Heaven: where it is, its inhabitants, and how to get there. The certainty of God's promise of a life beyond the grave, and the rewards that are in store for faithful service

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6

^IWe'i

HHW K.Ex^I©Jf^I!) EUDFTIOK.

HEAVEN:

WHERE IT IS, ITS INHABITANTS, AND HOW
TO GET THERE.

THE GEAVE, AND THE EEWAEDS THAT

ARE IN STOEE FOE FAITHFUIi

SEEVICE.

AS GLEANED FROM SACRED SCRIPTURE,

BY

D, L. MOODY.

"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it:
for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

CHICAGO:

THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION,

2co La Salle Avenue.

$G£Q2fet

Copyrighted by F. H. REVELL. 1880.

Copyrighted by F. H. REVELL. 1887.

All Rights Reserved.

PREFACE.

This book, upon a subject that is very dear to me, is
sent forth in the hope that it may give comfort and edi-
fication to many; that the weak maybe strengthened,
the sorrowing consoled, and the despondent encouraged
to look with increasing faith to that .fairest of fair cities
in the Better Land, which is the home of the Redeemer
and the redeemed.

A leading divine has recently said: " When I was a
boy I thought of heaven as a great shining city, with
vast walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it
except white angels, who were strangers to me. By and
by my little brother died, and I thought of a great city
with walls and domes and spires, and a flock of cold, un-
known angels, and one little fellow that I was acquainted
with. He was the only one that I knew in that country.
Then another brother died, and there were two that I
knew. Then my acquaintances began to die, and the
number continually grew. But it was not until I had
sent one of my little -children back to God, that I began-

to think I had a little interest there myself. A second,
a third, a fourth went, and by that time I had so many
acquaintances in heaven that I did not see any more
walls and domes and spires. I began to think of the
residents of the Celestial City. And now so many of
my acquaintances have gone there, that it sometimes
seems to me that I know more in heaven than I do on
earth."

May the thought of loved ones gone before give addi-
tional joy to us as we follow in the way.

%£fo™fy.

Heaven:
ITS HOPE.

(U^e <Korr}e of tfte 30U^

"That unchangeable home is for you and for me,
"Where Jesus of Nazareth stands;
The King of all kingdoms forever is He,
And He holdeth our crowns in His hands.

w0h, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,
So free from ail sorrow and pain;
With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands
To meet one another again."

CHAPTER I. .

ITS HOPE.

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
* * * for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.

Coii. i, 3, 5

A great many persons imagine that anything said
about heaven is only a matter of speculation. They
talk about heaven much as they would about the air%
Now there would not have been so much in Scripture
on this subject if God had wanted to leave the human
race in darkness about it. " All Scripture," we are
told, " is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect
— thoroughly furnished unto all good works." II Tim.
iii, 16, 17. What the Bible says about heaven is just
as true as what it says about everything else. The
Bible is inspired. "What we are taught about heaven
could not have come to us in any other way than by in-
spiration. No one knew anything about it but God,
and so if we want to find out anything about it we have
to turn to His Word. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, says

7

8 HEAVEN:

that the best evidence of the Bible being the Word of
God is to be found between its own two covers. It
proves itself. In this respect it is like Christ, whose
character proclaimed the divinity of His person.
Christ showed Himself more than man by what He
did. The Bible shows itself more than a human book
by what it says.

It is not, however, because the Bible is written with
more than human skill, far surpassing Shakspeare or
any other human author, and that its knowledge of
character and the eloquence it contains are beyond the
powers of man, that we believe it to be inspired. Men'b
ideas differ about the extent to which human skill can
be carried, but the reason why we believe the Bible to
be inspired is so simple that the humblest child of God
can comprehend it. If the proof of its divine origin
lay in its wisdom alone, a simple and uneducated man
might not be able to believe it. We believe it is in-
spired because there is nothing in it that could not
have come from God. God is wise, and God is good.
There is nothing in the Bible that is not wise, and
there is nothing in it that is not good. If the Bible
had anything in it that was opposed to reason, or to
our sense of right, then, perhaps, we might think that
it was like all the books in the world that are written
merely by men. Books that are only human, like
merely human lives, have in them a great deal that is
foolish and a great deal that is wrong. The life of
Christ alone was perfect, being both, human and divine.
Not one of the other volumes, like the Koran, that
claims divinity of origin, agrees with common sense.
There is nothing at all in the Bible that does not

ITS HOPE. 9

conform to common sense. What it tells us about the
world having been destroyed by a deluge, and Noah
and his family alone being saved, is no more wonder-
ful than what is taught in the schools, that all of the
earth we see now, and everything upon it, came out of
a ball of fire. It is a great deal easier to believe that
man was made after the image of God, than to believe,
as some young men and women are being taught now,
that he is the offspring of a monkey.

Like all the other wonderful works of God, this Boot
bears the sure stamp of its Author. It is like Him.
Though man plants the seeds, God makes the flowers,
and they are perfect and beautiful like Himself. Men
wrote what is in the Bible, but the work is God's. The
more refined, as a rule, people are, the fonder they are
of flowers, and the better they are, as a rule, the more
they love the Bible. The fondness for flowers refines
people, and the love of the Bible makes them better.
All that is in the Bible about God, about man, about
redemption, and about a future state, agrees with our
own ideas of right, with our reasonable fears and with
our personal experiences. All the historical events are
described in the way that we know the world had of
looking at them when they were written. What the
Bible tells about heaven is not half so strange as wha1-
Prof . Proctor tells about the hosts of stars that are be-
yond the range of any ordinary telescope; and yet
people very often think that science is all fact, and that
religion is only fancy. A great many persons think
that Jupiter and many more of the stars around us are
inhabited, who cannot bring themselves to believe that
there is beyond this earth a life for immortal soula

10 HEAVEN:

The true Christian puts faith before reason, and believes
that reason always goes wrong when faith is set aside.
tf people would but read their Bibles more, and study
what there is to be found there about heaven, they
would not be as worldly-minded as they are. They
would not have their hearts set upon things down here,
but would seek the imperishable things above.

EAETH THE HOME OF SIN.

It seems perfectly reasonable that God should have
given us a glimpse of the future, for we are constantly
losing some of our friends by death, and the first
thought that comes to us is, " Where have they gone ? "
When loved ones are taken away from, us how that
thought comes up before us ! How we wonder if we
will ever see them again, and where and when it will
be ! Then it is that we turn to this blessed Book, for
there is no other book in all the world that can give
us the slightest comfort ; no other book that can tell us
where the loved ones have gone.

Not. long ago I met an old friend, -and as I took him
by the hand and asked after his family, the tears came
trickling down his cheeks as he said:

" I haven't any now."

" What," I said, " is your wife dead? "

" Yes, sir."

" And all your children,, too? "

" Yes, all gone," he said, " and I am left here deso-
late and alone."

Would any one take from that man the hope that he
will meet his dear ones again ? Would any one per-
suade him that there is not a future where the lost will

ITS HOPE. 11

be found ? No, we need not forget our dear loved ones ;
but we may cling forever to the enduring hope that
there will be a time when we can meet unfettered, and
be blest in that land of everlasting suns, where the soul
drinks from the living streams of love that roll by God's
high throne.

In our inmost hearts there are none of us but have
questionings of the future.

" Tell me, my secret soul,

O, tell me, Hope and Faith,
Is there no resting-place

From sorrow, sin and death?
Is there no happy spot

Where mortals may be blest,
Where grief may find a balm,
And weariness a rest?
Faith, Hope and Love — best boons to mortals given —
Waved their bright wings, and whispered:
Yes, in heaven!"

There are men who say that there is no heaven. I
was once talking with a man who said he thought there
was nothing to justify us in believing in any other
heaven than that we know here on earth. If this is
heaven, it is a very strange one — this world of sick-
ness, sorrow and sin. I pity from the depths of my
heart the man or woman who has that idea.

This world that some think is heaven, is the home of
sin, a hospital of sorrow, a place that has nothing in it
to satisfy the soul. Men go all over it and then want to
get out of it. The more men see of the world the less
they think of it. People soon grow tired of the best
pleasures it has to offer. Some one has said that the
world is a stormy sea, whose every wave is strewed with
the wrecks of mortals that perish in it. Every time

12 HEAVEN.

we breathe some one is dying. We all ImoV that we
are going to stay here but a very little while. Our life
is but a vapor. It is only a shadow.

"We meet one another," as some one has said,
" salute one another, pass on and are gone." And an-
other has said: " It is just an inch of time, and then
eternal ages roll on;" and it seems to me that it is per-
fectly reasonable that we should study this Book, to
find out where we are going, and where our friends are
who have gone on before. The longest time man has
to live has no more proportion to eternity than a drop
of dew has to the ocean.

CITIES OF THE PAST.

Look at the cities of the past. There is Babylon.
It is said to have been founded by a queen named Semi-
ramis, who had two millions of men at work for years
building it. It is nothing but dust now. Nearly a
thousand years ago, a historian wrote that the ruins of
Nebuchadnezzar's palace were still standing, but men
were afraid to go near them because they were full of
scorpions and snakes. That is the sort of ruin that
greatness often comes to in our own day. Nineveh is
gone. Its towers and bastions have fallen. The trav-
eler who tries to see Carthage cannot find much of it.
Corinth, once the seat of luxury and art, is only a
shapeless mass. Ephesus, long the metropolis of Asia,
the Paris of that day, was crowded with buildings as
large as the capitol at Washington. I am told it looks
more like a neglected graveyard now than anything
else. Granada, once so grand, with its twelve gates
and towers, is now in decay. The Alhambra, the

TS HOPE. 13

palace of the Mohammedan kings, was situated there.
Little pieces of the once grand and beautiful cities of
Herculanaeum and Pompeii are now being sold in the
shops for relics. Jerusalem, once the joy of the whole
earth, is but a shadow of its former self. Thebes, for
thousands of years, up almost to the coming of Christ,
among the largest and wealthiest cities of the world, is
now a mass of decay. But little of ancient Athens, and
many more of the proud cities of olden times, remain
to tell the story of their downfall. God drives his
plowshare through cities, and they are upheaved like
furrows in the field. "Behold," says Isaiah, uthe na-
tions are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the
small dust of the balance ; behold, He taketh up the
isles as a very little thing .... All nations before
Him are as nothing ; and they are counted to Him less
than nothing, and vanity."

See how Antioch has fallen 4 When Paul preached
there, it was a superb metropolis. A wide street, over
three miles long, stretching across the entire city, was
ornamented with rows of columns and covered galler-
ies, and at every corner stood carved statues to com-
memorate their great men, whose names even we have
never heard. These men are never heard of now, but
the poor preaching tent-maker who entered its portals
stands out as the grandest character in history. The
finest specimens of Grecian art decorated the shrines
of the temples, and the baths and the aqueducts were
| such as are never approached in elegance now. Men
then, as now> were seeking honor, wealth and renown,
and enshrining their names and records in perishable
clay. Within the walls of Antioch, we are told, were

14: HEAVEN:

enclosed hills over seven hundred feet high, and rocky
precipices and deep ravines gave a wild and picturesque
character to the place of which no modern city affords
an example. These heights were fortfied in a marvel-
ous manner, which gave to them strange and startling
effects. The vast population of this brilliant city, com-
bining all the art and cultivation of Greece with the
levity, the luxury and the superstition of Asia, was as
intent on pleasure as the population of any of our great
cities are to-day. The citizens had their shows, their
games, their races and dancers, their sorcerers, puz-
zlers, buffoons and miracle-workers, and the people
sought constantly in the theaters and processions for
something to stimulate and gratify the most corrupt
desires of human nature. This is pretty much what
we find the masses of the people in our great cities do-
ing now.

Antioch was even worse than Athens, for the so-
called worship they indulged in was not only idolatrous,
but had mixed up with it the grossest passions to which
man descends. It was here that Paul came to preach
the glad tidings of the Gospel of Christ; it was here
that the disciples were first called Christians, as anick-
name ; all followers of Christ before that time having
been called " saints" or "brethren." As has been well
said, out of that spring at Antioch ^t mighty stream
has flowed to water the world. Astarte, the " Queen of
Heaven," whom they worshiped; Diana, Apollo, the
Pharisee and Saducee, are no more, but the despised
Christians yet live. Yet that heathen city, which would
not take Christianity to its heart and keep it, fell.
Cities that have not the refining and restraining

ITS HOPE. ' 15

influences of Christianity well established in them,
seldom do amount to much in the long run. They grow
dim in the light of ages. Few of our great cities in
this country are a hundred years old as yet. For nearly
a thousand years this city prospered; yet it fell.

GOING TO EMIGKATE.

I do not think that it is wrong for us to think and
talk about heaven. I like to locate heaven, and find
Dut all I can about it. I expect to live there through all
eternity. If I were going to dwell in any place in this
country, if I were going to make it my home, I would
want to inquire about the place, about its climate, about
the neighbors I would have, about everything, in fact,
that I could learn concerning it. If any of you were
going to emigrate, that would be the way you would
feel. Well, we are are all going to emigrate in a very
little while to a country that is very far away. We are
going to spend eternity in another world, a grand and
glorious world where God reigns. Is it not natural,
,then, that we should look and listen and try to find out
who is already there, and what is the route to take?

Soon after I was converted, an infidel asked me one
day why I looked up when I prayed. He said that
heaven was no more above us than below us; that
heaven was everywhere. Well, I was greatly bewil-
dered, and the next time I prayed, it seemed almost as
if 1 was praying into the air. Since then I have become
better acquainted with the Bible, and I have come to
see that heaven is above us ; that it is upward, and not
downward. The Spirit of God is everywhere, but God
is in heaven, and heaven is above our heads. It doea

lo HEAVEN:

not matter what part of the globe we may stand upon,
heaven is above us.

In the 17th chapter of Genesis it says that God
went up from Abraham ; and m the 3d chapter of John,
that the Son of Man came doivn from heaven. So, in
the 1st chapter of Acts we find that Christ went- up in-
to heaven (not down), and a cloud received him out of
sight. Thus we see heaven is up. The very arrange-
ment of the firmament about the earth declares the seat
of God's glory to be above us. Job says : " Let not God
regard it from above" Again, in Deuteronomy, we
find, "who shall go up for us to heaven?" Thus,
all through Scripture we find that we, are given the
location of heaven as upward and beyond the firma-
ment. This firmament, with its many bright worlds
scattered through, is so vast that heaven must be an ex-
tensive realm. Yet this need not surprise us. It is
not for short-sighted man to inquire why God made
heaven so extensive that its lights along the way can
be seen from any part or side of this little world.

In Jeremiah li, 15, we are told: " He hath made
the earth by His power ; He hath established the world
by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by
His understanding." Yet, how little we really know of
that power, or wisdom or understanding ! As we read in
Job: " Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a
portion is heard of Him ? But the thunder of His power,
who can understand ? "

This is the word of God. As we find in the 42nd
chapter of Isaiah: "Thus saith God the Lord, He
that created the heavens and stretched them out; He
that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out

ITS HOPE. 17

s>f it; He that giveth bread unto the people upon it, and
spirit to them that walk within."

The discernment of God's power, the messages of
heaven, do not always come in great things. We read
in the 19th chapter of the first book of Kings:

" And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind
rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord;
but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earth-
quake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earth-
quake a tire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a
still small voice."

It is as a still small voice that God speaks to His
children. Some people are trying to find out just how
far heaven is away. There is one thing we know about
it; that is, that is not so far away but that God can
hear us when we pray. I do not believe there has
ever been a tear shed for sin since Adam's fall in Eden
to the present time, but God has witnessed it. He is
not too far from earth for us to go to Him; and
if there is a sigh that comes from a burdened heart
to-day, God will hear that sigh. If there is a cry
coming up from a heart broken on account of sin, God
will hear that cry. He is not so far away, heaven is
not so far away, as to be inaccessible to the smallest
child. In II Chronicles we read:

" If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble them-
selves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked
ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive them their
sins, and will heal their land."

When I was in Dublin, they were telling me about
a father who had lost a little boy. This father had not
thought about the future, he had been so entirely taken
up with this world and its affairs ; but when that little
boy, his only child, died, that father's heart was broken,
2

18 HEAVEN.

and every night when he returned from work he
might be found in his room with his candle and his
Bible, hunting up all that he could find there about
heaven. Some one asked him what he was doing,
and he said he was trying to find out where his
child had gone, and I think he was a reasonable man.
I suppose no one will ever read this page who has not
dear ones that are gone. Shall we close this Book to-
day, or shall we look into it to try to find where the
loved ones are ? I was reading, some time ago, an ac-
count of a father, a minister, who had lost a child. He
had gone to a great many funerals, offering com-
fort to others in sorrow, but now the iron had entered
his own soul, and a brother minister had come to offici-
ate and preach the funeral sermon; and after this min-
ister had finished speaking, the father got up, and
standing at the head of the coffin, he said that a few
years ago, when he had first come into that parish,
as he used to look over the river he took no interest in
the people over there, because they were all strangers
to him and there were none over there that belonged
to his parish. But, he said, a few years ago a young man
came into his home, and married his daughter, and she
went over the river to live, and when his child went over
there, he became suddenly interested in the inhabitants,
and every morning as he arose he would look out of the
window across the river to her home. " But now,"
said he, " another child has been taken. She has gone
over another river, and heaven seems dearer and nearer
to me now than it ever has before."

My friends, let us believe this good old Book, be
confident that heaven is not a myth, and be prepared to

ITS HOPE. 19

follow the dear ones who have gone before. Thus, and
thus alone, can we find the peace we seek for.

SEEKING A BETTEK COUNTRY.

What has been, and is now, one of the strongest feel-
ings in the human heart ? Is it not to find some bet-
ter place, some lovelier spot, than we have now? It is
for this that men are seeking everywhere; and they
can have it if they will ; but instead of looking down,
they must look up to find it. As men grow in knowl-
edge, they vie with each other more and more in mak-
ing their homes attractive, but the brightest home on
earth is but an empty barn? compared with the man-
sions in the skies.

What is it that we look for at the decline and close
of life? Is it not some sheltered place, some quiet
spot, where, if we cannot have constant rest, we may at
least have a foretaste of the rest that is to be? What
was it that led Columbus, not knowing what would be
his fate, across the unsailed western seas, if it were not
the hope of finding a better country ? This it was that
sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim leathers, driven
| from their native land by persecution, as they faced an
iron-bound, savage coast, writh an unexplored territory
beyond. They were cheered and upheld by the hope
of reaching a free and fruitful country, where they

Kuld be at rest and worship God in peace.
Somewhat similar is the Christian's hope of heaven,
ly it is not an undiscovered country, and in attrac-
tions cannot be compared with anything we know on
earth. Perhaps nothing but the shortness of our range
of sight keeps us from seeing the celestial gates all

20 HEAVENi

open to us, and nothing but the deafness of our ears
prevents our hearing the joyful ringing of the bells of
heaven. There are constant sounds around us that we
cannot hear, and the sky is studded with bright worlds
that our eyes have never seen. Little as we know
about this bright and radiant land, there are glimpses
s>f its beauty that come to us now and then.

" We may not know how sweet its balmy air,
How bright and fair its flowers;
We may not hear the songs that echo there,
Through these enchanted bowers.

" The city's shining towers we may not see
With our dim earthly vision,
For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key
That opes the gates Elysian.

"But sometimes when adown the western sky
A fiery sunset lingers,
Its golden gate swings inward noiselessly,
Unlocked by unseen fingers.

"And while they stand a moment half ajar,
Gleams from the inner glory
Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,
And half reveal the story."

It is said by travelers that in climbing the Alps the
houses of far distant villages can be seen with great
distinctness, so that sometimes the number of panes
of glass in a church window can be courted. The
distance looks so short that the place to which the trav-
eler is journeying appears almost at hand, but after
hours and hours of climbing it seems no nearer yet.
This is because of the clearness of the atmosphere.
By perseverance, however, the place is reached at last,
and the tired traveler finds rest. So sometimes we
dwell in high altitudes of grace; heaven seems very near,

I

ITS HOPE. 21

and ' the hills of Beulah are in full view. At other
times the clouds and fogs caused by suffering and sin
cut off our sight. We are just as near heaven in the
one case as we are in the other, and we are just as sure
of gaining it if we only keep in the path that Christ
5 has pointed out.

I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic sea the
wives of fishermen, whose husbands have gone far out
upon the deep, are in the habit of going down to the
sea-shore at night and singing with their sweet voices
the first verse of some beautiful hymn. After they
have sung it they listen until they hear brought on the
wind, across the sea, the second verse sung by their
brave husbands as they are tossed by the gale — and
both are happy. Perhaps, if we would listen, we too
might hear on this storm-tossed world of ours, some
sound, some whisper, borne from afar to tell us there
is a Heaven which is our home ; and when we sing our
hymns upon the shores of the earth, perhaps we may
hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the
sands of time, and cheering the hearts of those who
'are pilgrims and strangers along the way. Yes, we
need to look up — out, beyond this low earth, and to
build higher in our thoughts and actions, even here!

You know, when a man is going up in a balloon, he
takes in sand as ballast, and when he wants to mount a
little higher, he throws out some of it, and then he
will mount a little higher; he throws out a little more
• ballast, and he mounts still higher; and the more he
throws out the higher he gets, and so the more we
have to throw out of the things of this world the nearer
we get to God. Let go of them ; let us not set our

22 HEAVEN i

hearts and affections on them, but do what the Master
tells ns — lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

In England I was told of a lady who had been bed-
ridden for years. She was one of those saints whom
God polishes up for the kingdom ; for I believe there
are many saints in this world whom we never hear
about; we jiever see their names heralded through the
press ; they live very near the Master ; they live very
near heaven; and I think it takes a great deal more
grace to suffer God's will than it does to do it; and if
a person lies on a bed of sickness, and suffers cheer-
fully, it is just as acceptable to God as if they went
out and worked in His vineyard.

Now this lady was of those saints. She said that
for a long time she used to have a great deal of
pleasure in watching a bird that came to make its nest
near her window. One year it came to make its nest,
aud it began to build so low down she was afraid some-
thing would happen to the young; and every day that
she saw that bird busy at work making its nest, she
kept saying, "Obird, build higher!" She could see
that the bird was likely to come to grief and disap-
pointment. At last the bird got its nest done, and laid
its eggs and hatched its young; and every morning the
lady looked out to see^ if the nest was there, and she
saw the old bird bringing food for the little ones, and
she took a great deal of pleasure looking at it. But
one morning she awoke, looked out, and she saw nothing
but feathers scattered all around, and she said: "Ah,
the cat has got the old bird and all her young." It would
have been a kindness to have torn that nest down.
That is what God does for us very of ten— just snatches

ITS HOPE. 23

things away before it is too late. Now, I think that
is what we want to say to professing Christians — if
you build for time you will be disappointed God
says : Build up yonder. It is a good deal better to
have life with Christ in God than anywhere else. I
would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than
be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained
in Paradise for 16,000 years, and then fallen, but if
our life is hid in Christ, how safe!

©H^oug^£l& of cJforrje.

BY ANNA SHIPTON.

0 Lord, 'twas Thine to labor and wear the thorns for me;
Thou sharest all my sorrows; Thou knowest what 'twill be
To see the Father's glory, to hear Thy welcome there,
Where never cross or burden remains for us to bear.

1 seem to pace the glittering street, and hear the harps of gold,
The echo of the new song that never groweth old;

I hear Thy praise, Lord Jesus, my Life, my Lord, my King,
Until my worn heart pineth the strains of heaven to sing.

Safe in the better country my loved ones I shall find,
And some in that bright multitude I feared were left behind ;
Then loud shall sound our praises within the jasper wall,
As cherubim and seraphim before the Holiest fall.

With folded wings, expectant, the angel bands will come
To listen to the tale of grace that wooed the children home;
And sitting at Thy feet, Lord, my joyful lips shall tell
How much He hath forgiven, who " doeth all things well."

Thou blessed Spirit, cheering this valley land for me,
With glimpses of the glory of that which soon shall be;
Each harpstring, dull and broken, Thy gentle breath awaits;
Then let m€ sing of Jesus up to the golden gates.

ITS INHABITANTS.

J\ feifctfe @y/c|y.

" A little way ! I know it is not far
To that dear home where my beloved are;
And still my heart sits, like a bird, upon
The empty nest, and mourns its treasures gone,
Plumed for their flight,
And vanished quite.
Ah me! Where is the comfort? Though I say
They have but journeyed on a little way.

" A little way! At times they seem so near,
Their voices even murmur in my ear,
To all my duties loving presence lend,
And with sweet ministry my steps attend.
'Twas here we met and parted company;
Why should their gain be such a grief to me?

This sense of loss!

This heavy cross.-
Dear Savior, take the burden off, I pray,
And show me heaven is but — a little way.

" A little way? The sentence I repeat.
Hoping and longing to extract some sweet
To mingle with the bitter; from Thy hand
I take the cup I cannot understand,
And in my weakness give myself to Thee.
Although it seems so very, very far
To that dear home where my beloved are,

I know, I know,

It is not so;
Oh, give me faith to believe it when I say
That they are gone — gone but a little way."

— Anon.

ITS INHABITANTS. 27

CHAPTEE IL

ITS INHABITANTS.

The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The people that dwell
therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Isaiah xxxiii, 34.

The society of heaven will be select. No one who
studies Scripture can doubt that. There are a good
many kinds of aristocracy in this world, but the aris-
tocracy of heaven will be the aristocracy of holiness.
The humblest believer on earth will be an aristocrat
there. It says in the 57th chapter of Isaiah: "For
thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhab-
iteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the
high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit." Now what could be plainer than
that ? No one who is not of a contrite and humble
spirit will dwell with God in His high and holy
place.

If there is anything that ought to make heaven near
to Christians, it is knowing that God and all their loved
ones will be there. What is it that makes home so at-
tractive ? Is it because we have a beautiful home ? Is
it because we have beautiful lawns ? Is it because we
have beautiful trees around us ? Is it because we have
beautiful paintings upon the walls inside ? Is it be-
cause we have beautiful furniture? Is that all that

28 HEAVEN:

makes home so attractive and beautiful? Nay, it is
the loved ones in it; it is the loved ones there.

I remember after being away from home some time,
I went back to see my honored mother, and I thought
in going back I would take her by surprise, and steal in
unexpectedly upon her, but when I found she had gone
away, the old place didn't seem like home at all. I
went into one room and then into another, and all
through the house, but I could not find that loved
mother, and I asked some member of the family,
" Where is mother ? " and they said she had gone away.
Well, home had lost its charm to me ; it was that mother
who made home so sweet to me, and it is the loved ones
who make home so sweet to every one ; it is the presence
of the loved ones that will make heaven so sweet to all
of us. Christ is there; God, the Father, is there; and
many, many who were dear to us when they lived on
earth are there — and we shall be with them by and by.

We find clearly in the 18th chapter of Matthew, 10th
verse, that the angels are there: " Take heed that ye
despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you,
that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face
of my Father which is in heaven."

" Their angels do always behold the Father's face! "
We shall have good company up there ; not only those
who have been redeemed, but those who have never
been lost; those who have never known what it is to
transgress ; those who have never known what it is to be
disobedient; who have obeyed Him from the very morn-
ing of creation.

It says in Luke i, when Gabriel came down to tell
Zachariah that he was to be the father of the forerunner

,

ITS INHABITANTS. 29

of Jesus Christ, Zachariali doubted him ; he had never
been doubted before ; and that doubt is met with the
declaration: "I am Gabriel, that standeth in the
presence of God." What a glorious thing to be able
to say!

It has been said that there will be three things
which will surprise us when we get to heaven — one, to
find many whom we did not expect to find there; an-
other, to find some not there whom we had expected;
a third, and perhaps the greatest wonder — to find our-
selves there.

A poor woman once told Rowland Hill that the way
to heaven was short, easy and simple ; comprising only
three steps — out of self, into Christ, and into glory.
We have a shorter way now — out of self and into
Christ, and we are there. As a dead man cannot in-
herit an estate, no more can a dead soul inherit heaven.
The soul must be raised up in Christ. Among the
good whom we hope to meet in heaven, we are told,
there will be every variety of character, taste, and dis-
position. There is not one mansion there; there are
many. There is not one gate to heaven, but many.
There are not only three gates on the north ; but on the
east three gates, and on the west three gates, and on
(the south three gates. From opposite divisions of the
theological compass, from opposing standpoints of the
religious world, from different quarters of human life
and character, through various expressions of their
common faith and hope, through diverse modes of con-
version, through different portions of the Holy Scrip-
ture, will the weary travelers enter the Heavenly City,
and meet each other — "not without surprise" — on the

30 HEAVEN.

shores of the same river of life. And on those shores
they will find a tree bearing, not the same kind of fruit
always and at all times, but " twelve manner of fruits,"
for every different turn of mind, — for the patient suf-
ferer, for the active servant, for the holy and humble
philosopher, for the spirits of just men now at last made
perfect; and "the leaves of the tree shall be for the
healing," not of one single church or people -only, not
for the Scotchman or the Englishman only, but for the
"healing of the nations," — the Frenchman, the Ger-
man, the Italian, the Russian— for all those from whom
it may be, in this world, its fruits have been farthest
removed, but who, nevertheless, have "hungered and
thirsted after righteousness," and who therefore "shall
be filled."

An eminent living divine says: " When I was a boy,
I thought of heaven as a great, shining city, with vast
walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it ex-
cept white-robed angels, who were strangers to me.
By and by my little brother died; and I thought of a
great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock
of cold, unknown angels, and one little fellow that I
was acquainted with. He was the only one I knew at
that time. Then another brother died ; and there were
two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to
die ; and the flock continually grew. But it was not
till I had sent one of my little children to his Heavenly
Parent — God — that I began to think I had a little in
myself. A second went, a third went; a fourth went;
and by that time I had so many acquaintances in
heaven, that I did not see any more walls and domes
and spires. I began to think of the residents of th©,V)

ITS INHABITANTS. 31

celestial city as my friends. And now so many of my
icquaintances have gone there, that it sometimes seems
co me that I know more people in heaven than I do on
earth."

WE SHALL LIVE ^OREVEE.

It says in John xii, 26 : "If any man serve Me, let
him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My
servant be,"

I cannot agree with some people, that Paul has bees
sleeping in the grave, and is still there, after the storms
of eighteen hundred years. I cannot believe that he
who loved the Master, who had such a burning zeal
for Him, has been separated from Him in an uncon-
scious state. " Father, I will that they also, whom
Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am ; that they
may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me.n
This is Christ's prayer.

Now when a man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ,
he receives eternal life. A great many people make a
mistake right there; ''He that belie veth on the Son
hath — h-a-t-h — hath eternal life ; " it does not say he
shall have it when he comes to die ; it is in the present
tense ; it is mine now — if I believe. It is the gift of
God, that is enough. You cannot bury the gift of God;
you cannot bury eternal life. All the grave-dig-
gers in the world cannot dig a grave large enough
and deep enough to hold eternal life; all the coffin-
makers in the world cannot make a coffin large enough
and strong enough to hold eternal life; it is mine;
it is mine!

I believe when Paul said: "To be absent from th&

32 HEAVEN:

body and present with the Lord," he meant what he
said; that he was not going to be separated from Him
for eighteen hundred years ; the spirit-that was given
him when he was converted he had from a new life and
a new nature, and they could not lay that away in the
sepulchre ; they could not bury it, that flew to meet its
Maker. Even the body shall be raised; this body,
sown in dishonor, shall be raised in glory; this body
which has known corruption, shall put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall put on immortality. It is only a
question of time. The great morning of the world
will, by-and-by, dawn upon the earth, and the dead shall
come forth and shall hear the voice of Him who is '"the
resurrection and the life."

Paul says: "If our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have, a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He could
take down the clay temple, and leave that, but he had a
better house. He says in one place: "I am in a strait be-
twixt two ; having a desire to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better ; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is
more needful for you." To me, it is a sweet thought to
think that death does not separate us from the Mas-
ter. A great many people are living continually in
the bondage of death, but if I have eternal life, death
cannot touch that ; it may touch the house I live in ; it
may change my countenance and send my body away
to the grave, but it cannot touch this new life.

To me it is very sad to think that so many professed
Christians look upon death as they do. I received some
time ago a letter from a friend in London, and I
thought, as I read it, I would take it and show it to

ITS INHABITANTS. 33

other people and see if I could not get them to look
upon death as this friend does. He had lost his beloved
cnother. In England it is a very common thing to send
3ut cards in memory of the departed ones, and they put
upon them great borders of black — sometimes a quar-
ter of an inch of black border — but this friend had put
on a gold border ; he did not put on black at all ; his
mother had gone to the golden city, and so he put on a
golden border ; and I think it a good deal better than
black. I think when our friends die, instead of putting
a great black border upon our memorials to make them
look dark, it would be better for us to put on gold.

It is not death at all ; it is life. Some one said to a
person dying: " Well, you are in the land of the living
yet" " No," said he, " I am in the land of the dying
yet, but I am going to the land of the living ; they live
there and never die." This is the land of sin and
death and tears, but up yonder they never die. It is
perpetual life ; it is unceasing joy.

" It is a glorious thing to die," was the testimony
of Hannah Moore on her death-bed, though her life
had been sown thick with the rarest friendships, and age
had not so weakened her memory as to cause her to
forget those little hamlets among the cliffs of her na-
tive hills, or the mission-schools she had with such
perseverance established, and where she would be so
sadly missed.

As James Montgomery has said:

"There is a soft, a dowDy bed;

Tis fair as breath of even;
A couch for weary mortals spread,
Where they may rest the aching head:

And find repose — in heaven 1

8

34 HEAVEN:

" There is an hour of peaceful rest,

To mourning wanderers given.
There is a joy for souls distressed.
A balm for every wounded breast,

Tis found alone — in heaven! "

KNOWING OUR FRIENDS.

Many are anxious to know if they will recognize their
friends in heaven. -In the 8th chapter of Matthew and
the 11th verse, we read: " And I say unto you, that
many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit
down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king-
dom of heaven."

Here we find that Abraham, who lived so many hun-
dreds of years before Christ, had not lost his identity,
and Ohrist tells us that the time is coming when they
shall come from the east and west and shall sit down
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
God. These men had riot lost their identity ; they were
known as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And if you will
turn to that wonderful scene that took place on the
Mount of Transfiguration, you will find that Moses,
who had been gone from the earth 1,500 years, was
there ; Peter, James and John saw him on the Mount
of Transfiguration; they saw him as Moses; he had
not lost his name. Christ says of him that overcometh,
" I will not blot your names out of the Lamb's Book of
Life." We have names in heaven; we are going to
bear our names there ; we will be known.

Over in the Psalms it says: "I shall be satisfied
when I awake in Thy likeness." That is enough.
Want is written on every human heart down here, but
there we shall be satisfied. You may hunt the world

ITS INHABITANTS. 35

from one end to the other, and you will not find a man
or woman who is satisfied; but in heaven we shall want
for nothing. In the 2d chapter of the 1st Epistle of
John, we read these words addressed to followers of
Christ:

" Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet ap-
pear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.

" And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as He is pure."

Moreover, it seems highly probable, indeed I think
it is clearly taught by Scripture, that a great many
careless Christians will get into heaven. There will be
a great many who will get in " by the skin of their
teeth," or as Lot was saved from Sodom, " so as by
fire." They will barely get in, but there will be no
crown of rejoicing. But everybody is not going to rush
into heaven. There are a great many who will not be
there. Tou know we have a class of people who tell
us they are going into the kingdom of God whether
they are converted or not. They tell us that they are
on their way; that they are going there. They tell us
all are going there; that the good, the bad and indif.
f erent are all going into the kingdom, and that they
will all be there; that there is no difference; and, in
other words— if I may be allowed to use plain language
— they give God the lie.

But they say, " We believe in the mercy of God;"
so do I. I believe in the justice of God, too; and I
think heaven would be a good deal worse than this
oarth if unrenewed men were permitted to form part
of it

36 HEAVEN:

"Why, if a man should live forever in this world in
sin, what would become of this world? It seems as if
it would be hell itself. Let your mind pass over the
history of this country, and think of some who have
lived in it. Suppose they should never die ; suppose
they should live on and on forever in sin and rebellion ;
do you think that God is going to take those men who
have rejected His Son, who have spurned the offer of
His mercy, who have refused salvation, and have
trampled His law under their feet, and have been in
rebellion against His laws down here? Do you sup-
pose God is going to take them right into His King-
dom and let them live there forever ? By no means.

NO DRUNKARDS IN HEAVEN.

" Be not deceived * * * nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall in-
herit the kingdom of God."

" No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Now let those mothers who have sons who are just com-
mencing a dissipated life, wake up ; and rest not day
nor night until their boys are converted by the power
of Godrs grace, because no drunkard shall inherit the
kingdom of God. Many of these moderate drinkers
will become drunkards; no man ever became a drunk-
ard all at once. How the devil blinds these moderate
drinkers! I do not know of any sin more binding than
the sin of intemperance ; the man is bound hand and
foot before he knows it.

I was reading some time ago an account of snake-
worshiping in India. I thought it was a horrible
thing. I read of a mother who saw a snake come into

ITS INHABITANTS. ; 37

tier home and coil itself around her little infant only
six months old, and she thought the reptile was such a
sacred thing that she did not dare to touch it; and she
saw the snake destroy her child; she heard the child's
pitiful cries, but dared not rescue it. My soul revolted
as I read the narrative. But I do not know but we
have things right here in America that are just as bad
as that serpent in India — serpents that are coming into
many a Christian home, and coiling around many a
son and binding them hand and foot, and the fathers
3,nd mothers seem to be asleep.

Oh, may the Spirit of God wake us up! No drunk-
ard shall inherit the kingdom of God; nor rum-seller
either. Bear that in mind. " Woe unto him that put-
teth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." I pity any pro-
fessing Christians who rent their property for drink-
ing saloons; I pity them from the depths of my
heart. If you ever expect to inherit the kingdom of
God, give it up. If you can never rent your property
to better purposes you had better let it stand empty.
This idea that all is going well, and that all are going
into the kingdom of God, whether they repent or not,
is not taught anywhere in the Scripture.

There will be no extortioners in heaven ; none of those
men who are taking advantage of their brothers; of
those men who have been unfortunate ; whose families
are sick; who have had to mortgage their property, and
had snap-judgment taken against them by some man
who has his hand at their throats, and takes every cent
that he can get. That man is an extortioner. He
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I pity a man
who gets money dishonestly. See the trouble he has

38 HEAVEN.

to keep it. It is sure to be scattered. If yon got it
dishonestly you cannot keep it; your children can't
keep it — they have not the power. You see that all
over the country. A man who gets a dollar dishon-j
estly, had better make restitution and pay it back very
quickly, or it will burn in his pocket.

