Oxford Democrat., 1907-07-09
"More Things In Heaven and Earth.

Even in pronounced Christian coun-
tries the watchful care of angels who,
when on earth were related to us, is
made the frequent theme of song and
story which attracts our attention when
considering the different civilizations.
We confess to the belief that the de-
parted have greater knowledge Of us
than we have Of them. We have been
accused of being spiritualist. Ii it is
meant one of the table-tipping stripe, it
is as far from the truth as it can possibly
be. You know there are spaces wider
than lands can measure or the seas can
fill-spaces between truth and lie,
for instance.
We are simply Scriptual spiritualist.
III the unseen world around us is not
peopled with the invisible ones coming
and going, if the suburbs of the city that
hath foundations do not reach from the
sunrise side of the grave away and away,
God knows where, then the Bible is as
unreliable as the weather department or
a medical almanac in its prognoStica-
tions. II ministering spirits were not
and are not sent forth to minister, strike
the statement out of your mothers s
Bible.
Are the shadowy shapes that appear
and disappear, that go and come again,
all through the divine recordings, dis
ordered fancies And is the story of the
resurrection a mere ghost story with no
foundation in fact! Accept or reject, but
our acceptance or rejection changes
nothing. Do coming events never cast
their shadows before? Are not there
more things in heaven and earth than are
dreamed Of in your philosophers Ham
let is made to say? An incredulous smile
spreading wide as the size of the face
will admit is not explanatory.
Here is bit of unwritten history that
awaits your explanation or your smile:
A few years before our memory got into
working order, an uncle of ours was
foully murdered in Louisiana-shot and
died instantly. Sitting in her room here
in the village Grandmother heard the
report of the pistol, and she turned to
grandfather saying that Henry had been
shot and was dead. The message came
to the mother. The father heard no
sound. This was before the days of
wireless telegraphy and long distance
telephones. No wires had been stretch
ed from Louisiana to Maine, except in
visible wires stretched by invisible hands.
After your smile has subsidized perhaps
you will admit that that is not the usual
way by which news is transmitted-out
of the ordinary-not natural-sort OF
supernatural as it were, il you will ex-
cuse me.
Try this one. There is living in Au-
burn to-day cousin who was in the
army. A battle was going on. His
regiment was not engaged, and he was
up tree in pursuit of knowledge, when
he heard the command short and sharp,
to "Fall in" He was quick to obey the
command, and none too quick to escape
the shell that struck the perch in his
tree. But-no command had been given
at least by mortal tongue. II there
really are guardian spirits, it was lucky
for the boy that his guardian was on
guard about that time of day; and still,
had he rot been so prompt to obey the
call that never came he would have es-
capped the hell of Andersonville. The
next time, my boy, the guard may be of
duty, and out you go to join a mightier
army than the Army of the Potomac.
wonder If il be fact as divinely re-
visions and your old men shall dream
dreams" And / wonder if there has
been any noticeable change in the struct-
ure and general makeup of young men
and old men since man was moulded.
Do we build a theory on dreams and
visions? Not on doughnut dreams and
old cheese visions.
Here is a dream for you to play with
and smile over. Uncle b. P. moved to
Kentucky with his family, leaving behind
an aged mother, and the days and the
nights went on. One night uncle woke
CRYING and was asked the reason. He
said his mother was dead. He had seen
her in dream passing up the sky. That
night she died. o, l guess there are
more things in heaven and earth than
are dreamed of, Horatio, in your philoso-
ply all right.
was teaching at the East in 1872.
There was a sick girl in the neighbor-
ed girl friend of hers. One early morn
ing this friend dreamed that the sick
one came to her bedside clad all in white,
smiled upon her, pointed upward and
vanished. Soon after they came in TO
ltll ucE Iudt LOItic was uCau.
You are at liberty to call these things
trivial-straws-but they all point one
way. A few of the many things in
heaven and earth not dreamed of in your
philosophy, Horatio, when strengthened
and buttressed by the divine Word,
make solid background for the thought
that man is not bubble tossed up on
the tide of time to be whirled for a mo-
ment and then vanish into nothingness
that the invisible world around US is
not an unillumined, lifeless, empty void,
and that there is a thoroughfare from
the back door of every cemetery, from
every grave-known and unknown, cared
for or uncared for by human hands-in
all Gods universe.
"An angels arm can't snatch me from
the grave" knowledge ends here.
"Legions of angels can't. confine me
there" Belief enters here. But we are
not anxious to exchange belief for
knowledge, not while we are able to
chore round some. JOHN.