St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-01-12

, La, SATURDAY. j
from this side, the arm of Heavenly
welcome put out from the other side,
while the dying Christian, standing
midstream, stretches out mis- arms,
the one to take the farewell Of earth,
and the other to take the greeting of
Heaven. That makes four arms
lengths across the river.
Blessed be God, that when we leave
this world we are not to have great
and perilous enterprise Of getting into
Heaven. Not dangerous Franklin ex-
pedition to find the northwest passage
among icebergs. Only 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 clear down on the bank,
and they saw there was nothing to be
frightened about. Such q short dis
tance--only ferry. With one ear they
heard the funeral psalm in their mem
ory, and with the other ear they heard
the song of Heavenly salutation. The
willows ON this side the Jordan and
the Lebanon cedars on the other almost
interlocked their branches. Only .
ferry.
Ny subject also suggests the fact that
when we cross over at the last we shall
find a solid landing. The ferryboat as
spoken of in my text means place to
start from and a 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 Heaven is not .
real place. To you Heaven is . fog
bank in the distance. Now, my Heaven
is a solid Heaven. After the resurrec-
ton has come you will have resur-
rected foot and something to tread on
and a resurrected eye and colors to
see with II and resurrected ear and
music to regale 1t. Smart men in this
day are making great deal of fun
about st. Johns materialistic descrip-
tions of Heaven. Well, now. my friends,
if 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 MOTH
ing to taste then I will laugh, too. Are
you going to float about in ether for
ever, swinging about your hands and
feet through the air Unfortunately,
one moment sweltering in the center OF
the sun and the next moment shivering
in the mountains Of the moon? That il
not my Heaven. Dissatisfied with
Johns materialistic Heaven, theolog-
ical thinkers are trying to patch up
Heaven that will do for them at last.
I never heard of Heaven want to
go to except St. Johns Heaven. l be-
lieve shall hear Mr.. Toplady sing yet
and Isaac Watts recite hymns and Mo-
zart play. "Oh." you say, "where would
you get the organ?" The Lord will
provide the organ. Don't you bother
about the organ. believe I shall yet
see David with harp, and will ask
him to sing one of the songs of Zion.
believe after the resurrection l 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
paroxysm Of grief and solemnity. !
have no patience with your transcend
entail, gelatinous, gaseous Heaven. MY
Heaven is not fog bank. My eyes are
unto the hills. the everlasting hills.
The Kings ferryboat. starting from q
wharf on this side, will go to wharf
on the other side.
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 10
you and i will be met at the landing.
Our arrival will be like stepping ashore
at Antwerp or Constantinople among
a crowd of strangers. 1t 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 we'll as if we had seen
them. And do you suppose that our
parents and brothers and sisters and
children in Heaven have been talking
about us all these years, and talking
to their friends? So that, I suppose,
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 will
be surprised at the last to find how 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 moment
when you are coming across and that
they know now, but 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 DIR. Randolph said he thought he
would know William Cowper, the poet.
in Heaven, from the pictures he had
seen of him in England; but we will
know our departed kindred by the por-
traits hung in the throneroom Of our
hearts.
On starlight nights you look up-and
/ suppose it is SO with anyone who has
friends in Heaven-on starlight nights
you look up. and you cannot help but
think of those who have gone, and l
suppose you look down and cannot help
but think Of us. But they have the adj
vantage of us. We know not just where
the world Of joy is; they know where