SOME WILL NOT GET IN.

In the days of Noah we read that he sailed over thb
deluge. He was the only righteous man, but accord-
ing to the theory of some people, the rest of those mer>
who were so foul and so wicked — too wicked to live — 1
God took them and swept them all into heaven, and left
the only righteous man to go through this trial.
Drunkards, and thieves and vagabonds all went to
heaven, they say. You might as well go forward and
preach that "you can swear as much as you like, and
murder as much as you please, and it will come out
right — that God will forgive you; God is so merciful."

Suppose the Governor of a State should pardon ev-
ery person that the courts ever convicted, and are now
lying in its jails and penitentiaries; suppose he should
let them all loose because he is so merciful that he
could not bear to have men punished ; I think he would
not be Governor of that State long. These men who
are talking about God being so full of mercy, that He
is going to spare, and take all men to heaven, would
be the very men to say that such a Governor as that
ought to be impeached — that he ought not to be Gov-
ernor. Let us bear in mind that the Scripture says
there is a certain class of people who " shall not in-
herit the kingdom of 6rod" Now, I will srive vou the

i

ITS INHABITANTS. 39

Scripture ; it is a good deal better to just give the Scrip-
ture for these things, and then if you do not like it you
can quarrel with Scripture, and not with me. Let no
man say that I have been saying who is going to
heaven and who is not; I will let the Scripture speak
for itself : " Know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God?" I Cor. vi, 9.

But the unrighteous — the adulterers, the fornicators
and thieves — these men may all inherit it if they will
only turn away from their sins. " Let the wicked for-
sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;"
but if the unrighteous man says: " I will not turn away
from sin; I will hold on to sin and have heaven," he is
deceiving himself.

A man who steals my pocket-book loses a good deal
more than I do. I can afford to let him have my pocket-
book a great deal better than he can afford to take it.
See how much that man who steals my pocket-book
loses. Perhaps he may get a few dollars ; or he may
steal my coat; but he does not get much. See how
much he has lost. Take an inventory of what that
man loses if he loses heaven. Think of it. No thief
shall inherit the kingdom of God. To any thief I
would say: " Steal no more." Let him ask God to for-
give him ; let him repent of his sin and turn to God.
If you get eternal life it is worth more than the whole
world. If you were to steal the whole world, you
would not get much, after all. The whole world does
not amount to much, if you have not eternal life with
it, to enjoy yourself in the future.

BY ANNA SHIPTON.

Who are they whose songs are sounding
O'er the golden harps above?

Hark! they tell of grace abounding,
And Jehovah's sovereign love.

Who are they that keep their station
Hound the great eternal throne?

They from earthly tribulation
To their heavenly rest are gone.

See their robes of dazzling whiteness,
Without blemish, spot, or stain;

See their crowns that grow in brightness,
Purchased by the Lamb once slain.

Never heat shall beat upon them,
Thirst nor hunger reach them there;

He, whose life from death hath won them,
Bids them now His glory share.

Feeble hearts are nerved for duty,
Faltering feet now firmly stand.

Palms of heaven's unfading beauty
Mark earth's once despised band.

*Tis the Lamb of God who leads them,
And they serve Him night and day;

By the heavenly fount He feeds them,
He hath wiped their tears away.

Sweet their theme! 'Tis still, " Salvation

Unto Christ, the Holy One! "
And their sighs of tribulation

Change to songs around the throne.

eJ-Tecrse^:
ITS HAPPINESS,

«@V/ftaf ! Jtf moAf <3f or^e ?

*J

"What! almost home?" "Yes, almost home," she said,
And light seemed gleammg on her aged head.

" Jesus is very precious ! " Those who near
Her bedside stood were thriUed those words to hear.

" Toward His blest home I turn my willing feet;
Hinder me not; I go my Lord to meet/
Silence ensued. She seemed to pass away,
Serene and quiet as that summer day.

* Speak," cried through tears her daughter, bending low,

* One word, beloved mother, ere you go."
She spoke that word; the last she spoke on earth,

.1 In whispering tones— that word of wondrous worth:
u JESUS ! " The sorrowing listeners caught the sound,
But angels heard it with a joy profound.
Back, at its mighty power, the gates unfold—
The gates of pearl that guard the streets of gold.
The harpers with their harps took up the strain,
And sang the triumph of the Lord again,
As through the open portals entered in
Another soul redeemed from death and sin.
And as from earth the spirit passed away,
To dwell forever in the realms of day,
Those who were left to mourn could almost hear
The strains of heavenly music strike the ear.
And to their longing eyes by grace was given,
In such a scene, as 'twere, a glimpse of heaven.

—Unknown.

ITS HAPPINESS. 43

CHAPTER IIL

ITS HAPPINESS.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart ot man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. Isaiah lxiv, 4. I Cor. ii, 9.

If there is one word above another that will swing
open the eternal gates, it is the name of Jesus. There
are a great many pass-words and by- words down here,
but that will be the countersign up above. Jesus Christ
is the *' Open Sesame " to heaven. Any one who tries
to climb up some other way, is a thief and a robber.
But when we get in, what a joy above every other joy
we can think of, will it be to see Jesus Himself all the
time, and to be with Him continually.

Isaiah has given this promise of God to every one
who is saved through faith: "Thine eyes shall see the
King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is
very far off." Some of us may not be able to go
around the world. We may not be able to see any of
the foreign countries; but every Christian by and by
is going to see a land that is very far off. This is our
Promised Land. John Milton says of the saints who
ha\e gone already:

"They walk with God
High in salvation* and the climes of bliss."

44 HEAVEN:

It is a blissful climate up there. People down here
look around a great deal to find a good climate where
they will not be troubled by any of their pains or aches,
but the climate of heaven is so fine that no pains
or a'ches can hold out against it. There will be no
room to find fault. We shall leave all our pains and aches
behind us, and find an everlasting health, such as earth
can never know.

But you know the glory of Christ as reigning King
of heaven would be something too much for mortal
eyes to endure. In 1st Timothy, vi, we read of Christ as :

" The blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of
Lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach into; Whom no man hath seen nor can see."

As mortals, we cannot see that light. Our feeble
faculties would be dazzled before such a blaze of glory.

In Ezekiel i, 28, we read of that prophet having a
faint glimpse of it:

" As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This
Was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And
when I saw it, I fell upon my face."

We are amazed at ordinary perfections now. None
of us can ]ook the sun squarely in the face. But when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, as
Paul says, the power of the soul will be stronger.
We shall be able to see Christ in His glory then.
Though the moon be confounded and the sun ashamed,
vet we shall see Him as He is. This is what will make
heaven so happy. We all know that great happiness
cannot be found on earth. Reason, revelation, and the
experience of six thousand years, all tell us that No

ITS HAPPINESS. 45

roan creature has the power to give it. Even doing
good fails to give it fully, for, owing to sin in the
world, even the best have not perfect happiness here.
They have to wait for heaven ; although they may be
so near it sometimes that they can see heralds of its joy
and beauty, as Columbus saw the strange and beautiful
birds hovering around his ships long before he caught
I sight of America.

All the joys we are to know in heaven will come from
the presence of God. This is the leading thought in
all that the Scripture has to say on the subject. What
life on this earth is without health, life in heaven
would be without the presence of God. God's pres-
ence will be the very light and life of the place. It is
said that one translation of the words describing the
presence of God is " a happy making sight." It will
be a sight like the return of a long-lost boy to his
mother, or the first glimpse of your home after you
have been a long time away. Some of you know how
a little sunshine on a dark day, or the face of a kind
friend in trouble, often cheers us up. Well, it will be
.something like that, only a thousand times better. Our
preceptions of God will be clearer then, and that will
make us love Him all the more.

The more we know God, the more we love Him. A
great many of us would love God more if we only be-
came better acquainted with Him. While on earth it
.gives Christians gre^t pleasure to think of the perfec-
tion of Jesus Christ, hut how will it be when we see
Him as He is?

46 HEAVEN:

WE SHALL BE LIKE CHRIST.

Some one once asked a Christian what he expected
to do when he got to heaven ? He said he expected to
spend the first thousand years looking at Jesus Christ,
and after that he would look for Peter, and then for
James, and for John, and all the time he could cont \
ceive of would be joyfully filled with looking upo4
these great persons. But it seems to me that one look
at Jesus Christ will more than reward us for all we
have ever done for Him down here; for all the sacri-
fices we can possibly make for Him, just to see Him ;
only to see Him. But we shall become like Him when
we once have seen Him, because we shall hjave His
Spirit. Jesus, the Savior of the world, will be there,
and we shall see Him face to face.

It will not be the pearly gates; nor the jasper
walls, or the streets paved with transparent gold, that
will make it heaven to us. These would not satisfy us.
If these were all, we would not want to stay there for-
ever. I heard of a child whose mother was very sick ;
and while she lay very low, one of the neighbors took
the child away to stay with her until the mother should
be well again. But instead of getting better, the
mother died; and they thought they would not take the
child home until the funeral was all over ; and would
never tell her about her mother being dead. So a while
afterward they brought the little girl home. First she
went into- the sitting-room to find her mother; then she
went into the parlor, to find her mother there ; and she
went from one end of the house to the other, and could
not find her. At last she said, " Where is my mamma?"
And when they told her her mamma was gone, the little

ITS HAPPINESS. 47

thing wanted to go back to the neighbor's house again.
Home had lost its attraction to her since her mother
was not there any longer. No ; it will not be the jasper
walls and the pearly gates that will make heaven at-
tractive. It is our being with God. We shall be in
the presenoe of the Redeemer ; we shall be forever with
the Lord.

There was a time when I used to think more of
Jesus Christ than I did of the Father; Christ seemed
to be so much nearer to me because He had become
" the Days Man between me and God. In my imagina-
tion I put God away on the throne as a stern judge,
but Christ had come in as the mediator, and it seemed
as if Christ was much nearer to me than God, the
Father. I got over that years ago, when God gave
me a son, and for ten years I had an only son, and as I
looked at the child as he grew up, the thought came to
me that it took more love for God to give up His Son
than it did for His Son to die. Think of the love that
God had for this world when He gave Christ up !

If you will turn to Acts vii, 55, you will find that
when Stephen was being stoned he lifted up his eyes,
and it seemed as if God rolled back the curtain of time
and allowed him to look into the eternal city, and see
Christ standing at the right hand of God. When
Jesus Christ went on high He led captivity captive, and
took His seat, for His work was done ; but when Ste-
phen saw Him He was standing up, and I can imagine
He saw that martyr fighting, as it were, single-handed
and alone, the first martyr, though many were to come
after him. You can hear the tramp of the millions
coming after him, to lay down their lives for the Son

48 HEAVEN

of God. But Stephen led the van; he was the first
martyr, and as he was dying for the Lord Jesus Christ
he looked up ; Christ was standing to give him a
welcome, and the Holy Ghost came down to bear wit-
ness that Christ was there. How then can we doubt it ?

A beggar does not enjoy looking at a palace. The
grandeur of its architecture is lost upon him. Looking
upon a royal banquet does not satisfy the hunger of a
starving man. But seeing heaven is also having a share
in it There would be no joy there if we did not feel
that some of it was ours. God unites the soul to Him-
self. We read in II Peter that we are made partakers
of the divine nature. Now if you put a piece of iron
in the fire, it very soon loses its dark color, and becomes
red and hot like the fire, but it does not lose its iron
nature. So the soul becomes bright with God's bright-
ness, beautiful with God's beauty, pure with God's
purity, and warm with the glow of His perfect love, and
yet remains a human soul. We shall be like Him, but
remain ourselves.

There is a fable that a kind-hearted king was once
hunting in a forest, and found a blind orphan boy, who
was living almost like a beast. The king was touched
with pity, and adopted the boy as his own, and had
him taught all that can be learned by one who is blind.
When he reached his twenty-first year, the king, who
was also a great physician, restored the youth his sight,
and took him to his palace, where, surrounded by his
nobles and all the majesty and magnificence of his
court, he proclaimed him one of his sons, and com-
manded all to give him their honor and love. The
once friendless orphan thus became a prince and a

ITS HAPPINESS. 49

harer in the royal dignity, and of all the happiness
,nd glory to be found in the palace of a king. Who
an tell the joy that overwhelmed the soul of that young
aan when he first saw the king, of whose beauty and
goodness and power he had heard so much ? Who can
ell the happiness he must have felt when he saw his
>wn princely attire, and found himself adopted into the
oyal family — honored and beloved by all ?

Now Christ is the great and mighty King who finds
I >ur souls in the wilderness of this sinful world. He
bids us, as we read in the 3d chapter of Revelation,
'wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and
mked." We read in the 1st chapter of the same book,
ile " washed us from our sins in His own blood;" and
gain, in the 61st chapter of Isaiah, He has clothed us
vtith a spotless robe oj innocence, "with the garments
>f salvation;" He has covered us "with a robe of
ighteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with
ewels."

The mission of the Gospel to sinners, as we find it
n the 26th chapter of Acts, was, " to open their eyes,
it,nd to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
>ower of Satan unto God, that they may receive for-
jivenessof sins and inheritance among them which are
';anctified by faith that is in Me." This is what Christ
las done for every Christian. He has adorned you
vith the gift of grace, and adopted you as His child,
s>nd as it says in the 3d chapter of I Corinthians :

"All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
he world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come—*
ill are yc -drs, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

50 HEAVEN:

He has given you His own Word to educate you f
heaven; He has opened your eyes so that now you se
By His grace and your own co-operation your soul i
being gradually developed into a more perfect resem
blance to Him.

Finally, your Heavenly Father calls you horn
where you will see the angels and saints clothed wit
the beauty of Christ Himself, standing around Hi
throne, and hearing the word that will admit you int<
their society, "Well done, thou good and faithful serv
ant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." In the
16th chapter of John, Christ Himself says: " All things
that the Father hath are Mine ; therefore, said I, thai
fie shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you."
All will be yours. Ah, how poor and mean do earthly
pleasures seem by comparison. How true those linea
of a Scotch poet:

•" The world can never give

The bliss for which we sigh;
'Tis not the whole of life to live,

Nor all of death to die.
Beyond this vale of tears

There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years,

And all that life is love."

OVER THE RIVER.

There is joy in heaven, we are told, over the conver-
sions that take place on earth. In Luke xv, 7, we
read: " I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over
ninety-and-nine just persons which need no repent-
ance." When there is going to be an election for
President of the United States, there is tremendous

ITS HAPPINESS. 51

excitement — a great commotion. There is probably not

a paper from Maine to California that would not have

| something on nearly every page about the candidate;

. the whole country is excited ; but I doubt if it would be

noticed in heaven. If Queen Victoria should leave her

j throne, there would be great excitement throughout the

i nations of the earth ; the whole world would be inter-

i ested in the event; it would be telegraphed around the

: world; but it would probably be overlooked altogether

j in heaven. Yet if one little boy or girl, one man or

: one woman, should repent of their sins, this day and

hour that would be noticed in heaven. They look at

things differently up there ; things that look very large

to us, look very small in heaven; and things that seem

very small to us down here, may be very great up yon-

i der. Think of it! By an act of our own, we may

cause joy in heaven. The thought seems almost too

wonderful to understand. To think that the poorest

sinner on earth, by an act of his own, can send a thrill

of joy through the hosts of heaven !

The Bible says: " There is joy in the presenco of
the angels," not that the angels rejoice, but it is " in
the presence " of the angels. I have studied over that
a great deal, and often wondered what it meant. " Joy
j in the presence of the angels ? " Now, it is speculation ;
I admit it may be true, or it may not; but perhaps the
friends who have left the shores of time — they who
have gone within the fold — may be looking down upon
us ; and when they see one they prayed for while on
earth repenting and turning to God, it sends a thrill of
joy to their very hearts. Even now, some mother who
has gone up yonder may be looking down upon a son

52 HEAVEN:

or daughter, and if that child should say: "I will meet
that mother of mine; I will repent; yes, I am going to
join you, mother," the news, with the speed of a
sunbeam, reaches heaven, and that mother may then
rejoice, as we read, "In the presence of the angels."

In Dublin, after one of the meetings, a man walked
into the inquiry room with his daughter, his only one,
whose mother had died some time before, and he
prayed: " O God, let this truth go deep into my daugh-
ter's heart, and grant that the prayers of her mother
may be answered to-day — that she may be saved." As
they rose up she put her arms about his neck and kissed
him, and said: "I want to meet my mother; I want to
be a Christian." That day she accepted Christ. That
man is now a minister in Texas. The daughter died
out there a little while ago, and is now with her mother
in heaven. What a blessed and joyful meeting it must
have been ! It may be a sister, it may be a brother,
who is beckoning you over —

" Over the river they beckon to me,

Loved ones who've crossed to the farther side;
The gleam of their snowy robes I see,

But their voices are drowned in the rushing tide.
There's one with ringlets of sunny gold,

And eyes, the reflection of heaven's own blue;
He crossed in the twilight gray and cold,

And the pale mist hid him from mortal view.
We saw not the angels who met him there,

The gates of the city we could not see;
Over the river, over the river,

My brother stands waiting to welcome me.1"

Whoever you are, do not delay.

The story is told of a father who had his little daugh-
ter out late in the evening. The night was dark, and

ITS HAPPINESS. 53

they had passed through a thick wood to the brink of
a river. Far away on the opposite shore a light twinkled
here and there in the few scattered houses, and still
farther off blazed the bright lights of the great city to
which they were going. The little child was weary
and sleepy, and the father held her in his arms while
he waited for the ferryman, who was at the other side.
At length they saw a little light ; nearer and nearer
came the sound of the oars, and soon they were safe in
the boat.

" Father," said the little girl.

"Well, my child?"

11 It's very dark, and I can't see the shore ; where are
we going?"

"The ferryman knows the way, little one; we will
soon be over."

" O, I wish we were there, father."

Soon in her home loving arms welcomed her, and her
fears and her tremor were gone. Some months pass by,
and this same little child stands on the brink of a river
that is darker and deeper, more terrible still. It is the
River of Death. The same loving father stands near
her, distressed that his child must cross this river and
he not be able to go with her. For days and for nights
jhe and her mother have been watching over her, leav-
ing her bedside only long enough for their meals, and
to pray for the life of their precious one. For hours
she has been slumbering, and it seems as if _ her spirit
must pass away without her waking again, but just be-
fore the morning watch she suddenly awakes with the
eye bright, the reason unclouded, and every faculty
alive. A sweet smile is playing upon her face.

54 HEAVEN:

i

" Father," she says, " I have come again to the river
side, and am again waiting for the ferryman to come
and take me across."

"Does it seem as dark and cold as when you went
over the other river, my child?"

"0 no! There is no darkness here. The river is
covered with floating silver. The boat coming toward
me seems made of solid light, and I am not afraid of
the ferryman."

" Can you see over the river, my darling? "

" O yes, there is a great and beautiful city there,
all filled with light; and I hear music such as the an-
gels make!"

"Do you see any one on the other side?"

"Why yes, yes, I see the most beautiful form; and
He beckons me now to come. Oh, ferryman, make
haste ! I know who it is ! It is Jesus ; my own blessed
Jesus. I shall be caught in His arms. I shall rest
on His bosom — I come — I come."

And thus she crossed over the River of Death, made
like a silver stream by the presence of the blessed
Redeemer.

SOMETHING MOEE.

