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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1907. i t S OME time ago I read a story of a man from whose home God hail called a precious child. He had been a very busy man, absorbed with the things of life and having little to do with books; but It was noticed after the little fellow left him that he would go every evening to hts room, light a can dle, and sit there long Into the' night reading. Someone asked him what he was doing, and he replied, "1 am study ing the Bible. I want to see what kind of place my boy has gone to, and this Book Is the only means I have of learn ing about It-” l.lke this man, we all have loved ones on the other side, and I am sure that like him also we all are anxious to learn all we can about that country Into which they have gona. Besides, In a little while we are going to emigrate ourselves. 1t Is a beautiful world we live in, but sooner or later each mast leave It, and push out from the shore, cross the unknown expanse to another land beyond. If I am to leave all that Is so precious here and migrate to an other country, I want to learn all that I may about that land to which I am go. Ing, and there are a number of ques tions l want to ask. I am not particu lar. however, to know what other peo ple think, because they know no more of It thun I, but I am Interested to hear all that God In HIs Book tells us of this land, because He lives there and understands of what He speaks. Is Heaven a Place ir a State? First, then. Is Heaven a place or a state? Has It position, or Is K merely a condition? As we turn the pages of God’s Word everything that we read telling about Heaven assures us that It Is a place and has position. It Is spoken of as "a city," the seat or cap! tal of God’s Kingdom, which embraces all the universe with Its (laming planets nnd spheres of light. God’s throne Is In Heaven. It Is called a country, and Abraham, who Is held up to us as a model for our lives, lived In anticipa tion *of this heavenly country. This anticipation was so real to him that he was enabled to live during a long life perfectly satisfied with all the vicissitude* and Inconveniences attend ing a nomadic existence, for which he seems to have had no taste, because he realised that he was but on a Journey to a heavenly country, to a city which hod foundations, whose builder and maker was God. Again, In the fourteenth chapter of John, Heaven Is spoken of as our Fa ther’s house. We are told it Is the homelund, where mansions are pre pared for those who are prepared for them. Yes, Heaven Is a place. What Kind of People Live There? Hut whut kind of people are the In habitants of Heaven? First, they area very happy people. In Rev. 7:16-17 we nfe told, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Isunb which Is In the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lend them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipo away all tears from their eyes." Again, they are not only happy, but holy. God Is very explicit In assuring us that those who live In Heaven are holy, nnd only such as are holy are In Heaven "Know ye not that the un righteous shall not Inherit the King dom of God 7" 1 Cor. 6:9. "Be not de ceived: neither thieves nor drunkards, nor covetous, nor revellers, nor extor tioners shall Inherit the Kingdom of God." , Paul tells us In Galatians 6:21 that the works of the tlesh are manifest, which *re these, "Envylngs, murders, drunkenness, hutred and such Use," and he states further, ”! tell you now, as 1 have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God." Aguln, In several pluces we are told that all liars are excluded from Heaven: whether they make lies or tell lies, all liars are excluded. There are no shams In Heaven: nothing Is unreal there; all Is genuine. What a wonderful place! I would like to emigrate to a land with such inhabitants. Just think what At lanta would be It there were no drunk ards here, no udulterers: If every home was safe und pure, and every parent, wife und husband hud a heart perfectly nt rest! Think what misery could be blotted out If all Impurity, drunken ness, selfishness, unrrullty und hatred were banished forever from our city. