The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-11-13

| for this time; that he resumed his
missionary labors, and that in fresh
outbreak against the Christians under
Nero he was imprisoned again. and
suffered martyrdom. The dungeon
in which he was confined is shown to
This day. His own thought, as the
end drew near, Is recorded IN MS last
writing, the second letter to his young
friend, Timothy, For l am aireaoy
being poured out as a drink Offering,
and the time of my departure is come.
7 have fought the good fight, I have
finished the course, I have kept the
faith
When Religion Means JOY.
Terse comments for November Il.
ssPilgrims Progress series. XXI.
Beulah Land" lisa. 81; 3:5.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
Some persons seem to live on the
very borderland of heaven. The per-
plexities and struggles of other Chris
tians seem not to disturb them. Their
religion is altogether peace and JOY
The very light of the Celestial City
shines from their faces. These are
the happy ones whose life Bunyan
pictures in his allegory as dwelling IN
Beulah Land. There is a point in the
experience of many Christians where
the sweet serenity of faith seems nor
NAL. The worst of the dangers and
trials of the pilgrim way parsed, they
experience the corn and wine" OF
this promised land.
After warfare, peace; after doubt,
faith; after trial. rest. God does not
save all his good things for heaven.
The nearer pilgrims draw to their
heavenly goal, the fairer it appears.
The old prophecy is that cat eventide
it shall be light Heaven seems to
reflect it's radiance upon the lives of
all who have journeyed thither, in
spite of doubt, indecision, opposition
and fears
Beulah Land are worth quoting: Nov
1 saw in my dreams that by this time
the pilgrims were got over the En-
chanted Ground, and entering into the
country of Beulah whose air was very
sweet and pleasant, the way lying d.
rectly through it, they solaced them
selves for a season. Yea, here they
heard continually the singing of birds,
and saw every day the flowers appear
in the earth, and heard the voice or
the turtle in the land. In this country
the sun shineth night and day; where
fore this was beyond the valley of the
Shadow of Death, and also out of the
reach of the Giant Despair; neither
could they from this place so much as
see Doubling Castle. Here they were
ing to; also here met them some of
the inha bitants thereof: for in this
land the shining ones commonly
walked because it was upon the bor-
ders of heaven. In this land also the
contract between the bride and the
bridegroom was renewed. Here they
had no want of corn and wine; for in
this place they met abundance of what
they had sought for in all their pill
grimage.''
The springs of joy are in God; and
the nearer the heart gets to him the
more joy it knows.
Beulah Land is not a geographical
location, but a spiritual experience.
Every hardship triumphantly en-
dured sweetens the succeeding bliss.
Port seems safest to the sailors who
have come through the hardest
storms.
Over and over it needs to be said
that Christianity is a religion of feast
ing as well as of fasting. The good
times are not all in the devils past
ures; the best times are not there at
the Christian life than in any other
walk. The Pilgrim Toasted in Beulah
Land, and the provision for this had
been expressly made by the king of
the country. The person who is not
getting happiness out of his faith is
not getting from it all that God puts
into it.. The disciple of Jesus who goes
through the world with a sour visage
ISLANDERS his Lord.
DR.. Henry Van Dyke tells the story
of once finding a guide at the top of
a mountain at sunset, evidently enrapt
in spiritual contemplation. Some re-
mark was made about his presence
there, and the unlettered wodsman re-
piled that he liked to go up occasion
ally. because it sort of gives me a |
feeling Of heaven-up- histedness" The
expressive colloquialism reveals the
depths of human spirit, and its
heights. Man needs to feel the touch |
of the big and the beautiful and the |
divine upon his life. The principle of
times of special exaltation is sound.
Every life requires its Beulah Lands. !
There are plenty of valleys of humili- |
alton; 1t is a tonic to get where the |
dove of peace sings in the heart, and
the flowers of joy blossom about ones
feet
1t is only one transporting experience |
on the way to the Celestial City. Gods |
bests are always beyond. Eye hath |
not seen nor ear heard; neither hath |
entered into the heart of man, the |
things which God hath prepared for
them that love him."
Whoever has walked through the |
dark by lantern knows that the light |
shines only a short distance before
ones feet. But there is always light |
ahead. Darkness disappears as the |
pedestrian progresses. In the Chris |
tian's spiritual journey the Light |