There is hardly an unconverted man anywhere, no
matter how high up or how rich he may be, but will
tell you, if you get his confidence, that he is not happy.
There is something he wants that he cannot get, or
there is something he has that he wants to get rid of. It
is very doubtful if the Czar of all the Russias is a
happy man, and yet he has about all he can get. Al-
though Queen Victoria has palaces, and millions at her

ITS HAPPINESS. 55

command, and lias besides what most sovereigns lack,
the love of her subjects, it is a question whether she
gets much pleasure out of her position. If kings and
queens love the Jesus Christ and are saved, then they
may be happy. If -they know they will reach heaven
like the humblest of their subjects, then they may rest
secure. Paul, the humble tent-maker, will have a
higher seat in heaven than the best and greatest sov-
ereign that ever ruled the earth. If the Czar should
meet John Bunyan, the poor tinker, up in heaven, he
no doubt would finci him the greater man.

The Christian life is the only happy one. Without
it something is always wanting. When we are young
we have grand enterprises, but we soon spoil them by
being too rash. We want experience. When we get
old we have the experience, but then all the power to
carry out our schemes is gone. " Happy is that people
whose God is the Lord." The only way to be happy is
to be good. The man who steals from necessity sins
because he is afraid of being unhappy, but for the
moment he forgets all about how unhappy the sin is
going to make him. Bad as he is, man is the best and
noblest thing on earth, and it is easy to understand how
he fails to find true happiness in anything lower than
himself. The only object better than ourselves is God,
aud He is all we can ever be satisfied with. Gold, that
is mere dross dug up out of the earth, does not satisfy
man. Neither do the honor and praise of other men.
The human soul wants something more than that.
Heaven is the only place to get it. No wonder that
the angels who see God all the time are so happy.

The publicans went to hunt up John the Baptist in

56 HEAVEN:

the wilderness, to know what they should do. Some of
the highest men in the land went to consult the hermit
to know how to get happiness. " Whosoever trusteth
in the Lord, happy is he." It is because there is no
real happiness down here, that earth is not worth liv-
ing for. It is because it is all above, that heaven is
worth dying for. In heaven there is all life and no
death. In hell there is all death and no life. Here
on earth there is both living and dying, which is be-
tween the two. If we are dead to sin here we will live
in heaven, and if we live in sin here we must expect
eternal death to follow.

Do you know that every Christian dies twice ? He
first becomes spiritually dead to sin — that is the re-
newed soul. He then begins to feel the joy of heaven.
The joys of heaven reach down to earth as many and as
sure as the rays of the sun. Then comes physical
death, which makes way for the physical heaven. Of
course the old sinful body has to be changed. We can-
not take that into heaven. It will be a glorified body
that we will get at the resurrection, not a sinful body.
Our bodies will be transfigured like Christ's.

There will be no temptation in heaven. If th^re
were no temptation in the world now, God could not
prove us. He wants to see if we are loyal. That is
why He put the forbidden tree in Paradise ; that ac-
counts for the presence of the Canaanite in the land of
Israel. When we plant a seed, after a time it disap-
pears and brings forth a seed that looks much the same,
but still it is a different seed. So our bodies and the
bodies of those we know and love will be raised up,
looking much the same — but still not all the same.

ITS HAPPINESS. 61

Christ took the same body into heaven that was cruci-
fied on the cross, unless He was transformed in the
cloud after the disciples lost sight of Him. Thei &
must have been some change in the appearance c£
Christ after His resurrection, for Mary Magdalene
\ who was the first one who saw Him did not know Him
neither did the disciples, who walked and talked with
Him about Himself, and did not recognize Him until
He began to ask a blessing at supper. Even Peter
did not know Him when He appeared on the sea-shore.
Thomas would not believe it was Christ until he saw
the prints of the nails and the wound in His side. But
we shall all know Him in heaven.

There are two things that the Bible makes as clear
and certain as eternity. One is that we are going to
see Christ, and the other that we are going to be like
Him. God will never hide His face from us there,
and Satan will never show his.

There is not such a great difference between grace
and glory after all. Grace is the bud, and glory the
blossom. Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace
perfected. It will not come hard to people who are
serving God down here to do it when they go up yon-
der. They will change places, but they will not
change employments.

HIGHER UP.

The moment a person becomes heavenly-minded and
gets his heart and affections set on things above, theii
life becomes beautiful, the light of heaven shines
across his pathway, and he does not have to be all the
time lashing and upbraiding himself because he is not

58 HEAVEN:

more like Christ. Some one asked a Scotchman if he
was on the way to heaven, and he said: "Why man, I
live there; I am not on the way." That is just it.
We want to live in heaven; while we are walking in
this world it is our privilege to have our hearts and
affections there. I once heard Mr. Morehouse tell a
story about a lady in London who found one of those
poor, bed-ridden saints, and then she found a wealthy
woman who was all the time complaining and murmur-
ing at her lot. Sometimes I think people whom God does
the most for in worldly things think the less of Him and
care less about Him, and are the most unproductive in
His service. But this lady went around as a mission-
ary visiting the poor, and she used to go and visit this
poor, bed-ridden saint, and she said if she wanted to
get cheered up and her heart made happy she woulJ
go and visit her. [There is a place in Chicago, and
has been for years, where a great many Christians have
always gone when they want to get their faith strength-
ened ; they go there and visit one of these saints. And
a friend told me that she thought that the Lord kept
one of those saints in most of the cities to entertain
angels as they passed over the cities on errands of
mercy, for it seems that these saints are often visited
by the heavenly host. J Well, this lady missionary had
wanted to get this wealthy woman in contact with this
saint, and she invited her to go a number of times;
and finally the lady consented to go, and when she got
to the place, she went up the first flight of stairs, and
it was not very clean, and was dark.

" What a horrible place," tho lady said; " why did
you bring me here? "

ITS HAPPINESS. 59

The lady smiled and said: " It is better higher up."

And then they went up another flight, and it didn't

grow any lighter, and she complained again, and the

lady said, " It is better higher up." And then they

went up another flight, and it was no lighter ; still the

missionary kept saying, " It is better higher up." And

when they got to the fifth story they opened the door,

and entered a beautiful room, a room that was carpeted,

with plants in the window, and a little bird was in a cage

singing, and there was that saint just smiling, and the

first thing the complaining woman had to say to her was :

" It must be very hard for you to be here and suffer."

" Oh, that is a very small thing; it is not very hard,"

she said, " it is better higher up."

And so if things do not go just right, if they do not
go to suit us here, we can say, " It is better higher up,
it is better further on," and we can lift up our hearts
and rejoice as we journey on toward home.
You know those beautiful lines —

" Beyond the smiling and the weeping,

I shall be soon;
Beyond the waking and the sleeping,
Beyond the sowing and the reaping,

I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!

Sweet Home!
Lord, tarry not, but come.

" Beyond the rising and the setting,

I shall be soon;
Beyond the calming and the fretting,
Beyond remembering and forgetting,

I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home !

Sweet Hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come."

BY ANNA SHIPTON.

Nearer and nearer, day by day, the distant voices come ;

Soft through the pearly gate they swell, and seem to call me home.

The lamp of life burns faint and low; ay, let it fainter burn;

For who would weep the failing lamp when birds announce the morn?

I saw the faces of my loved gleam through the twilight dim,

And softly on the morning air arose the heaven-born hymn;

With looks of love they gazed on me, as none gaze on me now;

The glory of the Infinite surrounded every brow.

Fair lilies, star-like in their bloom, and waving palms they bore,

And oh, the smiles of peace and joy those heavenly faces wore!

Thou who hast fathomed death's dark tide, save me from death's

alarms;
Beneath my trembling soul, oh, stretch Thine everlasting arms !
No second cross, no thorny crown can bruise Thy sacred brow;
Thou who the wine-press trod alone, o'er the dark waves bear me

now.
A parting hour, a pang of pain, and then shall pass away
The veil that shrouds Thee where Thou reign' st in everlasting day.
No sin, no sigh, no withering fear, can wring the bosom there;
But basking in Thy smile I shall Thy sinless service share.
How long, O Lord, how long before Thou'lt take me by the hand,
And I, Thy weakest child, at last among Thy children stand?
Beyond the stars that steadfast shino my spirit pines to soar,
To dwell within my Father's house, and leave that home no more
O Lord, Thou hast with angel food my fainting spirit fed;
If 'tis Thy will I linger here", bless Thou the path I tread;
And though my soul doth pant to pass within the pearly gate,
Yet teach me for Thy summons, Lord, in patience still to wait.

ITS CERTAINTY.

$ 3^'ne in ^e ^'0?^- °f ^i04#

I shine in the light of God;

His likeness stamps my brow;
Through the Valley of Death my feet have trod,

And I reign in glory now!

No breaking heart is here,

No keen and thrilling pain,

No wasted cheek where the frequent tear

Hath rolled and left its stain.

* * * * * * *

O friends of mortal years,

The trusted and the true,
Ye are watching still in the valley of tears.

But I wait to welcome you.

Do I forget? Ono!

For memory's golden chain
Shall bind my heart to the hearts below

Till they meet to touch again.

Each link is strong and bright,

And love's electric flame
Flows freely down, like a river of light,

To the world from whence I came.

Do you mourn when another star

Shines out from the glittering sky?
Do you weep when the raging voice of war

And the storms of conflict die?

Then why should your tears run down,

And your hearts be sorely riven,
For another gem in the Savior's crown,

And another soul in heaven?

—From an English Friend.

^2

ITS CERTAINTY. 63

CHAPTEE IV.

ITS CERTAINTY.

In My Father's house are many mansions I go to

prepare a place for you. John xiv, 2.

There are some people who depend so much upon
their reason that they reason away God. They say God
is not a person we can ever see. They say God is a
Spirit. So He is, but He is a person too; and became
a man and walked the earth once. Scripture tells us
very plainly that God has a dwelling-place. There is
no doubt whatever about that. A dwelling-place indi-
cates personality. God's dwelling-place is in heaven.
He has a dwelling-place, and we are going to be in-
mates of it. Therefore we shall see Him.

In I Kings, viii, 30, we read:

" And hearken Thou to the supplication of Thy servant, and of
Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; and hear
Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place; and when Thou hearest, for-
give."

This idea that heaven is everywhere and nowhere is
not according to Scripture. Heaven is God's habita-
tion, and when Christ came on earth He taught us to
pray: " Our Father, which art in heaven." This hab-
itation is spoken of as " the city of eternal life."
Think of a city without a cemetery — they have no dy-
ing there. If there could be such a city as that found

64 HEAVEN:

on this earth what a rush there would be to it! How
men would try to reach that city! You cannot find one
on the face of this earth. A city without tears — God
wipes away all the tears up yonder. This is a time of
weeping, but by-and-by there will be a time when God
shall call us where there will be no tears. A city
without pain, a city without sorrow, without sickness,
without death. There is no darkness there. "The
Lamb is the light thereof." It needs no sun, it needs
no moon. The paradise of Eden was as nothing com-
pared with this one. The tempter came into Eden and
triumphed, but in that city nothing that defileth shall
ever enter. There will be no tempter there. Think
of a place where temptation cannot come. Think of a
place where we shall be free from sin ; where pollution
cannot enter, and where the righteous shall reign for-
ever. Think of a city that is not built with hands,
where the buildings do not grow old with time; a city
whose inhabitants are numbered by no census, except
the Book of Life, which is the heavenly directory.
Think of a city through whose streets runs no tide of
business, where no hearses with their nodding plumes
creep slowly with their sad burdens to the cemetery; a
city without griefs or graves, without sins or sorrows,
without marriages or mournings, without births or
burials ; a city which glories in having Jesus for its
King, angels for its guards, and whose citizens are
saints !

We believe this is just as much a place and just as
much a city as is New York, London or Paris. We

dieve in it a good deal more, because earthly cities
pass away, but this city will remain forever. It

ITS CERTAINTY. 85

ias foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Some of the grandest cities the world has ever known
lave not had foundations strong enough to last.

TYRE AND SIDON.

Take for instance Tyre and Sidon. They were rival
sities something like New York and Philadelphia, or
3t. Louis and Chicago. When the patriarch Jacob
2jave his sons his blessing, he spoke of Sidon. In the
splitting up of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by
Joshua, Tyre and Sidon seem to have fallen to the lot
3f Asher, though the old inhabitants were never fully
driven out. We read in Mark: " Jesus withdrew Him-
self with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude
from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and from
Jerusalem, and from Idumoea and from beyond Jordan ;
and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude,
when they heard what things He did, came unto Him."
We find in Acts xvii, 3, that the Captain of the guards
who was taking Paul prisoner to appear before Caesar
at Rome, when the ship touched at Sidon let Paul go
and visit some of his friends there to refresh himself.
From this it has been inferred that at that time there
must have been a Christian church there, although the
people generally worshiped the Queen of Heaven, who
was represented as crowned with the crescent moon.

There are some persons now, you know, who adore
a Queen of Heaven, whom they picture with the moon
beneath her feet. Even the Hebrews, when they saw
" the moon walking in brightness," along the clear
skies of Palestine, impressed by its beauty, fell into the
same idolatry. Jeremiah says:

66 HEAVEN:

" The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the Queen of
Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods.''

In answer to the prophet's reproof we find them say-
ing, in the 44th chapter, beginning at the 16th verse:

" As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of
the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, but we will certainly do
whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth, to burn incense
unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto
her, as we have done."

Is it any wonder that a little ' farther on we should

find addressed to them this language :

" The Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your do-
ings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed;
therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a
curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day."

In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given
in marriage, and there will be no " Queen " in heaven.

Tyre is mentioned by Joshua as " a strong city,"

and both Isaiah and Ezekiel speak of it. In fact, there

is a great deal in Scripture about it. Nebuchadnezzar,

Alexander the Great, and other kings have fought over

it, and hosts of lives have been lost in taking what is

now a ruin. Alexander once destroyed it, but it was

afterward rebuilt. We find in the inspired Word of

God descriptions of what this city once was, from which

we can form some idea of its beauty. The whole of

the 27th chapter of Ezekiel is taken up with Tyrus, as>

it was called then:

" O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a mer-
chant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: O
Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in
the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They
have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken
cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee."

ITS CERTAINTY. 67

So it goes on:

"Fine linen with brcidered work from Egypt was that which
hou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles
>f Elishah was that which covered thee."

A little farther on it says:

" Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and
hy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and
ill thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which
s in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the
lay of thy ruin. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,
:nou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of the brightness; I
will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they
may behold thee."

The terrible prophesies of its downfall have all been
literally fulfilled. We find them in the 26th chapter,
beginning with the 3d verse:

" Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus,
and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea
causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of
Tyrus, and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from
her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for
the spreading of nests in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord God; and it shall become a spoil to the nations."

Travelers now describe the site of Tyre as " a heap
of ruins, broken arches and vaults, tottering walls and
towers, with a few starving wretches housed amid the
rubbish." A large part of it is under water, a portion
of the ruins a place to spread nests upon, and the rest
has become indeed " like the top of a rock."

Thus passes away the glory of the world. This Book
tells us of the glory of a city that we no longer see,
but which has been. It tells us also of the glory of a
greater City that we have not seen, but shall see if w©
but follow in the way.

68 HEAVEN:

" O happy harbor of God's saints!

O sweet and pleasant soil!
In thee no sorrow can be found,

Nor grief, nor care, nor toil.
Thy gardens and thy goodly walks

Continually are green,
Where grow such sweet and pleasant flowers

As nowhere else are seen.
No candle needs, no moon to shine,

No glittering star to light,
For Christ, the King of Righteousness,

Forever shineth bright."

OUE NAMES RECORDED THERE.

We are told that one time just before sunrise, two
men got into a dispute about what part of the heavens
the sun would first appear in. They became so excited
over it that they began to fight, and beat each other
over the head so badly that when the sun arose neither
of them could see it. So there are persons who go on
disputing about heaven until they dispute themselves
out of it, and more who dispute over hell until they
dispute themselves into it.

The Hebrews in their writings tell us of three dis-
tinct heavens. The air — the atmosphere about the earth
— is one heaven ; the firmament where the stars are is
another, and above that is the heaven of heavens, where
God's throne is, and the mansions of the Lord are —
those mansions of light and peace which are the abode
of the blessed, the homes of the Redeemer and the
redeemed.

This is the heaven where Christ is. This is the place
we read of in Deuteronomy: " Behold the heaven and
the heaven of heavens is the Lord thy God's, the earth
also with all that therein is."

ITS CERTAINTY. 69

In II Corinthians, Paul, speaking of himself, says :

" I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in
the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell,
God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven."

Some people have wondered what the third heaven
means. That is where God dwells, and where the
storms do not come. There sits the incorruptible Judge.
Paul, when he was caught up there, heard things that it
was not lawful for him to utter, and he saw things that
he could not speak of down here. The higher up we
get in spiritual matters, the nearer we seem to heaven.
There our wishes are fulfilled at last. We may cry out
like the psalmist:

" One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to be-
hold the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in His temple.

We are assured by Christ Himself that our names
will be written in heaven if we are only His. In the
10th chapter of Luke and the 20th verse it reads : "Not-
withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are
subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your
names are written in heaven." A little while before
these words were uttered by the Savior, calling to-
gether seventy of His disciples, sent them forth in
couples to preach the gospel in the cities of Galilee
and Judea. There are people nowadays who have no
faith in revivals. Yet the greatest revival the world
ever saw was during the five or six years that John the
Baptist and Jesus were preaching, followed by the
preaching of the apostles and disciples after Christ left
the earth. For years the country was stirred from one
end to the other. There were probably men then who

70 HEAVEN:

stood out against the revival. They might have called it
" spasmodic," and refused to believe in it. Perhaps
they said, "It is a nine days' wonder and will pass |
away in a little while, and there will be nothing left of
it." No doubt men talked in tho^e days just as they |
talk now. All the way down from the time of Christ
and His apostles there have been men who have op- j
posed the work of God, and some of them professing !
to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, all because it
has not been done in their way. When the Spirit offl
God comes, He works in His own way. We must learn
the lesson that we are not to mark out any channels for j
Him to work in, for He will work in His own way when 1
He comes.

These disciples came back after their work. The
Spirit had worked with them, and the devils were sub-
ject to them, and they had power over disease, and they
had power over the Enemy, and they were filled with
success. They were probably having a sort of jubilee
meeting, and Christ came in and said: "Eejoice not
that the spirits are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice
because your names are written in heaven." This
brings us face to face with the doctrine of

ASSUBANCE.

I find a great many people up and down Christendom
who do not accept this doctrine. They believe it is
impossible for us to know in this life whether we are
saved or not. If this be true, how are we going to get
over what Christ has said as we find it here recorded ?
If my name is written in heaven, how can I rejoice over
it unless I know it? These men were to rejoice that

ITS CERTAINTY. 71

their names were already there, and the name of each
one who is a child of God his name is there, sent on
for registry before.

A party of Americans a few years ago, on their way
from London to Liverpool, decided that they would
stop at the Northwestern Hotel, but when they arrived
they found the place had been full for* several days.
Greatly disappointed, they took up their baggage and
were about starting off, when they noticed a lady of
the party preparing to remain.

" Are you not going, too? " they asked.

" Oh no," she said, " I have good rooms all ready."

"Why, how does that happen?"

" Oh," she said, "I telegraphed on ahead, a few days
ago."

