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VOL. LXXXVHI. RICHM
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1 he New
"And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem."
?Kev. 22:2.
It is a good thing, sometimes, for the soul, to
forget the past with its failures and its faiuujks:
to lose sight of the present with its anxietMEfiiR
cares; and, looking into the future, c<x >>?<?4j|>j$te
the prospects there. It is not pernuitflftlttj|i?
run ahead and explore the mysteries of theuff
beyond; but the beloved disciple, John, was granted
a vision of the home.beyond, and was permitted
to tell us something of its delights. It may be
well, then, for our minds to dwell a while on
some of the tilings he saw there.
The place itself was "the holy city, new Jerusalem,"
the home which God has prepared for himself
linH Vila *Drlpam<ul fonnilw. ?I-;-1- ??
?~ .vuwuuvu iuuiuj[ , uic piauc wuiuu we
call heaven. * He tells us first of its make-up. It
is a city fdur square; the length, breadth and
height of it were equal, twelve thousand furlongs
each. The walls were made of jasper, and the
twelve foundations were adorned with precious
stones. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and
the streets were of solid gold, which shone like
glass. In his effort to describe the exceeding richness
and glory of the place, he exhausts the store
of our knowledge of precious things. But it is
not the exterior part that I would emphasize; for
it takes more than golden streets and jeweled
walls to make happy and contented hearts.
But he tells us of two things which attracted
his attention, in which each of us should be very
much interested. First, some
THINGS WHICH ARE NOT THERE.
Things which all other cities the world has ever
known were full of. Things which Jerusalem of
old, so dear to Israel, was full of; but which are
never seen in the "city of God."
There is
NO SIN THERE.
Nothing shall ever enter it that defileth, or
worKetn abomination, or maketh a lie. The world
since the early days of its history has been infested
with sin. No place in it, either in the
country or in the cities, has been free from it;
and especially have the cities been hot-beds of sin,
where it flourished in all its vileness. One inhabitant
alone in all earth's ages who has sinned
not, and he was Jesus the God-man. All that
makes the earth an unhappy place to live in is
born of sin, and is found only where sin is found.
But he who rules in heaven allows no sin there.
He is righteous himself and none but the righteous
shall see him. The gates of that city are ever
open, but no sin can ever gain entrance through
them. Tt +h#? /?i+v
Then, siniee there is en absence of sin, there is
also an absence of all those unpleasant things
caused by sin. There are
y" ' ' v
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OND, NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, FEBRUAK/
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Jerusalem %
NO TEARS THERE.
"For (Jod himself shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." He will do this by removing all
causes of tears. The dwellers on earth abound in
faid weeping is almost as common us
We are told of heaven's opposite, the
>de of the wicked, that it is to be a place
y tears: "There shall be weeping and
g of teeth." This is to be because sin
in the fullness of its power shall rule there.
We weep here because of pain, but we are told
there is no pain there. These earthly bodies are
breeding places for all kinds of aches, and paius,
and hurts; but when we get there we shall be
free from it, and one day we shall receive a body
glorified, which shall know no oriti
We weep here because of sorrow. Not one of
us escapes, and not one of us can* have the least
idea of how much sadness and sorrow there is in
the world. "Never morning wore to evening but
some heart did break/' Jesus alone knows the
number of sorrows and heartaches, the disappointments,
the trials, the cares that till the earth.
But search through all that heavenly city and you
cannot tind one heart that's troubled or sad. There
shall be no sorrow there.
Reparation and death, I suppose, are the greatest
fountains for tears in all the earth, and come to
every household. But there shall be no death nor
separation there. Here we all die, there none
ever die. It. is the city of eternal life. There
are no farewells, no sad good-byes to bring tears.
Here we make friends and enjoy everything for
a little while, but in the very heart of our joy
there comes the pursuing thought that we must
soon be separated. Our loved ones bring much
joy into our lives, but while we are enjoying them
we are trembling with fear lest we soon must
give them up. There are none of the joys and
pleasures of earth but we must soon be parted
from, and this is a constant source of tears.
But there shall be no parting there. The friends
we make in that city will be many and true ones;
sweeter and dearer far than any earthly ones; but
the sweetest thought is, we shall be friends forever;
no fallings out, no partings. When we meet
our loved ones on that fair shore it will be to
enjoy them to the fullest, with no thought of an
end. The joys of the new Jerusalem shall eclipse
the fondest joys of earth by so much as the sun
outshines the flickering light of lamps; but the
greatest thing about them is that they are eternal
joys. In all the place there can be found nothing
to make us sad or weep. It is the tearless city.
But let us no longer dwell upon the negative
side. It will be a place of positive worth. Name
anything you please that will bring real joy and
gladness to the soul of man, and that does heaven
afford in purest kind. He saw
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VESTERNP&ESB YT?&?<4
HL PRESBYTERIAN ,f
WiRNP<mESBYTEm&&'
i i.' . . .. ....
4, 1914 v. . , . No. 5
~^ T ~
Rev. J. E. ce
THE THEE OF LIFE,
which yields her fruit every month, and not one
fruit alone?there is nothing monotonous iu
heaven?but twelve manner of fruits. It is always
yielding the exact thing each soul requires and
desires. Men's souls are not all alike. All have
loil fin era Kll f nnt Inntrinms fr\r- H.n il- -
Q o"J MS/V ivugiugo IU1 111U OtllllC tilings.
And yet no matter what the craving is, heaven
will supply it in richest abundance.
Some souls are weary and their constant longing
is for rest. They love the words of Jesus
when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor ana
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That
which they desire most of all in heaven is just
to be
"Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on his gentle breast;
There by his love o'ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest."
To such an one heaven will be a place of perfect
rest. A place where all burdens will be laid aside;
where all cares will be forgotten; where the strenuous
soul will be freely relaxed and the weary
shall just rest, rest, rest?not idle, indeed, but all
they have to do will but add to their rest. "There
remaineth, therefore, a rest to t.hp r?pnnlp nf Hmi "
, ,r. t fV
And, 1 believe, the tired soul will find that when
he has eaten from the fruit of the "tree of life,"
all weariness is forgotten in the sweetness of its
rest. ..... . .
There are some souls whose greatest longing is
for peace. To them life has been one constant
battle. Their enemies have been numerous and
strong; the fighting has been fierce, so that they
are worn out with it and long for peace. That
perfect calm when all the roar of battle has died
away and the last enemy retreated or surrendered.
Or the sea of life on which their ship has sailed
has been a boisterous one, upheaved by many a
storm. They have been lashed and tossed and
beaten until they are sick of it; and what they
want in heaven is ? nniet Vmrhrwr ?r!+v.
? ? ? -j ?nitu ?niun ami
storms unbroken. And the new Jerusalem offers
to such an one just such a place, for there is to
be found for every soul that perfect peace?the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding.
Then, other souls have never had more than a
little taste, on earth, of that which we call love.
They have been cheated out of the "queen of
graces," which is the source of all that is best
and sweetest in life. They crave love. Their
VmTlorrv armla lnnif +r? fnnof ??/>? OTU ? ?:n i?-J
.. ?j uv_.u wug n? tuaot upun u> nicy win una
heaven just filled with love; that the very atmosphere
itself is laden with it; it flows with that
life-giving stream and grows on the tree of life.
There they will ever be in the presence of God,
to feast upon his riches and glory, and "God is
love."
Can you think of anything else that the souls of
(Continued on Page 2.)