The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-10-29
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. j. M. HUBEERT.
Theme: Life Here and Hereafter.

DR.. J. NJ Hubert, of Philadelphia,
preached in the Central Presbyterian
Church. His subject was Life Here
and Hereafter" The text was from
Philippians 1:22-24: what I shall
choose l wot not. For I am in
strait betwixt two. having a desire to
depart, and to be with Christ, which
Is far better; nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you"
DR.. Hubert said:
The words of the text remind us Of
good Isaac Watts, who said: "Thank
God, 1 can lie down at night with no
concern whether I wake in this world
or the next" Some people are world.
ly, chiefly concerned for things here
below. Some are other-worldly, hat-i
ing thoughts and affections set on
things above; and such a man was
Paul. This thinking about the future
is by some called "impracticable star
gazing" But DR.. Samuel Johnson
correctly remarked, that "those who
think most about the next life are the,
people who best perform the duties
of this life."
First of all, the text speaks of our
morality. In saying he has a desire to
depart" Paul is not thinking of 60.
ing from one place to another on the
earth, but of going back to mother
earth-"eart to earth, dust to dust,
ashes to ashes" This is the way we
must all go very soon. King Philip
of Macedon had servant whose duty
1t was to wake the King each morning
by saying, "Philip, remember thou
are mortal" Surely, we need no such
reminder. We have enough all
around us to impress us that call
flesh is as grass" Passing through a,
street of a very healthful mountain
town, and seeing a man with a hose
washing mud from the wheels Of a
hearse, 1 said, do you use such
things up here?" "Oh, yes," said he,
eve carried out three yesterday"
And that is just what is going on
everywhere. The cemeteries are fast
receiving the teeming populations of
cities, towns, villages and country
places. Well may it be said:
death floats upon every passing
breeze,
And turks in every flower;
Each season has its own disease,
Its peril every hour"
Again, the text speaks of our i'm
mortality. Paul has desire to de-
part, "and to be-" He has no thought
of ceasing to be, when death comes
Death does not end all. When the
earthly tent is taken down, it's oc-
cupant will still exist as conscious,
thinking, alert being. The body is
corruptible, it perishes, it dissolves;
but there is that within the body
which is incorruptible, imperishable
and indissoluble; that which no
floods can drown, no waters can
quench, no fires consume; which is
destined to outlive mountains, firma-
ments, suns and stars. A prominent
city social club has for it's motto:
while we live, we live in clover;
When we die, we die all over"
Oh, no, we shall none of us die call
over" We die in part only. And
even though the body only is to die,
even it is to be raised again, and by
and by soul and body shall be re-
Joined, and then man in his complete
personality shall live on and forever
"Have you heard, have you heard of
that sun-bright cline,
Undimmed by sorrow, unhurt by time,
Where age hath no power DER the
fadeless frame,
Where the eye is fire and the heart
is flame?
Have you heard, have you heard of
that sun-bright clime?"
Further, the text speaks of our
chief felicity hereafter. Paul's desire
is to depart, and to be with Christ"
The Bible gives different conceptions
OF Heaven, such as place of rest
from toll, release from prosecutions,
freedom from sin and reunion with
friends. But Paul's favorite idea of
1t is as a place of companionship with
Jesus. True, Christ is with His disci-
pies here and now, by His Spirit, but
in the hereafter they are to see Him
in His glorifed humanity, just as He
was seen after His resurrection and
when He went up from the slopes of
Mount Olivet: We say "no home
without a mother" and what
mother is to a home, and infinitely
more, is Christ to His redeemed ones
in Heaven.
"When death these mortal eyes shall
seal,
And still this throbbing heart,
The rending veil shall Thee reveal,
All-glorious, as Thou art"
Next, the text speaks of the i'm
medlateness of this heavenly felicity,
after death. PauTs expectation is to
depart, and then at once to be with
Christ. The language will admit of
no other Interpretation. He gives
no intimation of a midway station, a
halfway house, between the deathbed
and Heaven. Some people carry very
vague notions Of what is called the
intermediate state" AS there is an
intermediate time, between the body's
death and its resurrection, so there is
an intermediate degree of blessedness
for Christ's saints, who are not to
receive their full and final recompense
of reward until after the general
Judgment; but there is no gloomy
abode for the righteous, after this
death, where they wait to see Christ.
To-day thou shalt be with Me in
paradise" were Jesus words to the
dying thief, and such is the glorious
privilege awaiting every saint that
passes down into the valley of the
shadow of death.
Once more, the text speaks of
certain hating at the very threshold
CT Heaven. Paul is in quandary,
saying he knows not which to choose.
DR.. Muhlenburg, VINO wrote the
hymn, Il Would Not Live Away"
said long afterward that the hymn
did not properly represent the best
feelings of the human heart, and that
he would be glad to live on in order
to save sinners and do the Masters
work.
There are many of Gods servants
who have this same spirit. They are
not "at ease in Zion," and cannot rest
from toll and giving aims, because
they see the harvest is great and the
laborers are few. The Master has for
all such glorious recompense of
reward.
Finally, the text has a tone of as
surance which should be noted.
Pauls positive conviction as to i'm
mortality and his relation to God, lies
between the lines here and is very