Now that is what the, children of God are doing;
they are sending their names on ahead; they are secur-
ing places in the mansions of Christ in time. I£ we
are truly children of God our names have gone on be-
fore, and there will be places awaiting us at the end of
the journey. You know we are only travelers down
here. We are away from home. When the war was
going on, the soldiers on the battle-field, the Southern
soldiers and the Northern soldiers, wanted nothing bet-
ter to live in than tents. They longed for the war to
close that they might go home. They cared nothing
to have palaces and mansions on the battle-field. Well,
there is a terrible battle going on now, and by-and-by,
when the war is over, God will call us home. The tents
aje good enough for us while journeying through this
world. It is only a night, and then the eternal day
will dawn.

72 HEAVEN:

THE BOOK OF LIFE.

Two ladies met on a train not long ago, one of them
going to Cairo and the other to New Orleans. Before
they reached Cairo they had formed a strong attach-
ment for each other, and the Cairo lady said to the ]ad /
who was going to New Orleans:

" I wish you would stay for a few days in Cairo; I
would like to entertain you."

" Well," said the other, " I would like to very much,
but I have packed up all my things and sent them ahead,
and I haven't anything except what I have on, but
they are good enough to travel in."

I learned a lesson there. I said, " Almost anything is
good enough to travel in, and it is a great deal better
to have our joys and comforts ready for us in heaven,
waiting until we get there, than to wear them out n
our toilsome, trying, earthly journey."

Heaven is the place of victory and triumph. This
is the battle-field ; there is the triumphal procession.
This is the land of the sword and the spear; that is
the land of the wreath and the crown. Oh, what a
thrill of joy will shoot through the hearts of all the
blessed when their conquests will be made complete in
heaven ; when death itself, the last of foes, shall be
slain, and Satan dragged as captive at the chariot
wheels of Christ! Men may oppose as much as they
will this doctrine of Assurance, nevertheless it is clearly
taught in Scripture.

THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS.

A great many laugh at the idea of there being books
in heaven; but in the 12th chapter of the prophecy
of Daniel, and the 1st verse, we find:

ITS CERTAINTY. *7S

« And at that time shall Michael stand np, the great prmce which
standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a timeof
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even totnat
eame time; and at that time the people shall be delivered, every one
ttiat shall be found written in the book."

There is a terrible time coming upon the earth ; darker
days than we have ever seen, and they whose names
are written in the Book of Life shall be delivered. Then
again, in Philippians iv, 3, we read:

* And I entreat thee, also, true yoke-fellow, help those women
which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also and with
other of my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the Book ot Lite.
Paul, writing to the Christians at Philippi, where he
had so' much opposition, and where he was cast into
jail, says in effect: Just take my regards to the good
brethren and sisters who worked with me, and whose
names are written in the Book of Life. This shows
that they taught the doctrine of Assurance in the very
earliest days of Christianity. AVhy should we not teach
it and believe it now? _

I am told by travelers in China, that the Chinese
have in their courts two great books. When a man is
tried and found innocent, they write his name down in
the book of life. If he is found guilty, they write his
name down in the book of death. I believe firmly that
every man or woman has his or her name in the Book
of Death or the Book of Life. Your name cannot be
in both books at the same time. You cannot be in
death and in life at the same time, and it is your own
privilege to know which it is.
In Eevelation xiii, 8, we read:

"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [that is,
the Anti-Christ] whose names are not written in the Book ol Life
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

74 HEAVEN:

And again, chapter xx, 12:

" And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
book was opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book
of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works."

Again, chapter xxii, 27 :

" And there shall in no wise enter into it [the Holy City] any-
thing that denleth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or
maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life."

There can be no true peace, there can be no true
hope, there can be no true comfort, where there is un-
certainty. I am not fit for God's service, I cannot go
out and work for God, if I am in doubt about my own
salvation.

NO ROOM FOR DOUBT.

A mother has a sick child. The child is just hang-
ing between life and death. There is no rest for that
mother. You have some friend on a train that is
wrecked, and the news comes that twenty have been
killed and wounded, and their names are not given ;
you are in terrible uncertainty, and there is no rest or
peace until you know the facts. The reason why there
are so many in the churches who will not go out and
help others, is that they are not sure they have been
saved themselves. If I thought I was dying myself,
I would be in a poor condition to save anyone else.
Before I can pull anyone else out of the water, I must
have a firm footing on shore myself. We can have
this complete Assurance if we will. It does not do to
feel we are all right, but we must know it. We must
read our titles clear to mansions in the skies; tha

ITS CERTAINTY. 75

Apostle John says: "Beloved, now are we the sons of
God " He does not say we are going to be.

People, when asked if they are Christians, give some
of the strangest answers you ever heard. Some will
say, if you ask them : " Well-well-well, I-I hope I
am " Suppose a man should ask me if I am an Amer-
ican. Would I say, " Well I— well I— I hope I am?"
I know that I was born in this country, and I know I
was born in the Spirit of God more than twenty years
ago All the infidels in the world could not convince
me that I have not a different spirit than I had before
I became a Christian. " That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and
a man can soon tell whether he is born of the Spirit by
the change in his life. The Spirit of Christ is a spirit
of love, joy, peace, humility and meekness, and we can
soon find out whether we have been born of that spirit
or not ; we are not to be left in uncertainty. Job lived
back there in the dark ages, but he knew. The dark
billows came rolling and surging up against him, but
iu the midst of the storm you can hear his voice say-
ing: "I know that my Eedeemer liveth." He had
something better than a hope.

A man may have his name written in the highest
chronicles down here, but the record may be lost; he
may have it carved in marble, and still it may perish;
some charitable institution may bear his name, and yet
he maybe soon forgotten; but his name will never be
erased from the scrolls that are kept above. Seeking
to perpetuate one's name on earth is like writing on the
sand by the sea-shore; to be perpetual it must be writ-
ten on the eternal monuments. It has been said that

?« HEAVEN:

— ■ ■ ; ^_J

the way to see our names as they stand written in the
Book of Life, is by reading the work of sanctification
in our own hearts. It needs no miraculous voice from
heaven, no extraordinary signs, no unusual feeling. We
need only find our hearts desiring Christ and hating
sin; our minds obedient to the divine commands.

We may be sure that belonging to some church is not
going to save us, although every saved man ought to be
connected with one. When Daniel died in Babylon, no
one had to hunt up any old church record to find out if
he was all right. When Paul was beheaded by Nero,
no one had to look over the register. On the other
hand, no one thinks Pontius Pilate was a saint because
his name is in the creed.

They lived so that the world knew what they were.
Paul says: "I am persuaded that He is able to keep
what I have committed unto Him against that day."
There is Assurance. " Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?" he says; " neither life, nor death, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres-
ent, nor things to come." He just challenges them all,
but they could not separate him from the love that was
in Christ.

It is dishonoring to God to go on hoping and only
hoping that we " are going " to be saved.

FALSE PROFESSORS.

Yet there are some who ought not to have assurance.
It would be an unfortunate thing for any unconverted
church member to have assurance. There are some
who profess great assurance who ought not to have it
» — those whose lives do not correspond. This class is

ITS CERTAINTY. 77

represented by the man at the wedding feast who did
not have on a wedding garment.

They are like some lilies — fair to see but foul of
smell. They are dry shells with no kernel inside.
The crusaders of old used to wear a painted cross upon
their shoulders. So there are a good many nowadays
who take up crosses that sit just as lightly — mere
things of ornament — passports to respectability, cheap
make-believes, for a struggle that has never been made,
and a crown that has never been striven for.

You may very often see dead fish floating with the
stream, but you never saw a dead fish swimming against
it. Well, that is your false believer ; that is the hyp-
ocrite. Profession is just floating down the stream,
but confession is swimming against it, no matter how
strong the tide. The sanctified man and the unsancti-
fied one look at heaven very differently. The unsanc-
tified man simply chooses heaven in preference to hell.
He thinks that if he must go to either one he would
rather try heaven. It is like a man with a farm who
has a place offered him in another country, where there
is said to be a gold mine, He hates to give up all he
has and take any risk. But if he is going to be ban-
ished, and must leave, and has his choice of living in a
wilderness or digging in a coal pit, or else take the
gold mine, then there is no hesitation. The unregen-
erate man likes heaven better than hell, but he likes
this world the best of all. When death stares him ld
the face, then he thinks he would like to get to heaven.
The true believer prizes heaven above everything elseY
and is always willing to give up the world. Everybody
wants to enjoy heaven after they die, but they don't

78 HEAVEN:

want to be heavenly-minded while they live. To the
Christian it is a sure promise, with no room for doubt,
and there is no reason for hesitation.

The heir to some great estate, while a child, thinks
more of a dollar in his pocket than all his inheritance.
So even some professing Christians sometimes are more
elated by a passing pleasure than they are by their
title to eternal glory. In a little while we will be there.
How glorious is the thought! Everything is prepared.
That is what Christ went up to heaven for. In a little
while we will be gone. We are —

"Only waiting till the shadows

Are a little longer grown,
Only waiting till the glimmer

Of the day's last beam has flown;
Then from out the gathered darkness,

Holy, deathless stars shall rise,
By whose light our souls shall gladly

Tread their pathway to the skies."

ITS RICHES,

^eru^aPeirj, M^/ J-fome.

Jerusalem, my Home,
Where shines the royal throne;
Each king casts down his golden crown
Before the Lamb thereon.
Thence flows the crystal river,
And flowing on forever,
With leaves and fruits on either hand,
The Tree of Life shall stand.
In blood- washed robes, all white and fair,
The Lamb shall lead His chosen there,
While clou Is of incense fill the air —

Jerusalem, my Home!

Jerusalem, my Home!
Where saints in glory reign,
Thy haven safe, O when shall I,
Poor, storm-tossed pilgrim, gain?
At distance dark and dreary,
With sin and sorrow weary,
For thee I toil, for thee I pray,
For thee I long alway.
And lo, mine eyes shall see thee, too;
Oh, rend in twain, thou veil of blue,
And let the Golden City through —

Jerusalem, my Home!

— Hopkins,

ITS RICHES. 81

CHAPTEB V.
ITS RICHES.

Lay tip for yourselves treasures in heaven; for where your treas-
lre is, there will your heart be also. Matt, vi, 20.

No man thinks himself rich until he has all he wants.
Very few people are satisfied with earthly riches. If
:hey want any thing at all that they cannot get, that is
i kind of poverty. Sometimes the richer the man the
greater the poverty. Somebody has said that getting
riches brings care; keeping them brings trouble; abus-
[ ing them brings guilt; and losing them brings sorrow*
It is a great mistake to make so much of riches as we
do. But there are some riches that we cannot praise
too much: that never pass away. They are the treas-
ures laid up in Heaven for those who truly belong to
God.

No matter how rich or elevated we may be here,
there is always something that we want. The greatest
chance the rich have over the poor is the one they en-
joy the least — that of making themselves happy.
Worldly riches never make any one truly happy. We
all know, too, that they often take wings and fly away.
It is said of Midas that whatever he touched turned into
gold, but with his long ears he was not much the
better for it. There is a great deal of truth in some
6

82 HEAVEN;

of these old fables. Money, like time, ought not to
wasted, but I pity that man who has more of either
than he knows how to use. There is no truer saying]
than that man by doing good with his money, stamps,';
as it were, the image of God upon it, and makes it pasii
current for the merchandise of heaven; but all thelj
wealth of the universe would not buy a man's way
there. Salvation must be taken as a gift for the ask-y
ing. There is no man so poor in this world that he:
may not be a heavenly millionaire.

GOLD A BAD LIFE-PRESERVER.

How many are worshiping gold to-day! Where war
has slain its thousands, gain has slain its millions. Its
ifistory in all ages has been the history of slavery and
oppression. At this moment what an empire it has.
The mine with its drudges, the manufactory with its
misery, the plantation with its toil, the market and ex-
change with their haggard and care-worn faces — these
are but specimens of its menial servants. Titles and
honors are its rewards, and thrones are at its disposal.
Among its counsellors are kings, and many of the great
and mighty of the earth are its subjects. This spirit
of gain tries even to turn the globe itself into gold.

It is related that Tarpeia, the daughter of the Gov-
ernor of the fortress situated cm the Capitoline Hill in
Rome, was captivated with the golden bracelets of the
Sabine soldiers, and agreed to let them into the fort-
ress if they would give her what they wore upon their
left arms. The contract was made ; the Sabines kept
their promise. Tatius, their commander, was the first
to deliver his bracelet and shield. The coveted

ITS RICHES. 83

treasures were thrown upon the traitress by each of the
soldiers, till she sank beneath their weight and expired.
Thus does the weight of gold carry many a man
down.

When the steamship " Central America " went down,
several hundred miners were on board, returning to
their early homes and friends. They had made their
fortunes, and expected much happiness in enjoying
them. In the first of the horror gold lost its attraction
to them. The miners took off their treasure-belts and
threw them aside. Carpet bags full of shining gold
dust were emptied on the floor of the cabin. One of
them poured out one hundred thousand dollars' worth
in the cabin, and bade any one take it who would.
Greed was over-mastered, and the gold found no takers.
Dear friends, it is well enough to have gold, but some-
times it is a bad life-preserver. Sometimes it is a
mighty weight that crushes us down to hell.

The Kev. John Newton one day called to visit a f am-
ily that had suffered the loss of all they possessed by
fire. He found the pious mistress, and saluted her
with:

" I give you joy, madam."

Surprised, and ready to be offended, she exclaimed:

" What! Joy that all my property is consumed? "

"O no," he answered, "but joy that you have so
much property that fire cannot touch."

This allusion to her real treasures checked her grief
and brought reconciliation. As we read in Proverbs
15, 6: " In the house of the righteous is much treas-
ure; but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble." I
have never seen a dying saint who was rich in heavenly

84 HEAVEN:

treasures who had any regret; I have never heard
such a one say he had lived too much for God and
heaven.

GETTING WATER-LOGGED.

A friend of mine says he was at the River Mersey,
in Liverpool, a few years ago, and he saw a vessel which
had to be towed with a great deal of care into the har-
bor; it was clear down to the water's edge, and he won-
dered why it did not sink. Pretty soon there came
another vessel, without any help at all ; it did not need
any tug to tow it in, but it steamed right up the Mer-
sey past the other vessels ; and he made inquiry, jtnd
he found the vessel that had to be towed in was what
they call water-logged — that is, it was loaded with lum-
ber and material of that kind ; and having sprung a
leak had partially sunk, and it was very hard work to
get into the harbor. Now, I believe there are a great
many professed Christians, a great many, perhaps, who
are really Christians, who have become water-logged.
They have too many earthly treasures, and it takes near-
ly the whole church — the whole spiritual power of the
church to look after these worldly Christians, to keep
them from going back entirely into the world. Why,
if the whole church were, as John Wesley said, " hard
at it, and always at it," what a power there would be,
and how soon we would reach the world and the masses ;
but we are not reaching the world, because the church
itself has become conformed to the world and worldly-
minded, and because so many are wondering why they
do not grow in grace while they have more of the earth
in their thoughts than God.

ITS RICHES. 85

Ministers would not have to urge people to live for
heaven if their treasures were up there; they could
not help it ; their hearts would be there, and if their
hearts w^ere there their minds would be up there, and
their lives would tend toward heaven. They could
not help living for heaven if their treasures were
there.

A little girl one day said to her mother: " Mamma,
my Sunday-school teacher tells me that this world is
only a place in which God lets us live a while, that we
may prepare for a better world. But, mother, I do not
see anybody preparing. I see you preparing to go
into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come
here ; but I do not see anyone preparing to go there ;
why don't they try to get ready? "

A certain gentleman in the South, before the war, had
a pious slave, and when the master died they told him
he had gone to heaven.

The old slave shook his head, " I's 'fraid massa no
gone there," he said.

"But why, Ben?" he was asked.

" Cos, when Massa go North, or go a journey to the
Springs, he talk about it a long time, and get ready.
I never hear him talk about going to heaven; never see
him get ready to go there! "

So there are a good many who do not get ready.
Christ teaches in the Sermon on the Mount to —

" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also."

86 HEAVEN:

TREASURES OF THE HEART.

It does not take long to tell where a man's treasure
is. In fifteen minutes' conversation with, most men you
can tell whether their treasures are on the earth or in
heaven. Talk to a patriot about the country, and you
will see his eye light up; you will find he has his heart
there. Talk to some business men, and tell them where
they can make a thousand dollars, and see their inter-
est; their hearts are there. You talk to fashionable
people who are living just for fashion, of its affairs,
and you will see their eyes kindle ; they are interested
at once; their hearts are there. Talk to a politician
about politics, and you see how suddenly he becomes
interested. But talk to a child of God, who is laying
up treasures in heaven, about heaven and about his
future home, and see what enthusiasm. " "Where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Now, it is just as much a command for a man to "lay
up treasure in heaven " as it is that he should not steal.
Some people think all the commandments are in those
ten that were given on Sinai, but when Jesus Christ
was here, He gave us many other commandments.
There is another commandment in this Sermon on the
Mount: " Seek first the kingdom of God and His right-
eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you ;"
and here is a command that we are to lay up treasure
in heaven and not on earth. The reason there are so
many broken hearts in this land, the reason there are so
many disappointed people, is because they have been
laying up their treasures down here.

The worthlessness of gold, for which so many are
striving, is illustrated by a story that Dr. Arnot used

ITS RICHES. 87

to tell. A ship bearing a company of emigrants has
been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert
island, far from the reach of man. There is no way
of escape; but they have a good stock of food. The
ocean surrounds them, but they have plenty of seeds,
a fine soil, and a genial sun, so there is no danger.
Before the plans are laid, an exploring party discovers
a gold mine. There the whole party go to dig. They
labor day after day and month after month. They get
great heaps of gold. But spring is past, and not a
field has been cleared, not a grain of seed put into the
ground. The summer comes and their wealth increases ;
but their stock of food grows small. In the fall they
find that their heaps of gold are worthless. Famine
stares them in the face. They rush to the woods, they
fell trees, dig up the roots, till the ground, sow the
seed. It is too late ! Winter has come and their seed
rots in the ground. They die of want in the midst of
their treasures.

This earth is the little isle ; eternity the ocean round
it; on this shore we have been cast. There is a living
! seed; but the mines of gold attract us. We spend
spring and summer there; winter overtakes us in our
toil ; we are without the Bread of Life, and we are lost.
Let us then who are Christians, value all the more the
home which holds the treasures that no one can take
away. Dr. Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman, has
written beautifully:

" Who would live alway, away from his God,
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode;
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains,
And the harps of gold pour out their glorious strains;

88 HEAVEN:

And the saints of all ages in harmony meet

Their Savior, and brethren transported, to greet;

While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll,

And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul?

That heavenly music, what is it I hear?

The notes of the harpers ring sweet on my ear.

To see soft unfolding those portals of gold —

The King, all arrayed in His beauty, behold!

Oh give me, oh give me, the wings of a dove,

Let me hasten my flight to those mansions above!

Ay, 'tis now that my soul on swift pinions would soar,

And in ecstacy bid earth adieu evermore."

A BLACK-BOARD LESSON.

When I was in San Francisco, I went into a Sabbath-
school the first Sunday I was there. It was a rainy-
day, and there were so few present that the Superin-
tendent thought of dismissing them, but instead, he af-
terward invited me to speak to the whole school as one
class. The lesson was that passage from the Sermon
on the Mount: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, whei?e moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal."

I invited a young man to the blackboard, and we
proceeded to compare a few things that some people
have on earth, and a few things that other people have
in heaven.

" Now," said I, " name some earthly treasure."

They all shouted " Gold."

