The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-11-21

victories in other worlds, heaven ris-
ing into grander heavens, seas of glass
mingled with fire, becoming a more
brilliant glass mingling with a more
flaming fire. Which hope"
Return of Lost Sheep.
On the following evening he came.
He said that he was the black sheep of
the family flock. He had wandered
the world over and been in all kinds
of wickedness, but a few nights before
after reading a letter from his mother
in Scotland, he had retired for sleep,
but in the adjoining room he heard
some young men in such horrible con
versation he could not sleep. He was
shocked as he had never before been
struck a light, took out the letter from
his mother and knelt down by the bed
side and said, 20 Lord, God Of my
mother, have mercy on mel" He said
that since that prayer he was entirely
changed and loved what he before
hated and hated what he before loved
and asked what I thought it all meant.
replied, you have become a Christ
ian." He said he might be called at
any time to leave the city. L never
saw him again, but it seemed to me
that he had turned his back upon his
wicked past and had started in the
right direction. And 1T may be SO with
your boy. Write him often. Tell him
how you are thinking of him at home,
and, 1t may be, your letter in hand,
he may call upon his mothers God to
help and save him. Hope, you Of the
gray hairs and wrinkles! Heaven has
its thousands of souls who were once
as thoroughly wrong as your boy is.
They r%epented, and they are with the
old folks in the healthy air of the
eternal hills, where they may become
young again. Hope on, and, though
you may never hear Of our sons
reformation and others may think he
has left this life hopeless, who knows
but In the last moment, after he has
ceased to speak, and before his soul
launches away, Vol prayer may have
been answered and he be one of the
first to meet you at the shining gate.
The prodigal in the parable got home
and sat down at the feast, while the
elder brother, who never left the old
place. stood pouting at the back door
and did not go in at all.
Take tho Hand of Hope.
But If you will not take the hand
of Hope for earthly convalescence let
me point you to the perfect body you
are yet to have If you love and serve
the Lord. Death will put a prolonged
anaesthetic upon our present body,
and o will never again feel an ache
or pain, and then in his good time you
will have q resurrection body about
which we know nothing except that
1t will be painless and glorious beyond
Ial present- .appreciatton. What must
be the health of that land which never
feels cut of cold or blast of heat and
where there is no east wind sowing
pneumonia on the air, your feetness
greater than the foot of deer, your
eyesight clearer than eagle in sky
perfect health in a country where all
the inhabitants are everlastingly
well! You who have in your body an
encysted bullet ever since the civil
war, you who have kept alive only by
precautions and self-denials and per-
netual watching of pulse and lung. you
nifty can do more for us than can
time? What will we not be able to
do when the powers Of locomotion
shall be %quickened into the immortal
spirits speed? Why should a bird
have a swiftness of wing when it is of
no Importance how long it shall take
to make its aerial way from forest to
forest and we, who have SO much
more important errand in the world.
get on so slowly? The roebuck out
runs U.S.. the hounds are quicker in the
chase, but wait until God lets us loose
from all limitations and indictments.
Then we will fairly begin. The start
ing post will be the tombstone. Leav-
ing the world will be graduation day
before the chief work of our mental
spiritual career. Hope sees the
doors opening, the victor's foot in the
stirrup for the mounting. The day
~breaks-frst flush Of the horizon. The
"SQS N41A w I'll v ldSIlllS
mission, as much Of it in the heavenly
hereafter as in the earthly now. Shall
we have gained all as soon as we
enter realms celestial-nothing more
to learn, no other heights to climb, no
new anthems to raise, a m%onotony of
existence, the same thing over and
over again for endless years? No!
More progress in that world than we
ever made in this. Hope will stand on
the hills Of heaven and look for ever
of the deafened ear and dim vision
and the severe backache, you who
have not been free from pain for ten
years, how do you like this story of
physical construction. with all weak
ness and suffering subtracted and
everything jocund and bounding
added?