The Tupelo journal., 1903-07-31

lie TO n despair at TIT
end, without ever coming to realize
that just at hand is the Land of Up
rightness, in which Is joy and peace
and satisfaction, and true success!
THE inhabitants of the Land Of Up
i rightness are faithfully described
in the First Psalm. They are they who
walk not in the counsel of the ungodly
nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit
in the seat of the scornful. Their de-
light is in the law of the Lord and In
His law do they mediate day and night
They are like a tree planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit
in his season; his leaf does not wither
and whatsoever he doeth prospereth
Abel dwelt in that land, and when the
jealous hand of his brother struck him
down, he quickly passed over to the joys
and peace Of the land where tears are un-
known and sorrow and pain have given
place to joy of heart and peace of life,
Enoch walked with God in the Land OF
Uprightness, and n day when enjoy
ing the companionship of the dear Lord
he wandered over the line, and never
came back. Noah lived in the Land OF
Uprightness, but at that time he was
about its only inhabitant. The god
less inhabitants Of the world were as
unconscious of the existence Of the
Land of Uprightness as the blind fish
of Mammoth Cave are ignorant of the
blessed sunshine and the glad bird bath
ing in its light. But Notwithstanding
that Noah had a pretty lonesome time
of it as related to human associations, he
found in the end that it paid to dwell
there. Abraham vas content to abide
in the Land of Uprightness, where
Gods will controlled and His Spirit
led, but Lot, who knew the Land
of Uprightness, and ought to have
remained a resident thereof, lift
ed up his eyes, and, beholding the
glitter and show and surface pleasures
of the Land of the Natural Self, he wan
dered off to its distractions, and Gods
angels had hard work rescuing him
later from the destruction which over
took a portion of that goddess land. And
We have not space to tell of all the
others who dwelt in the Land Of Up
rightness, as enumerated in the Scrip
lures. Nor have we time to review the
grand army which has passed through
this land into the better land since
Christ first drew His disciples about
Him and commissioned them to go into
all the world and tell of this Land of
Uprightness, and draw thereto all who
would listen to the glad message and
turn from the Land of the Natural Self,
whose borders are adjacent to the outer
darkness of eternal death, and to the
edge of the bottomless pit.
WE have declared the Land of Up
w rightness to be a place of joy, of
peace, of satisfaction, of true success,
and you ask, in haste: "Is sorrow
never known, then, by it's inhabitants?
do trouble and distress and hardship
and suffering never come with their
burdens? are there never any ungrati-
fed longings and desires? are all
those who dwell in that land prosper
Gus and influential, as the world
counts success and power? No, you
misunderstood us. When man plans
with God and measures conditions
with Him, the trials and Affections of
his present world which are
tered in the Land of Uprightness are
as nothing Ito be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in u.s."
Jesus in the Land of Uprightness suf-
fered. He knew what it was to be in
want; He was despised and rejected
of men; He was buffeted and crucified.
yet at the close of His life He talked
to His disciples of the joy and peace
which He mad found in the Land of
Uprightness, and then said: my peace
l leave with you, My joy shall be in
you" And in prophetic declaration Of
His WI experience and what the test
of true discipleship was to be, He said:
'They shall deliver you up to be af-
ficted, and shall kill you; and We shall
be hated of all nations for My names
sake" but at the very beginning of
His ministry He said: Blessed are
We, when men shall revile you and
prosecute you, and say all manner Of
evil against you falsely, for My sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for
great is your reward in Heaven: for
SO prosecuted they the prophets which
were before you" And as we follow
the history of the disciples Of the cross
of Jesus Christ from the stoning of
Stephens at Jerusalem down through
the long list of martyrs to the present
day in which persecution from with
out, and trial and hardship and suffer-
ing from within, are experienced, we
see that in the Land of Uprightness
it is not peace and joy and ease as
the world counts those things, but it
is peace and JOY and satisfaction to
the one who Is abiding in the will OF
God, for the soul knows that lust
ahead is the blessed consummation OF
Gods purposes, and the grace of God
is found sufficient for every need. Yes,
in the Land of Uprightness trials and
Affections await you, but in all these
things you may be more than con-
queror through Him Who loved you
and gave Himself for you. In the
Land of the Natural Self, all the bur-
dens and trials Of life have to be borne
alone and they crush into despair and
the grave, but in the Land of Upright
ness the Saviour yokes Himself up
with you and your burden and bears
the heaviest end. He never suffers
you to be tested beyond your strength.
ssLIOW is It, Eliza" asked her mis-
/ / tress, "that you are always SO