"Well, that is so," I said, "I suppose that is your -
greatest treasure out here in California. Now let us
go on ; what is another ? "

A second boy shouted, " Lands."

" Well," I said, " we will put down Lands."

ITS RICHES. 89

"What else do the people out here in California
think a good deal of and have their hearts set on?"

They said " Houses."

" Put that down; what else? "

"Pleasure."

"Put that down."

" Honor — fame."

" Put them down."

" Business."

"Yes," I said; "a great many people have their
hearts buried in their business — put that down." As
if a little afraid, one of them said "dress," and the
whole school smiled.

"Put that down," I said. "Why, I believe there
are some people in the world who think more of
dress than any other thing. They just live for
dress. I heard not long ago from very good author-
ity, of a young lady who was dying of consumption.
She had been living in the world and for the world,
and it seemed as if the world had taken full possession
of her. She thought she would die Thursday night,
and Thursday she wanted them to crimp her hair, so
that she would look beautiful in her coffin. But she
didn't die Thursday night. She lingered through Fri-
day, and Friday she didn't want them to take her hair
down, but to keep it up until she passed away. And
the friends said she looked very beautiful in the coffin!
Just what people wear — the idea of people having their
hearts set upon things of that kind! "

"And what else, now?" Well, they were a little
ashamed to say it, but one said:

"Rum."

yO HEAVEN:

"Yes," I said, "put that down. There is many a
man thinks more of the rum-bottle than he does of the
Kingdom of God. He will give up his wife, he will
give up his home and his mother, character and repu-
tation forever for the rum-bottle. Many a man by his
Mfe is crying out, ' Give me rum, and I will give you
heaven, and all its glories. I will sell my wife and
children. I will make them beggars and paupers. I-
will degrade and disgrace them for the rum-bottle.
That is my treasure.'

" 'Oh, thou rum bottle! I worship thee,' is the cry
of many — they turn their backs on heaven with all its
glories for rum. Some of them thought, when that
little boy said ' rum,' that he made a mistake, that it
was not a treasure, but it is a treasure to thousands."
Another one said:

" Fast horses."

Said I, " Put it down. There is many a man who
thinks a good deal of fast horses, and he wants to go
out and take a fast horse and drive Sunday, and spend
his Sabbath in this way." And after we finished, and
thought of everything we could, I said: " Suppose we
just take down some of these heavenly treasures.

"And," said I, "What is there now that the Lord wants
us to set our hearts and affections on ?" And they all said :

"Jesus."

" That is good; we will put Him down first at the
head of the list. Now what else? " And they said:

s."

" Put them down. We will have their society when
we go to heaven. That is a treasure up there> really.
What else?"

■

ITS RICHES. 91

"The friends who have died in Christ, who have
fallen asleep in Christ. "

" Put them down. Death has taken them from us
now, but we will be with them by and by. What else ? "

" Crowns."

"Yes, we are going to have a crown, a crown of
glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown that fadeth
not away. What else ? "

"The tree of life."

" Yes," I said, " the tree of life. We shall have a
right to it. We can go to that tree and pluck its fruit,
eat, and live forever. What else?"

" The river of life."

"Yes, we shall walk upon the banks of that clean
river."

" Harps," one said.

Another one said " palms."

"Yes," I said, "put them down. Those are treas-
ures that we will have there."

"Purity."

"Yes, there will be none but the pure there. White
robes, without spot or wrinkle on our garments. A
great many find many flaws in our characters down
here, but by and by Christ will present us before the
Pather without spot and without wrinkle, and we shall
stand there complete in Him," I said. " Can you
think of anything else?" And one of them said:

" A new song."

" Yes, we shall have a new song. It is the song of
Moses and the Lamb. I don't know just who wrote it
or how, but it will be a glorious song. I suppose the
singing we have here on earth will be nothing

92 HEAVEN:

compared with the songs of that upper world. Do you
know the principal thing we are told we are going to
do in heaven is singing, and that is why men ought to
sing down here. We ought to begin to sing here so
that it will not come strange when we get to heaven. I
pity the professed Christian who has not a song in his
heart — who never 'feels like singing.' It seems to
me if we are truly children of God, we will want to
sing about it. And so,* when we get there, we cannot
help shouting out the loud hallelujahs of heaven."

Then I said: "Is there anything else? " Well, they
went on. I cannot give you all, because we had to have
two columns put down of the heavenly treasures. We
stood there a little while and drew the contrast between
the earthly and the heavenly treasures. We looked at
them a little while, and when we came to put them all
down beside Christ, the earthly treasures looked small,
after all. What would all this world full of gold be
compared with Jesus Christ? You who have Christ,
would you like to part with Him for gold? Would you
like to give Him up for all the honor the earth can
bestow on you for a few months or a few years ? Think
of Christ! Think of the treasures of heaven. And
then think of these earthly treasures that we have our
hearts set upon, and that so many of us are living for.

God blessed that lesson upon the blackboard in a
marvelous way, for the man who had been writing down
the treasures on the board happened to be an uncon-
verted Sunday-school teacher, and had gone out there
to California to make money ; his heart was set upon
gold, and he was living for that instead of for God.
That was the idol of his heart, and do you know God

ITS RICHES, 93

convicted him at that blackboard, and the first convert
that God gave me on the Pacific coast was that man,
and he was the last man who shook hands with me when
I left San Francisco. He saw how empty the earthly
treasures were, and how grand and glorious the riches
of heaven. Oh, if God would but open your eyes —
and I think if you are honest and ask Him to do it
He will — He will show you how empty this world is in
comparison with what He has in store.

There are a great many people who are wondering
why they do not mount up on wings, as it were, and
why they do not make some progress in the divine life ;
why they do not grow more in grace. I think one
reason may be they have too many earthly treasures.
We need not be rich to have our hearts set on riches.

We need not go in the world more than other people
to have our hearts there. I believe the Prodigal
was in the far country long before he put his feet there.
When his heart reached, there he was there. There is
many a man who does not mingle so much in the world
as others do, but his heart is there, and he would be
there if he could, and God looks at the heart.

Now, what we need to do is to obey the voice of the
Master, and instead of laying up treasures on earth,
lay them up in heaven. If we do that, bear in mind,
we shall never be disappointed.

It is clear that idolaters are not going to enter the
kingdom of God. I may make an idol of my business :
I may make an idol of the wife of my bosom ; I may
make idols of my children. I do not think you need
go to heathen countries to find men guilty of idolatry.
I think you will find a great many right here who have

94 HEAVEN:

idols in their hearts. Let us pray that the spirit of
God may banish those idols from our hearts, that we
may not be guilty of idolatry ; that we may worship
God in spirit and in * truth. Anything that comes
between me and God is an idol— anything, I don't care
what it is ; business is all right in its place, and there
is no danger of my loving my family too much if I love
God more ; but God must have the first place ; and if
He has not then the idol is set up.

ALL ETERNITY FOR REST.

Not the least of the riches of heaven will be the sat-
isfaction of those wants of the soul, which are so much
felt down here but are never found — such as infinite
knowledge, perfect peace and satisfying love. Like a
beautiful likeness that has been marred, daubed all
over with streaks of black, and is then restored to its
original beauty, so the soul is restored to its full beauty
of color when it is washed with the blood of Jesus Christ.
The senseless image on the canvas cannot be compared,
however, in any other way with the living, rational soul.

Could we but see some of our friends who have gone
on before us we would very likely feel like falling down
before them. The Apostle John had seen so many
strange things, yet, when one of the bright angels stood
before him to reveal some of the secrets of heaven,
fell down to worship him. He says in the last chapter
of Revelation:

"And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had
heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel
which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, see thou do
it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy. brethren the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God."

ITS RICHES. 95

Among the wants which we have on earth is the
thirst for knowledge. Much as sin has weakened man's
mental faculties, it has not taken away any of his de-
sire for knowledge. But with all his efforts, with all
that he thinks he knows about astronomy, chemistry
and geology, and the rest of the sciences, his knowl-
edge of the secrets of nature is yet limited.

There are very many things we do not know. Thous-
ands of astronomers have lived and died, and the ages
of the world have rolled on, and it was only the other
day, as it were, that they found out that the planet
Mars had two moons. Perhaps in ages to come some
one will find out that they are not moons at all. This
is what most of our human knowledge amounts to.

There is not one of our college professors, and many
of them have gone nearly everywhere in the world, but
is anxious to learn more and more, to find out new
things, to make new discoveries. If we were as fa-
miliar with all the stars of the firmament as we are
with our own earth, still we would not be satisfied.

Not until we are like God can we comprehend the
infinite. Even the imperfect glimpses of God that we
get by faith, only intensify our desire for more. For
now, as Paul says in 1st" Corinthians xiii, 12:

"Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face;
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

The word Paul used, properly translated, is " mir-
ror." Now we see God, as it were, in a looking-glass —
but then face to face.

Suppose we knew nothing of the sun except what we
saw of its light reflected from the moon? Would we
not wonder about its immense distance, about its

96 HEAVEN:

dazzling splendor, about its life-giving power ? Now all
that we see, the sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean,
the earth, the flowers, and above all, man, are a grand
mirror in which the perfection of God is imperfectly
reflected.

Another want that we have is rest. We get tired of
toiling. Tet there is no real rest on earth. We find in the
4th chapter of Hebrews, beginning with the 9th verse:

" There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For
he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
works, as God did from His. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into
that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

Now, while we all want rest, I think a great many
people make a mistake when they think the church is
a place of rest; and when they unite with the church
they have a false idea about their position in it. There
are a great many who come in to rest. The text tells
us: "There remaineth a rest for the people of God,"
but it does not tell us that the church is a place of rest;
we have all eternity to rest in. We are to rest by and
by ; but we are to work here, and when our work is fin-
ished, the, Lord will call us home to enjoy that rest.
There is no use in talking about rest down here in the
enemy's country. We cannot rest in this world, where
God's Son has been crucified and cast out. I think
that a great many people are going to lose their re-
ward just because they have come into the church with
the idea that, they are to rest there, as if the church
was working for the reward, instead of each one build-
ing over against his own house, each one using all hib
influence toward the building up of Christ's kingdom*

In Bevelation xiv, 13, we read:

ITS RICHES. 97

" And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Tea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do
follow them."

Now, death may rob us of money. Death may rob
us of position. Death may rob us of our friends; but
there is one thing death can never do, and that is,
rob us of the work that we do for God. That will live
on forever. " Their works do follow them." How
much are we doing ? Anything that we do outside of
ourselves, and not with a mean and selfish motive, that
is going to live. We have the privilege of setting in
motion streams of activity that will flow on when we
are dead and gone.

It is the privilege of everyone to live more in the
future than they do in the present, so that their lives
will tell in fifty or a hundred years more than they do now.

John Wesley's influence is a thousand-fold greater
to-day than it was when he was living. He still lives.
He lives in the lives of thousands and hundreds of
thousands of his spiritual descendants.

Martin Luther lives more truly to-day than he did
three centuries ago, when he awakened Germany.
He only lived one life, and that for a little while. But
now, look at the hundreds and thousands and millions
of lives that he is living. There are between fifty and
sixty millions of people who profess to be followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ, as taught by Martin Luther,
who bear his name. He is dead in the sight of the
world, but his "works do follow him." He still lives.

The voice of John the Baptist is ringing through
the world to-day, although nearly nineteen hundred

98 HEAVEN.

years have passed away since Herodias asked for his
death. Herod thought when he beheaded him that he
was hushing his voice, but it is ringing throughout the
earth to-day. John the Baptist lives, because he lived
for God; but he has entered into his rest, and "his
works do follow him."

And if they up yonder can see what is going on
upon the earth, how much joy they must have to think
that they have set these streams in motion, and that
this work is going on — being carried on after them.

. If a man lives a mean, selfish life, he goes down to
the grave, and his name and everything concerning him
goes down in the grave with him. If he is ambitious
to leave a record behind him, with a selfish motive, his
name rots with his body. But if a man gets outside
of himself and begins to work for God, hip name will
live forever. Why, you may go to Scotland to-day,
and you will find the influence of John Knox over every
mountain in Scotland. It seems as if you could almost
feel the breath of that man's prayer in Scotland to-day.
His influence still lives. " Blessed are the dead who
die in the Lord. They rest from their labors and their
works do follow them." Blessed rest in store; we will
rest by and by ; but we should not waste time talking
about rest while we are here. ....

If I am to wipe a tear from the' cheek of that father-
less boy, I must do it down here. It is not said in
Scripture that we shall have the privilege of doing that
hereafter. If I am going to help up some fallen man
who has been overtaken by sin, I must do it here. We
are not going to have the privilege of being co-workers
«rith God in the future- — but that is our privilege

ITS RICHES. 99

to-day. We may not have it to-morrow. It may be
taken from us to-morrow; but we can enter into the
vineyard and do something to-day before the sun goes
down. We can do something now before we go to
glory.

Another want that we feel here is Love. Heaven is
the only place where the conditions of love can be ful-
filled. There love is essentially mutual. Everybody
loves everybody else. In this world of wickedness and
sin it seems impossible for people to be all on a perfect
equality. When we meet people who are bright and
beautiful and good, we have no difficulty in loving
them. All the people of heaven will be like that. There
will be no fear of misplaced confidences there. There
we shall never be deceived by those we love. When a
suspicion of doubt fastens upon any one who loves, their
happiness from that moment is at an end. There will
be no /suspicion there.

41 Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies,
Beyond death's cloudy portal,
TfoeTe is a land where beauty never dies —
Where love becomes immortaL"

l^OFC.

MaiAf ©nie ©qy.

BY TIMOTHY POLAND.

Ye ken, dear bairn, that we maun part,
When death, cauld death, shall bid us start;
But when he'll send his fearfu' dart

We canna say,
So we'll mak' ready for his dart

Maist onie day.

We'll keep a' right and guid wi'in,
Our wark will then be free frae sin.
Upright we'll walk through thick and thin,

Straight on our way.
Deal just wi' a', the prize we'll win

Maist onie day.

Ye ken there's Ane, wha's just and wise,
Has said that a' His bairns should rise,
An' soar aboon the lofty skies,

And there shall stay.
Being well prepared we'll gain the prize

Maist onie day.

When He wha made a' things just right,
Shall call us hence to realms of light,
Be it morn or noon, or e'en or night,

We will obey.
We'll be prepared to tak' our flight

Maist onie day.

Gur lamps we'll fill brimfu' o' oil,
Thet's guid and pure, that wadna spoil,
And keep them burning a' the while,

To light our way.
Our wark bein' done we'll quit the soil,

Maist onie day.

100

(Hea^er^:
ITS REWARDS.

Fiof (Were ! Rof Jf ere !

Not here! Not here! Not where the sparkling waters
Fade into mocking sands as we draw near;

Where, in the wilderness, each footstep falters!
"I shall be satisfied;" but oh, not here!

There is a land where every pulse is thrilling
With rapture earth's sojourners may not know,

Where heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling,
And peacefully life's storm-tossed currents flow.

4i Satisfied ! Satisfied ! " The spirit's ye at g ing
For sweet companionship with kindred minds,
The silent love that here meets no returning,
The inspiration which no language finds.

" I shall be satisfied." The soul's vague longings,
The aching void which nothing earthly fills!
Oh! What desires upon my soul are" thronging
As I look upward to the heavenly hills.

Thither my weak and weary steps are tending;

Savior and Lord, with thy frail child abide;
Guide me toward Home, where, all my wanderings ended,

I then shall see Thee, and " be satisfied"

—Anon.

ITS REWARDS. 103

CHAPTEE YL

ITS REWARDS.

Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own
labor. I Cor. iii, 8.

My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work
shall be. Eev. xxii, 12.

If I understand things correctly, whenever you find
men or women who are looking to be rewarded here
for doing right, they are unqualified to work for God ;
-because if they are looking for the applause of men,
looking for reward in this life, it will disqualify them
for the service of God, because they are all the while
compromising truth.

They are afraid of hurting some one's feelings.
They are afraid that some one is going to say some-
thing against them, or there will be some newspaper
articles written against them. Now, we must trample
the world under our feet if we are going to get our re-
ward hereafter. If we live for God we must suffer per-
secution. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom
of light are at war, and have been, and will be as long
as Satan is permitted to reign in this world. As long
-as the kingdom of darkness is permitted to exist, there
will be a conflict, and if you want to be popular in the

104 HEAVEN:

kingdom of God, if you want to be popular in heaven,
and get a reward that shall last forever, you will have
to be unpopular here.

If you seek the applause of men, you can't have the
Lord say "Well done" at the end of the journey
You can't have both. Why? Because this world is at
war with God. This idea that the world is getting bet-
ter all the while is false. The old natural heart is just
as much at enmity with God as it was when Cain slew
Abel. Sin leaped into the world., full grown in Cain.
And from the time that Cain was born into the world to
the present, man by nature has been at war with God.
This world was not established in grace, and we have to
fight "the wrorld, the flesh and the devil;" and if we
fight the world, the world won't like us; and if we fight
the flesh, the flesh won't like us. We have to mortify
the flesh. We have to crucify the old man and put
him under. Then, by and by, we will get our reward,
and a glorious reward it will be.

We read in Luke xvi, 15:

" And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves
before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."

We must go right against the current of this world.
If the world has nothing to say against us, we can be
pretty sure that the Lord Jesus Christ has very little to
say for us. There are those who do not like to go
against the current of the world. They say they know
this and that is wrong, but they do not say a word
against it lest it might make them unpopular. If we
expect to get the reward we must fight the good fight
of faith. For all such, as Paul has said, "there is laid

ITS REWARDS. 105

up a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right-
eous Judge, shall give us at that day."

FEAR OF DEATH.

How little do we realize the meaning of the word
eternity ! The whole time between the creation of the
world and the ending of it would not make a day in
eternity. In time, it is like the infinity of space, whose
center is everywhere and whose boundary is nowhere.
We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews:

" Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, He, also Himself, likewise took part of the same; that
through death He might destroy Him that had the power of death
— that is the devil — and deliver them who, through fear of death,
were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

There are a great many of God's professed children
who live in continual bondage, in the constant fear of
death. I believe that it is dishonoring God. I believe
that it is not His will to have one of His children live
in fear for one moment. If you know the truth as it is
in Christ, there need be no fear, there need be no dread,
because death will only hasten you on to glory ; and your
names are already there.

And then the next thought is for those who are dear
to us. I believe that it is not only our privilege to
have our names written in heaven, but those of the
children whom God has given us ; and our hearts ought
to go right out for them. The promise is not only to
us, but to our children. Many a father's and many a
mother's heart is burdened with anxiety for the salva-
tion of their children. If your own name is there, let
your next aim in life be to get the children whom God
has given you, there also.

106 HEAVEN.

A mother was dying in one of our Eastern cities a
few years ago, and she had a large family of children.
She died of consumption, and the children were
brought in to her one by one as she was sinking. She
gave the oldest one her last message and her dying
blessing; and as the next one was brought in she put
her hand upon its head and gave it her blessing ; and
then the next one was brought in, and the next, until
at last they brought in the little infant. She took it to
her bosom and pressed to her loving heart, and^her
friends saw that it was hastening her end ; that she was
excited, and as they went to take the little child from
her, she said: "My husband, I charge you to bring
all these children home with you." And so God
charges us parents to bring our children home with us ;
not only to have our own names written in heaven, but
those of our children also.

An eminent Christian worker in New York told me
a story that affected me very much.

A father had a son who had been sick some time, but
he did not consider him dangerously ill ; until one day
he came home to dinner and found his wife weeping,
and he asked, " What is the trouble?"

