Democratic messenger., 1904-06-25


of the victim or by the escape of the
pursued
No SeIGshness I'm Heaven.
What Is the .IolIannian meaning of
this mortal combat between the tribal
dogs of the east: Why, ii means that
meanncsScs. no contemptible. mercilesS
ways such as are often found ut the
earthly iircside. Ii means that instead
of one father and one mother gather
ing their own children Jout them in
one mansion of light and saying
TO one of themselves. shut the door
and keep every one else out; we have
enough. and more than enough now;
let all others take care of themselves
as best they can." all men will be
brothers. and all women sisters. There
we shall all be sons and daughters OF
one God. who is the Father. and have
kinship to one Christ. who is the Elder
Brother. 1t means that in heaven
there will he no envious plebcian blood.
and no distinctive. supercilious. aristo-
cratic blood. because there we shall all
have been washed in the royal blood of
Jesus. Il means that in heaven no
wealthy mans wife will be able to
suck out the life of poor sewing girl
merely because she is poor. and no EN-
ployer will be able To grind his en-
pioyees down until il means physical
and mental and often spiritual death.
II means no vendetta or blood feud; it
also means no financial vendetta or
money feud.
Roaming again through the dark. mar
row. crowded streets OF eastern Pales-
tine. | surmise. from the words of my
text. that heaven Is TO be a place of
honored and jubilant occupations. 1t is
TO he place where the words tine
niar' and ''servile." "s,avenger" and
''scullion." 'hireiing" ana dependent"
hickey" and "underling" will be un-
known. All words signifying degrad-
ell work will forever disappear when
the lexicons of earth shall he forever
consumed upon the funeral pyre of
burning world. 1t does not mean that
heaven is To he place of inanition and
stasnation and stupidity. But ii does
mean that heaven is To be a place
where all wurkmcn sha ! be honored
alike and where the dut as of one i'm
mortal shall he respected as much as
are the occupations of other immor-
tails.
Why do make these two astounding
statements: First. because | find re-
corded in the eighth chapter of Revela-
tion the startling fact that there was
silence in heaven about the space of
half an hour" II heaven was always
still place would ST. John have writ
ten that sentence in reference TO the
day of Judgment. If you would inter
pret that passage i'm Il common sense
way would you not practically say,
'Why. heaven is such a busy place that
all tie angels and archangels and re.
deemed imnortals are working and
working all the time? But when st.
John saw the books Of the Judgment
opened then there WAS an awful still
ness. Every winged messenger kept
still. every work ceased, every occupa-
tion was suspended" AS Albert Barnes
interpreted this passage. Then there
was an awful stiffness. as il all heaven
WAS revercn;ly waiting for the develop
ment." oh. yes. heaven is to be busy
place. IL has been very busy during
all the years and the n millenniums that
are past. II will bc very busy during
all the ctcrnities that are to come, with
the exception of one cessation of work
for Il short time. wheit there shall be
''silcnce i'm heaven for about the space
of half an hour
Dogs of the East We're scayenRers.
Following my first premise that
heaven is 10 be a busy place my Sec
ond premise is likewise true. How do
| know that the busy occupations of
heaven will never offer despised w0rk
for the redeemed -immortals? The
words of my text nrnye that. The dogs
of the east were the scavengers. The
eastern people had no wonderful sys-
tens of sewerage as hays. We. They.
had no means of carrying away by
subterrancan pipes uie p1l;I and refuse
of their large towns. But all the refuse
of the Kitchens and the homes and the
barns were and are thrown into the
streets. where the dogs deyonr them.
In heaven. however, we shall have
none of the repulsive and. abhorrent
occupations with which earth has been
cursed. DO you wonder that when
rode into Damascus and saw lying in
the streets the dead body of horse.
over which the dogs were fighting and
gormandiZing. should catch glimpse
of heavenly vision. where there shall
be no lOathsome occupations as is this
one of the canine scayengers OF the
east: Heaven Is To be- Il place of con
tinual work. Heaven is. however, to
be n place of glorious. happy, jubilant.
hOnorcd occupations.
Roaming again through the narrow.
crowded streets of eastern Palestine l
know from the Similc of my text that
the Christians earthly translation is
not to he II horror. Il tragedy, a terrific.
a repulSive and II ter or inspiring de
mise. When the Chris tian dies he does
not die like II dog but he ascends as
did the Saviour. He does not growl
and whine with fear. but he mounts
from joy TO joy. from sublimity to sub
Unity. from exultation TO exuitation.
r..