Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-04-27

% iitU uoWn tneir clotnSS at n young
mans feet. whose name was Saul"
No wonder he said. SINNERS. OF whom
1 am the chief
Clear the Decks.
Christ is used to climbing. He climb
cd TO the top of the temple. He climb,
ell to the top OF Mount ollvet. lie
climbed TO the top or the cliffs about
Nazareth. He climbed to the top Of
Golgotha. And to the top OF the hills
and the mountains OF your transgres.
sion be Is ready 10 climb with pardon
for every one of you. The sroan OF
Calvary is mightier than the thunder
OF Sinai. Fun receipt is offered for all
your Indebtedness. IL one throw
stone at midnight into Il bush where
the hedge bird roosts. 1t immediately
begins to sing. and into the midnight
hedges of your dependency these
words ! hurl. hoping to awaken you to
anthem. Drop the tunes in the minor
key and take tire major. DO you think
IL pleases the Lord for you TO be carry.
ing around with you the debris and
carcasSes of old transgressions? You
make me think of some ship that has
had a tempcstuous time at sea and
now that ii proposes another voyage
keeps on its davits the damaged life
boats and the splintcrs of shivered
mast and the broken glass OF n smash
ed skylight My advice is: Clear the
decks, overheard with all the damaged
rigging. brighten up the sailed smoke.
stacks. open n new loGbook. haul in
the planks. lay out Il new course and
nj Essntl Es.--1 L..
spiritual dumps long enough. You
will please the Lord more by being
happy than by being miserable.
Again. my text has good advice con
corning any Christian hampered and
bothered and bound 10y fear of his own
dissolution. To such the book refers
when II speaks of those who through
fear of death were all their lifetime
subject TO bondage. The most OF US.
even If we have the Christian hope, arc
towards about death. IL plank fall
from scaffolding and just grazes our
hat. how pale we look! If the Atlantic
ocean plays with the steamship. pitch
Ing it toward the heavens and letting
1t suddenly drop. how even the Chris
tlan passengers poster the steward or
stewardess as TO whether there Is any
danger.
Backed up by the teachings Of your
Bible, just look through the telescope
some bright night and see how many
worlds there are and reflect that oil
you have seen compared with the
number OF worlds In existence, are less
than the fingers of your right hand as
compared with all the fingers of the
human race How foolish, then. for
us TO think that ours Is the only world
lit for us to stay IN.
One of our first reaiizations In get
ting out of this world, l think. will be
that In this world we were very much
pent up and had cramped apartments
and were kept on the limits The
most, even of our small world. Is wa
ter. and the water says TO the human
race, Don't come here or you will
drown" A few thousand feet up the
atmosphere is uninhabitable, and the
atmosphere says TO the human raco,
Don't come up here or you cannot
breathe" \ few miles down the earth
is furnace of fire, and the fire says.
Don't come here or you will burn"
The cavcrns of the mountains are full
of poisonous gases, aud the gases say,
Don't come here or you will be as
phyXiatcd." And, crossing n track.
you must look out or you will be crush
ed. And, standing by steam boiler
you must look out or you Will be blown
up. And pncumonlas and pleurisIcs
and consumptions and apoplexies go
across this earth In flocks, In droves.
In herds, and II is world of equinoxcs
and cyclones and graves. Yet we are
under the dcluslon that II Is the only
place fit 10 stay In. We want TO stick
to the wet plank In midocean while the
great ship, the City Of God, OF the
Celestial line, goes sailing past aud
would gladly take us up In lifeboat
My Christian friends, Let me tear of
your dependencies and rights about
dissolution My Lord commands me
regarding you. saying. Loose him, and
let him go"
Heaven is % per cent better than
this world, n thousand per cent better,
million per cent better. Take the
gladdest. brightest, most 1ubIlant days
you ever had on earth and compress
would be requiem. a fast day, n
gloom, horror, as compared with the
poorest hour they have had In heaven
since its first tower was built or It's
first gates swung or It's first song
caroled. oh" you say, chat may be
true, but l ann so afraid of crossing
over from this world To the next, and
l fear the swapping OF the cord be-
tween soul and body" Well, all the
surgeons and physicians and scientists
declare that there Is no pang at the
parting of the body and soul. and all
the restlessness mt the closing hour OF
life Is involuntary and no distress at
all.
And agree with the doctors. for
what they say is confirmed by the fact
that persons who We're drowned or
were submerged. until all consciousness
departed and were afterward resus-
citated declare that the sensation Of
passing into unconsciousness was
pleasurable rather than distressfuI
The cage OF the body has a door on
easy hinges. and when that door of
the physical cage opens the soul sim
ply puts out It's wings and scars
Come Into the Light.
';But," you say. 81 fear to go be-
cause the future Is so full OF mystery"
Well. l Will tell you how to treat the
mysteries. The mysteries have ceased
bothering me. for do as the Judges of
your courts often do. They hear al
the arguments In the case. and they
say. II will take these papers and give
you my decision next week" So
have heard all the arguments In regard
to the next world. and some things are
uncertain and full OF mystery. and so
fold up the papers and reserve until
the next world my decision about
them. can there study all the mys-
teries to better advantage. for the light
VIII be better and my faculties stron-
ger, and | Will ask the Christian phi
losophers. who have had all the adj
vantages OF heaven for centuries. to
help me. and | may be permitted my
SELF humbly TO ask the Lord. and ]
think there will be only one mystery
left; that Will be how one so unworthy
as myself got into such an enraptured
place.
II