"There has been a great change in our boy since
morning," the mother said, "and I am afraid he is
dying ; I wish you to go in and see him, and, if you think
he is, I wish you to tell him so, for I cannot bear to."

The father went in and sat down by the bed-side,
and he placed his hand upon his forehead, and he could
feel the cold, damp sweat of death, and knew its cold,
icy hand was feeling for the cords of life, and that
his boy was soon to be taken away, and he said to him:

ITS REWARDS. 107

" My son, do you know you are dying? "

The little fellow looked up at him and said:

" No ; am I ? Is this death that I feel stealing over
me, father?"

"Yes, my son, you are dying."

" Will I live the day out?"

" No; you may die at any moment."

He looked up to his father, and he said: "Well, I
uhall be with Jesus to-night, won't I, father?"

And the father answered: " Yes, my boy, you will
spend to-night with the Savior," and the father turned
away to conceal the tears, that the little boy might not
see him weep; but he saw the tears, and he said:

"Father, don't you weep for me; when I get to
heaven I will go straight to Jesus and tell Him that ever
since I can remember you have tried to lead me to Him."

I have three children, and the greatest desire of my
heart is that they may be saved ; that I may know that
their names are written in the Book of Life. I may
be taken from them early; I may leave them in this
changing world without a father's care; but I would
rather have my children say that of me after I am
dead and gone, or if they die before me I would
rather they should take that message to the Master —
that ever since they can remember I have tried to lead
them to the Master— than to have a monument over me
reaching to the skies.

We ought not to look upon death as we do. Bishop
Heber has written of a dead friend:

" Thou art gone to the grave ! but we will not deplore thee,
Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb;

Thy Savior has passed through its portals before thee,
.find the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom,

1U8 HEAVEN:

" Thou ant gone to the grave! We no longer behold thee,
Nor tread the rough paths of the world by thy side;

But the wide arms of Mercy are spread to enfold thee,
And sinners may die, for the Sinless has died."

The roll is being called, and one after another sum-
moned away, but if the names of our loved ones are
there, if we know that they are saved, how sweet it is,
after they have left ns, to think that we shall meet them
by and by; that we shall see them in the morn when
the night has worn away.

During the late war a young man lay on a cot, and
they heard him say, " Here, here! " and some one went
to his cot and wanted to know what he wanted, and he
said, " Hark! Hush, don't you hear them? " " Hear
whom ? " was asked. " They are calling the roll of
heaven," he said, and pretty soon he answered, "Here!"
— and he was gone. If our names are in the Book of
Life, by and by when the name is called, we can say
with Samuel, "Here am I!" and fly away to meet
Him. And if our children are called away early,
O, it is so sweet to think that they died in Christ; that
the great Shepherd gathers them in His arms and car-
ries them in His bosom, and that we shall meet them
by and by.

PAUL, THE CHRISTIAN HERO.

The way to get to heaven is to be saved through faith
in Jesus Christ.

We get salvation as a gift, but we have to work it
out, just as if we got a gold mine for a gift.

I do not get a crown by joining the church, or rent-
ing a pew.

There was Paul. He won his crown. He had many
a hard fight; he met Satan on many a battle-field, and

ITS REWARDS. 109

he overcame him and wore the crown. It would take
about ten thousand of the average Christians of
this day or any other to make one of Paul. When 1
read the life of that Apostle, I blush for the Christian-
ity of the nineteenth century. It is a weak and sickly
thing.

See what he went through. He five times was
scourged. The old Boman custom of scourging was to
take the prisoner and bind his wrists together and bend
him over in a stooping posture, and the Eoman soldier
would bring the lash, braided with sharp pieces of steel
down upon the bare back of the prisoner and cut him
through the skin, so that men sometimes died in the
act of being scourged. But Paul says he was scourged
five different times. Now if we should get one stripe
upon our backs what a whining there would be ; there
would be forty publishers after us before the sun went
down, and they would want to publish our lives, that
they could make capital out of them. But Paul says,
"Five times received I forty stripes, save one." That
was nothing for him. Take your stand by his side.

"Paul, you have been beaten by these Jews four
times, and they are going to give you thirty-nine stripes
more; what are you going to do after you get out of
the difficulty? What are you going to do about it all?

"Do?" says he, "I will do this one thing; I will,
press toward the mark of the prize of my high calling ;
I am on my way to get my crown." He was not going
to lose his crown. " Don't think that a few stripes will
turn me away; these light afflictions are nothing."

And so they put on thirty-nine more stripes.

He had sprung into the race for Christ, as it were,

110 HEAVEN:

and was leaping toward heaven. If yon will allow me
ifre expression, the devil got his match when he met
PanL He never switched off to a side-track. He
never sat down to write a letter to defend himself. Al]
the strength that he had he gave to Christ. He never
gave a particle to the world nor to himself to defend
himself. " This one thing I do," he said, " I am not
going to lose the crown." See that no man take your
crown.

" Thrice beaten with rods." Take your stand again
beside him.

" Now, Paul, they have beaten you twice, and they
are going to beat you again. What are you going to
do ? Are you going to continue preaching ? If you
are, let me give you, a little advice. Now, don't be
quite so radical; be a little more conservative; just use
a little finer language, and, so to speak, cover up the
cross with beautiful words and flowery sentences, and
tell men that they are pretty good after all ; that they
are not so bad, and try and pacify the Jews; make
friends with them, and get in with the world, and the
world will think more of you. Don't be so earnest;
don't be so radical, Paul ; now come, take our advice.
What are you going to do? "

"Do?" he says, "I do this one thing — I press
toward the mark of the prize of my high calling." So
they put on the rods, and every blow lifts him nearer
God.

Take your stand with him again. They begin to
stone him. That is the way they killed those who did
not preach to suit them.

It seems as if he was about to be paid back in his

ITS REWARDS. m

own coin, for when Stephen was stoned to death, Paul,
then known as Saul, cheered on the crowd.

" Now, Paul, this is growing serious ; hadn't you bet-
ter take back some of the things you have said about
Jesus? _.What are you going to do?"

"Do?" he says, "if they take my life I will only
get my crown the sooner."

He would not budge an inch. He had something
that the world could not give; he had something it
oould not take away ; he had eternal life, and he had in
store a crown of glory.

THESE LIGHT AFFLICTIONS.

Three times was he shipwrecked; a day and a night
in the deep. Look at that mighty apostle, a whole
day and night in the deep. There he was — ship-
wrecked, and for what? Was it to make money? He
was not after money. He was just going from city to
city, and town to town, to preach the glorious gospel of
Jesus Christ, and to lift up the cross wherever he had
opportunity. He went down to Corinth and preached
eighteen months, and he didn't have a lot of the lead-
ing ministers of Corinth to come on the platform and
sit by his side when he preached. There was not a
man who stood by him. When he reached Corinth he
had none of the leading business men to stand by him
and advise him; but the little tent-maker arrives in
Corinth a perfect stranger, and the first thing he does
is to find a place where he can make a tent ; he does not
go to a hotel ; his means will not allow it; he goes where
he can make his bread by the sweat of his brow. Think
of that great apostle making a tent, and then getting

112 HEAVEN:

on the corner of a street and preaching, and perhaps
once in a while he would get into a synagogue, but the
Jews would turn him out; they did not want to hear
him preach anything about Jesus the Crucified.

When I read of the life of such a man, how I blush
to think how sickly and dwarfed Christianity is at the
present time, and how many hundreds there are who
never think of working for the Son of God and honor-
ing Christ.

Yet when he wrote that letter back to Corinth, we
find him taking an inventory of some things he had.
He is rich, he says, " In journeying soften, in perils of
waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own coun-
trymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren." This last must have been
the hardest of all. " In weariness and painfulness, in
watchings often ; in hunger and thirst, in fastings often ;
in cold, in nakedness ; and besides those things that are
without, the care of all the churches." (II Cor. xi, 26-
28. ) These are only some of the things that he summed
up. Do you know what made him so exceedingly hap-
py ? It was because he believed the Scripture ; he be-
lieved the Sermon on the Mount. We profess to be-
lieve it; we pretend to believe it; but few of us more
than half believe it. Listen to one sentence in that
sermon: "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is
your reward in heaven," when you are persecuted.
Now persecution was about all that Paul had.

That was his capital, and he had a good deal of it ;
he had laid by a good many persecutions, and he was
to get a great reward. Christ says: "Rejoice and be

ITS REWARDS. H3

exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven."
If Jesus Christ spoke of it as "great" it must be
indeed wonderful. We call things great that may look
very small to Jesus Christ ; and things that look very
small to us may look very large to Him. When the
great Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, He who
formed the heavens and the earth by His mighty power,
when He calls it a great reward, what must it be ?

Perhaps some people said to the Apostle to the Gen-
tiles: "Now, Paul, you are meeting with too much
opposition; you are suffering too much."

Hear him reply: "Our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a, far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory."

" Our light affliction," he calls it. We would have
called it pretty hard, pretty heavy, would we not? "

But he says: "These light afflictions are nothing;
think of the glory before me, and think of the crowrning
time ; think of the reward that is laid up for me. I am
on my way; the Righteous Judge will give it to me
when the time comes;" and that is what filled his soul
with joy; it was the thought of reward that the Lord
had in store for him.

Now, my friends, let us just for a minute think of
what Paul accomplished. Think of going out, as it
were, among the heathen ; the first missionary to preach
to these men, wTho were so full of wickedness, so full of
enmity and bitterness, the glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ, and to tell them that the man who died outside
the walls of the city of Jerusalem the death of a com,
men prisoner, a common felon, in the sight of the.
world, was the promised Christ ; to tell them that they
8

114 HEAVEN.

had to believe in that crucified Man in order to enter
the kingdom of God. Think of the dark mountain that
rose up before him ; think of the opposition ; think of
the bitter persecution, and then think of the trifles in
our way.

SONGS IN PEISON.

But a great many worldly people think Paul's life
was a failure. Probably his enemies, when they put
him in prison, thought that would silence him ; but do
you know that I believe to-day Paul thanks God more
for prisons, for stripes, for the persecution and opposi-
tion that he suffered, than for anything else that hap-
pened to him here ?

The very things we do not like are sometimes the
very best for us.

Christians probably might not have these glorious
Epistles, if Paul had not been thrown into prison. There
he took up his pen and wrote letters to the Christians
in Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossse, and to Phile-
mon and Timothy. Look at the two Epistles that he
wrote to the Corinthians. How much has been done
for the world by these Epistles. What a blessing they
have been to the church of God ; how great a light they
have thrown on many a man's life. But we might not
have had those Epistles if it had not been for persecu-
tion.

Perhaps John Bunyan blesses God more to-day for
Bedford jail than anything that happened to him.
Probably we would not have the Pilgrim's Progress if
he had not been thrown into that prison. Satan thought
he accomplished a great deal when he shut up Bunyan

ITS REWARDS. 115

for twelve years and six months ; but what a blessing
it was to the world ; and I believe Paul blesses God to-
day for the Philippian jail, and for the imprisonment
he suffered in Rome, because it gave him time to write
those blessed letters. Talk of Alexander making the
world tremble with the tread of his armies, and of Caesar
and Napoleon's power, but here is a little tent-maker,
who, without an army, turned the world upside down.

Why?

Because God Almighty was with him.

Paul says in one place: "None of these things move
me." (Acts xx, 24.) They threw him in prison, but it
was all the same ; it did not move him. When he was
at Corinth and Athens preaching, it made no difference.
He ust "pressed toward the mark of the prize of his
high calling." If God wanted him to go through
prisons to win the prize, it was all the same to him.
They put him in prison, but they put the Almighty in
with him, and Paul was' so linked to Jesus that they
could not separate them. He would rather be in prison
with Christ than out of prison without Him. He
would a thousand times rather be cast into prison with
the Son of God and suffer a little persecution for a few
days here, than to be living at ease without Him.

He heard the cry, "Come over into Macedonia and
help us." He went over and preached, and the first
thing that happened to him was that he was put into
the Philippian jail. Now, if he had been as faint-
hearted as most of us, he would have been disappointed
and cast down. There would have been a great com-
plaint.

He would have said: " This is a strange Providence;

116 HEAVEN:

whatever brought me here ? I thought the Lord called
me here; here I am in prison in a strange city; how
did 1 ever get here ? How will I Qver get out of this
place? I have no money; I have no friends; I have no
attorney; I have no one to intercede for me, and here
I am." Paul and Silas were not only in prison, but
their feet were made fast in the stocks. There they
were, in the inner prison, a dark, cold, damp dungeon.
But at midnight the other prisoners heard a strange
sound. They had never heard anything like it before.
They heard singing. I do not know what song those
two imprisoned evangelists sang, but I know one thing,
it was not " a doleful sound from the tombs." You
know we have a hymn, " Hark, from the tombs a dole-
ful sound.". They did not sing that, but the Bible tells
us they sang praises. That was a queer place to sing
praises, was it not?

I suppose it was time for the evening prayers, and
that they had just had their evening prayer and then
sang their evening hymn. And God answered their
prayers, and the old prison shook, and the chains
dropped, and the prison doors were opened. Yes, yes;
I have no doubt that in glory he thanks God that he
went to jail and that the Philippian jailer became con-
verted.

SWEPT INTO GLORY.

But look at him at Rome. Nero has signed his
death warrant. Take your stand and look at the little
man. He is small; in the sight of the world he is
contemptible (II Cor. xii, 10) ; the world frowns upon
him. Go to the palace of the king and talk about that

ITS REWARDS. 117

criminal — about Paul — and yon will see a sneer on
their countenances.

" Oh, he is a fanatic," they say; " he has gone mad."
I wish the world was filled with such fanatics. I tell
you what Ave want to-day is a few fanatics like him ;
men who fear nothing but sin and love no one but God.

Eome never had such a conqueror within her walls.
Rome never had such a mighty man as Paul within her
boundaries. Although the world looked down upon
him, and perhaps he looked very small and contempti-
ble, yet in the sight of heaven he was the mightiest
man who ever trod the streets of Eome. Probably
there will never be another one like him traveling those
streets. The Son of God walked with him, and the
form of the Fourth was with him. But go into that
prison ; there he is ; officials come to him and tell him
that Nero has signed his death-warrant. He does not
tremble; he is not afraid.

" Paul, are you not sorry you have been so zealous
for Christ? It is going to cost you your life; if you
had to live it oyer again, would you give it to Jesus of
Nazareth? y' What do you think the old warrier would
reply?

See that eye light up as he says: "HI had ten thous-
and lives I should give every one of those lives to
Christ, and the only regret I have is that I did not
commence earlier and serve Him better ; the only regret
I have now is that I ever lifted my voice against Jesus
of Nazareth."

" But they are going to behead you."

' Well, they may take my head, but the Lord has my
heart. I care nothing about my head; the Lord has

II

118 HEAVEN:

my heart and has had it for years. They cannot sep-
arate me from the Lord, and when my head is taken
off, I shall depart to be with Christ, which is far better."

And they led him out. I do not know at what hour ;
perhaps it was early in the. morning. There is a tra-
dition tells us that they led him two miles out of the
city. Look at the little tent-maker as he goes through
the streets of Rome with a firm tread. Look at that
giant as lie moves through the streets. He is on his
way to execution. Take your stand by his side and
hear him talk. He is talking of the glory beyond.

He says: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness. I shall see the King in His
beauty to-night. I have longed to be with Him; I
have longed to see Him. This is the day of my
crowning,"

The world scoffed at him, but he did not hee dits
scoffing. He had something the world had not; burn-
ing within him he had a love and zeal which the world
knew nothing about. Ah, the love that Paul had for
Jesus Christ! But, oh, the greater love the Lord Jesus
had for Paul!

The hour has come. The way they used to behead
them in those days was for the prisoner to bend his
head, when a Roman soldier took a sword and cut it
ol. The hour had come, and I seem to see Paul, with
a joyful countenance, bending his blessed head, as the
soldier's sword comes down and sets his spirit free.

If our eyes could look as Elisha's looked, we might
have seen him leap into a chariot of light like Elijah;
we would have seen him go sweeping through limitless
space.

ITS REWARDS. 119

Look at him now as lie mounts higher and higher;
look at him, see him move up; up— up — up — ever
upward.

Look at him yonder !

See! He is entering now the Eternal City of the
glorified saints, the blissful abode of the Savior's
redeemed. The prize he so long has sought is at hand.
See the gates yonder ;. how they fly wide open. See the
herald angels on the shining battlements of heaven.
Hear the glad shout that is passed along, " He is com-
ing! He is coming!" And he goes sweeping through
the pearly gates, along the shining way, to the very
throne of God, and Christ stands there and says: " Well
done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord."

Just think of hearing the Master say it. Will not
that be enough for everything ?

O friends, your turn and mine will come by-and-by,
if we are but faithful. Let us see that we do not lose
the crown. Let us awake and put on the whole armor
of God; let us press into the conflict; it is a glorious
privilege ; and then to us too, as to the glorified of old,
will come that blessed welcome from our glorified Lord:
4i Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

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Secret of Success in Christian Life and

Christian Work. By D. L. Moody

I jwer— its source; 'in' and 'upon'; u.

witnessing; in operation; hindered.

"A deeply earnest and heipful book for

the use of Christians, on the work of the

Holy Spirit in the believer, inciting to

more diligent effort and to a more perfect

use of the privilege* of the 'sons of God,"*

i5 cents each. The Colportage Library. two for 25c.

No. 9— To the Work! A trumpet

call to Christians, by D. L. Moody.
Chapters on Hindrances, the Motive
Power for Service, Faith, Courage, En-
thusiasm, etc.
"The prayerful study of this volume can-
not fail to prove helpful and inspiring to
all Christian workers, and to all who are
aspiring to be like Christ in their love for
souls and zeal for their salvation."— Pres-
byterian.

No. i o— According to 'Promise;

or, The Lord's Method of dealing with
His chosen people. By C. H. Spur-
geon. A companion volume to "All
of Grace." . (No. i of the Colportage
Library series.)
"It is an eminently practical volume, the
fruit of a ripe experience; as simple in its
form as it is searching in its exposure of
counterfeit religion; and we have no doubt
that many will have reason to rejoice that
they made its acquaintance. As Mr. Spur-
geon remarks in one of his homely senten-
ces, 'he who looked into his accounts and
found that his business was a losing one
was saved from bankruptcy.' "—Christian
Leader.

No. ii— Bible Characters. By

D. L Moody. Studies of the char-
acters of Daniel, Enoch, Lot. Jacob
and John the Baptist; showing the ways
of God with different men, in different
periods and under different circum-
stances, always revealing the same wis-
dom, love and power.
s'Mr. Moody goes right into the heart of
his subject, and in a few words shows his
reader the great truth or principle involved,
teaching lessons for all time and all gene-
rations. In his hands the Bible is a living
book." '—Christian Age.

No. 13— Gospel Pictures and

Story Sermons for cnildren. By D.
W. Whittle. Major Whittle's object
sermons for children, teaching by the
eye as well as by the ear. The topics
are— The Poison Sermon— The Magnet
Sermon— The Candle Sermon— The
Commandments Sermon (two parts)—
The Heart Sermon. Profusely illus-
trated.
"Simple, attractive, instructive; and may
prove suggestive to all pastors wishing to
present, in a forceful way, imi ortant truths
to young minds."— The Standard.

