yet and Isaac Watts
recite hymns and Mozart play. "Oh,"
you say, where would you get the or
ganr The Lord will provide the or
gan. Don't you bother about the organ.
| believe | shall yet see David with
harp, and | will ask him to sing one OF
the songs of Zion. believe after the
resurrection I shall see Massillon, the
great French pulpit orator. and shall
hear from his own lips how he felt on
that day when he preached the kings
funeral sermon and flung his whole
audience into a paroxysm Of grief and
solemnity. have no patience with
your transcendental. gelatnous, case
GUS heaven. My heaven Is not a fog
bank. My eyes are unto the hills. the
everlasting hills. The Kings ferryboat,
starting from a wharf on this side. will
20 to a wharf on the other side.
Friends to Greet Is.
Again. my subject teaches that when
we cross over at the last we shall be
met at the landing. When David and
his family went over In the ferryboat
spoken of In the text, they landed amid
q nation that had come out to greet
them. AS they stepped from the deck
of the boat to the shore there were
thousands of people who gathered
around them to express satisfaction
that was beyond description. And so
YOU and 1 will be met at the landing.
Our arrival will not be like stepping
ashore at Antwerp or Constantinople
among a crowd Of strangers. IT Will be
among friends. good friends. those who
are warm hearted friends. and all their
friends. We know people whom we
have never seen by hearing somebody
talk about them very much. We know
them almost as well az II we had seen
them. And do you not suppose that
our parents and brothers and sisters
and children In heaven have been talk
ing about us all these gears and talk
ing TO their friends? So that sup
pose, when we cross the river at the
last we shall not only be met by all
those Christian friends whom we knew
on earth. but by all their friends. they
will come down to the landing to meet
us. Your departed friends love you
now more than they ever did. You VIII
De SuTDTlSPu al tilt idSt w INV '"'
they know about all the affairs OF your
life. Why, they are only across the
ferry. and the boat Is coming this way
and the boat is going that way DO
not know but they have already asked
the Lord the day, the hour, the mo-
ment, when you are coming across and
that they know now, but l do know
that you will be met at the landing.
The poet Southey said he thought he
should know Bishop Heber In heaven
by the portraits he had seen Of him In
London, and DR.. Randolph said he
thought he would know William Cow
per, the poet, in heaven from the pic
lures he had seen of him in England,
but we will know our departed kindred
by the portraits hung in the throne
room Of our hearts.
On starlight nights you look up-and
l suppose 1t is so with any one who has
friends in heaven-on starlight nights
you look up, and you cannot help but
II