No. 13— And Peter, and other ser-
mons. By J. Wilbur Chapman. Con-
taining eight of Dr. Chapman's most
helpful sermons.
"The style and matter are almost as at-

tractive as the magnetic utterances of the
author. All is direct, searching, forcible
and readable.' — Brotherhood Star.

No. 14— Select Poems.

"Thirty-one gems of religious verse."—
Northwestern Christian Advocate.

"A selection in which rare discrimination
and thorough knowledge of devotional
verse are evinced."— Young Men' s Era.

No. 15— Light on Life's Duties.

By F. Be Meyer, with an introduction
by J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapters en-
titled: The Chambers of the King;-
The Lost Chord Found; The Secret, of
Victory over Sin; The First Step into
the Blessed Life; With Christ in Separ-
ation; How to Read Your Bible: The
Common Task; Young Men. Don't
Drift; Words of Help for Christian
Girls; Seven Rules for Daily Living.
"Full of good things, and suitable for
distribution." — Christian Observer.

No. 16— Point and Purpose In

Story and Saying.

"Full of pithy anecdote and illustration,
of exceptional value to clergy and laymen.'*
— Young Men's Era.

No. 17— Selections from Spur-

geon. Giving characteristic selections
from Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, reveal*
ing the secret of his mighty power as a
preacher.
'•Covers a wide variety of spiritual topics

in the great preacher's inimitable way."—

The Golden Rule.

No. 18— The Good Shepherd, a

life of our Saviour for children. Large
print, profusely illustrated.
Hundreds of thousands of copies of this
book have been sold.

No. 19— Good Tidings, by Tal-

mage, Spurgeon, Parker, McNeill.
"Behold, I bring you Good Tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people;
for unto you is born this day— a Sa-
vior." (Luke ii. n, 12.)
"Everv page a bearer of good tidings to
the tn ind and heart of the reader. A good
book for the widest circulation.1'— The
Evangelical.

No. 20— Sovereign Grace, its

source, its nature, and its effects. By

D L. Moody.
"Particularly useful as showing the part
which the grace of God takes in the work
of conversion and regeneration."— Preach*
er's Analyst.

is cents each The Colportage Library Two for 25c.

No. 21— Select Sermons. By D.

L. Moocty . Sermons entitled: "Where

art thou?"; There is no difference;

Good News; Christ seeking sinners;

Sinners seeking Christ; "What think

ye of Christ?"; Excuses (two parts.)

"With the effect of these addresses,when

spoken, the whole land is acquainted, and

now that they are printed, they will tend

to keep in force the impression they have

already mads."— Methodist,

No. 22 — Temperance.

"A perfect magazine of anecdotes, ex-
periences, facts and arguments, helpful
alike to general reader or public speaker."
— The Baptist Union.

"The subject is wisely and attractively
handled."— Herald a?id Presbyter.

No. 23— Nobody Loves Me. A

story by Mrs. O. F.Walton. {Illus-
trated.)
"A touching story of the way in which a
hardened and loveless life was led into true
light and love."— The Union Signal.

No. 24— Resurrection. Sermons

by MacLaren,Talmage,Liddon, Moody
and Spurgeon.

"A rich collection of argument, exhorta-
tion, suggestion and application, centering
upon the foundation doctrine of our Chris-
tianity."— The Evangelical.

"The blessed hope of a glorious resur-
rection is made doubly real and precious
by the sermons of these men through
whom God has so often spoken."— The
Golden Rule.

No. 25— Vagen till Gud. ("The

Way to God." See No. 2.) Swedish.

No. 26— Sowing and Reaping.

ByD. L. Moody.

On the text "Be not deceived; God is
not mocked; for whatsoever a mansoweth,
that shall he also reap." (Gal. vi. 7.)

"An admirable specimen of the evangel-
ist's practical, vigorous, pungent style."—
The Congregationalist.

No. 27— Himmelen. ("Heaven.*'

See No. 5.) Swedish.

No. 28— Probable Sons. A Story.

{Illustrated.)

"Among the brightest, most charming
and irresistible of child creations in our
recent literature." — The Independent.

"I could wish this little story might have
a million readers, as it has proved a means
of grace to my own heart." — Thomas Spur-
geon.

No. 29 — Segervinnande Bon.

("Prevailing Prayer." See No. 6.)
Swedish. _

No. 30— Good News. By Robert

Boyd.
"It will perhaps lend interest to the read-
ing of this book to know that D. L. Moody
got his first definite ideas of gospel truths
from its contents." — Extract from Preface.

No. 31— Forborgad Kraft. ("Se-
cret Power." See No. 8.) Swedish.

No. 32— The Secret of Guidance.

By F. B. Meyer.

A companion volume to No. 14, "Light
on Life'sDuties." Chapters entitled— "The
Secret of Guidance"; "Where am I
wrong?"; "The Secret of Christ's Indwell-
ing"; "Fact! Faith! Feeling!"; "Why Sign
the Pledge?"; "Burdens, and What To Do
With Them"; "How to Bear Sorrow"; "In
the Secret of His Presence"; "The Fulness
of the Spirit."

"These two books contain the essence of
my teaching."— F. B. Meyer.

No. 33— Utvalda Predikningar.

("Select Sermons." See No. 21.)
. Swedish.

No. 34— The Second Coming of

Christ. Chapters by D. L. Moody,

Bishop J. C. Ryle, George Muller.

Major Whittle, C. H. Spurgecn and

others.
"Good fuel to feed the flame of that
'blessed hope' in the breast of every be-
liever."— The Evangelical.

No. 35— Bibel Berattelser for

Barn. By W. H. B. ("Bible Stories
for Children.") Swedish.

No. 36— Sunday Talks to the

Young. By Josiah Mee.
"This book embodies a happy thought.
Thirty-one excellent short talks on most
important themes."

No. 37— Der fiimmel. ("Hea-
ven." See No. 5.) German.
No. 38— Parables from Nature.

By Mrs. Alfred Gatty.
"A very interesting book, in which reli-
gious truths are taught by various mem-
bers of the inanimate world.'1 }— Cumber-
land Presbyterian.

No. 39— Verborgene Kraft. ("Se-
cret Power." See No. 8.) German.

No. 40— Kadesh-Barnea, or the

Power of a Surrendered Life. By J.
Wilbur Chapman.
"Maps out the way of the life of full
spiritual blessing."— S. S. Times.

No. 41— Himmelen. ("Heaven."

See No. 5.) Dan.-Norw.

is cents each. The Colportage Library , Two tor *&

No. 42— Whiter than Snow, and

Little Dot. Stories. {Illustrated.)
*lThese two stories will minister grace to
the reader, and should be welcomed into
Sunday schools and homes."

No. 43— Seirende Bon. ("Pre-
vailing Prayer." See No. 6.) Danish-
Norwegian.

No. 44— The Overcoming Life,

and other sermons. By D. L. Moody.

Chiefly for Christians.
Contents— The Overcoming Life : Part
I, the Christian's Warfare— Part II, Inter-
nal Foes— Part III, External Foes. And
other sermons as follows : * 'Results of True
Repentance"; "True Wisdom"; "Come
thou and all thy House into the Ark";
"Humility"; "Rest"; "Seven 4 I wills' ot
Christ".

"While Mr. Moody is a John the Baptist,
calling men to repent, he is also a Peter,
preaching new Pentecosts, and leading
men to fuller consecration." — S. S. Times.

No. 45 -Forborgen Kraft. ("Se-
cret Power." See No. 8.) Dan.-Norw.

No. 46— A Royal Exile, and other
sermons. By T. DeWitt Talmage.
"There are ten sermons here, full of the
Gospel and calculated to do great good." —
Herald and Presbyter

No. 47— Udvalgte Prsedikener.

("Select Sermons." See No. 21.)

Danish-Norwegian .

No. 48— The Prodigal. Chapters

by Spurgeon, Aitken, and others.
Founded on the parable of the Prodi-
gal Son.
"These addresses, by the eminent men
named, are highly suggestive and instruc-
tive."— The Religious Telescope.

No. 40-The Spirit=Fil5ed Life.

By John MacNeil. 10,000 copies' sold
within a week of publication.
4,I wish to urge all, especially ministers
of the gospel, to give this little book a

Erayerful reading. I feel confident it will
ring them help and blessing. It will
deepen the conviction of the great need
and absolute duty of being filled with the
Spirit. It will point out the hindrances
and open up the way. It will stir up faith
and hope." — From Rev. Andrew Murray' 's
introduction.

No. 50— Jessica. A story in two

parts— "Jessica's First Prayer" and

"Jessica's Mother." By Hesba Stret-

ton. {Illustrated.)

This work is a classic, and has already

had a sale aggregating about two millions.

No. 51— A Castaway, and other

Addresses, delivered by F. B. Meyer.
"I believe that what is here taught will
give a glimpse into those deeper aspects of
Christianity which are best adapted to
nourish and quicken the inner life.''— F, B.
Meyer in the preface.

No. 52— Heaven on Earth. By

A. C. Dixon.
"A collection of thirteen sermons, which
magnify the dignity and privileges of the
Christian's earthly life, and sing out many
a note of help and cheer for the toiling
child of God. —Baptist Standard.

No. 53— Select Northfield Ser-
mons. By W. W. Moore, Webb-
Peploe, McKenzie, Bonar, Gordon,
Speer, Cuyler, etc.
"One sermon, ""The Religion of Unspot-

tedness,' is worth the price of the book."—

Christian Courier.

No. 54— Absolute Surrender, by

Andrew Murray.
"To earnest Christian people seeking a
more satisfactory experience and greater
conformity to the voice and heart of Christ,
this book will be as a guiding star of
hope." — Christian Work.

No. 55 ^-Possibilities. By J. G.

K. McClure.
"Unusually bright and pertinent dis-
courses, full of the American quality of
directness, go to make up this volume." —
Sunday School Times.

No. 56— Faith. Chapters by Spur-

feon, Finlayson, Aitken, Maclaren and
Ioody.

No. 57— Christie's Old Organ, by

Mrs. O. F. Walton. A story. (Illust.)
"A splendid book to leave in homes
where tracts would be refused."— Church
Calendar.

No. 58— Naaman the Syrian, by

A. B. Mackay. Introduction by D. L.

Moody.
The history of Naaman the Syrian, as
recorded in 2 Kings, is the groundwork of
this interesting and helpful book.

No. 59— The Lost Crown, by J.

Wilbur Chapman.
"Calculated to stir Christians to a care-
ful discharge of duty.^

No. 60— Weighed and Wanting.

Addresses on the Ten Commandments,

by D. L. Moody.
"Especially notable for the best charac-
teristics of the evangelist's style. His
force and fire and power appear even on
the printed page." — EvangelicaL

iscentseach The Colportage Library* Twofor25c,

Vo. 6 1— The Crew of the Dol-
phin. By Hesba Stretton. A story of the
sea. (Illustrated,)
44 The book is graphic, and has a strong

Christian tone." — The Congregationalist.

No. 62— John Ploughman's Talk,

or, Plain Advice for Plain People. By C.

H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon's most popular

book; over half a million copies sold.

Deals in simple language with everyday
faults and virtues, warning and instruction be-
ing clothed in Spurgeon's inimitable wit and
humor.

No. 63— Meet for the Master's

Use. By F. B. Meyer. Containing reports
> of addresses delivered in the United States.

"Stirring and inspiring. Mr. Meyer's
preaching is characterized by directness, by
simplicity, by plainness, and by that strange
power of finding the conscience which is one of
the truest tests of preaching." — Sunday School
Times.

No. 64— Our Bible. Is My Bible

True? and Where Did We Get It? By

Charles Leach; and Ten Reasons Why I
Believe the Bible Is the Word of God.

By R. A. Torrey.

44 A book that believers in the authority and
authenticity of the Bible ought to possess.
The core of the case has been presented in a
way that cannot but produce the most favorable
impression." — Western Christian Advocate.

No. 65— Alone in London. By

Hesba Stretton. A story. (Illustrated.)
Equal to any of the stories of this popular
authoress.

No. 66 — Moody's Anecdotes.

Anecdotes, incidents and illustrations from

the addresses of D. L. Moody. Authorised.

44 There does not appear to be a pointless

story included, and most of them are keen as a

Damascus bladc.,, — Sunday School Times.

NO. 67 — Dnimmond's Ad-
dresses. Six of Henry Drummond's earlier
addresses. Introduction by D. L. Moody.
44 This volume contains the well-known ad-
dress on * Love, the Greatest Thing in the
World,* and several others whose worth has
been well tested. Mr. Moody's introductory
note is characteristic. " — Church Calendar*

No. 68— The Mirage of Life. By

W. Haig Miller. Fully illustrated, by

Tenniel.

44 It is a portrait gallery of famous char-
acters who have figured in various walks of life
and missed its great end, deceived by the
mirage."

No. 69— Children of the Bible.

Chapters on the childhood of Isaac and
Ishmael, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David,
Jesus, Timothy, and others. Large print,
copiously illustrated.

44 Ought to be welcomed by the children of
thousands of homes. No better stories were
ever told, and in the present handy volume
they are again well told. — Christian Guardian.

No. 70— The Power of Pentecost.

By Rev. Thomas Waugh. With a chapter

on 44 The Filling of the Holy Spirit," by F.

B. Meyer.

The author, who is one of the leaders of the
Methodist Forward Movement in England,
points out the need of all needs in the church
to-day, and shows how the power of Pentecost
can be obtained and retained.

No. 71— Men of the Bible. By D.

L. Moody.

Chapters entitled: Abraham's Four Sur-
renders; The Call of Moses; Naaman the
Syrian; Nehemiah; Herod and John the Bap-
tist; The Man Born Blind and Joseph of
Arimathea; The Penitent Thief.

44 Expressed in Mr. Moody's effective style."
— The Christian Evangelist.

No. 72 — A Peep Behind the

Scenes, By Mrs. O. F. Walton. A story.

( Illustrated.)

44 1 have just finished reading * A Peep Be-
hind the Scenes.1 It will add greatly to our
list of books. It is one of the best things
against the theatre that can be brought out,
and will do much good." — D. L. Moody.

No. 73— The School of Obedi-
ence. By Andrew Murray.
44 This beautifully written and deeply spirit-
ual book we would most heartily commend to
all Christian workers and Bible students, and
especially for the instruction and strengthening
of young men and women, on whose obedi-
ence and devotion so much depends for the
church and the world." — Footsteps of Truth.

No. 74- Home Duties. By R. T.

Cross.

Duties of Husbands, Wives, Parents, Chil-
dren, Brothers, Sisters; Duty of Family Wor-
ship, Method of Family Worship; Duty of
Getting a Home, and How to Get It.

No. 75 — Tales of Adventure

from the Old Book. By Thomas

Champness.

Mr. Champness' graphic and practical style
lends new interest to the Bible incidents he
deals with.

No. 76— Moody's Stories. A

second volume of anecdotes, incidents and
illustrations selected from the addresses of
D. L. Moody. (See No. 66.) Authorised
collection.

No. 77— The True Estimate of

Life. By G. Campbell Morgan.

Addresses that made a profound impression
when delivered at Northfleld, including 44 To
Me to Live is Christ," 44 Redeeming the
Time," etc.

15 cents each. The Colportage Library. Twoior25c.

No. 78 —The Robbers' Cave.' By

A. L O. E. {Illustrated.)
A story of stirring interest for young people.
The sceno is laid in Italy. One of the most
popular books of this well-known author.

No. 79— The Life of David.

Large type, profusely illustrated.
u The always fascinating and instructive
story of this Bible hero is here well told.1'

No. 80 John Ploughman's Pic-
tures; or, Plain Advice for Plain People.
By C. H. Spurgeon. A companion volume
to the famous John Ploughman's Talk.

(See No. 62.)
lt Spurgeo/s homely philosophy and familiar
illustrations are too well known to need com-
ment.11— Christian Standard.

No. 81— Thoughts for the Quiet

Hour. Daily selections for a year. Edited

by D. L. Moody.
41 In this age of rush and activity we need
some special call to go apart and be alone with
God for a part of each day.11 — D. L. Moody.

No. 82— Mothers of the Bible.

By Charles Leach.

11 Simp e, brief and spiritually perceptive.
There is much pathos, much of the warm hu-
man life-beat that draws.11 — Baptist Union.

No. 83 —The Shorter Life of D. L.

rloody. By his son, Paul Dwight Moody,
and A. P. Fitt. Volume I.— His life.

No. 84 — Do. Volume II —His work.

tt Necessarily brief, it presents its subject in
clear, strong outline, and gives a vivid, graphic
picture of that unique and wonderful life and
persoualitv.11 — Evangelical.

41 The many little home touches add much to
the interest.'1 — Watchword.

No. 85— The Revival of a Dead

Church. By L. G. Broughton.
Considers the causes of u deadness " (Rev.
3 : 1) in many churches, and discusses the con-
dition of a revival in soul-winning, prevailing
prayer, the lite of victory, Bible study, etc.

No. 86— Moody's Latest Ser=

mons. A posthumous volume, which was,

however, planned by Mr. Moody himself.

Contains sermons entitled: The 91st Psalm,

Mary and Martha, The 8th Chapter of Romans,

Four Questions from God, etc.

No. 87— A Missionary Peony.

A story by L. C. W. (Illustrated.)

No. 88 — The Atonement. A sym-
posium, planned by D. L. Moody. Chap-
ters by leaders in the Christian church on
this fundamental doctrine.

No. 89— How to Pray. By R. A.

Torrey.
11 In this excellent book of Mr. Torrey's we
see much of Mr. Moody's spirit and method.
He goes straight to the undefiled well of Script-
ure, and brings therefrom a draught most re-
freshing to thirsty people in this weary age. . .
Many are sighing and crying for a revival of
religion, and we are free to say that we do not
know any book so suitable to help in seeking
this desired consummation.11 — 'The Christian
Leader, England.

No. 90 -Little King Davie. A

story by Nellie' Hellis. ^Illustrated.)

No. 91— Short Talks by D. L.

Moody. Also planned by himself, and
containing addresses on: The }2d Psalm,
Fruitbearing, Seven Walks of Ephesiansy
Steps in the Downfall of Israel, On the
Road to Emmaus, The Gift of Power. The
5th of Mark, etc.

No. 92— The Great Appeal. By

President Jas. G. K. McClure.
The appeal of the Gospel to the Intellect —
Heart — Conscience — Memory — Imagination —
Self-interest — Will. A good book for young men.
In the press.

The Pilgrim's Progress. By John

Bunyan, (Illustrated.)

The Life of Jerry MacAuley,

ex=river thief.

WANTED!

We want earnest men and women as ** Book Missionaries" in every city, town and
village, to represent our work, which is interdenominational in its rharacter and invites the
sympathy and co-operation of all Christian people.

Supplies of the Moody books can be obtained at the following depots:

General Eastern Depot, East Northfield, Mass.

New Yokk City: Fleming H. Revell Company, i<>8 Fifth Avenue.

Boston: New England Evangelistic Association, 7 Tremont Place; American Baptist
Publication Society, Room 6, Tremont Temple.

Minneapolis: The Gospel Tract Depository, 20. Washington Avenue, South.

India: Albert Norton, Dhond, Poonah.

Nashville, Tenn.: Barbee & Smith, The Methodist Book Concern.

Los Angeles, Calif.: Fowler & Colwell

Shanghai, China: Edward Evans, Missionary Home, 2,3 Seward Road.

Halifax, Nova Scotta: The British- American Book and Tract Society.

Toronto: Fleming H. Revell Company, 154 Yonge Street.
And direct from headquarters, 250 LaSaile Avenue, Chicago.

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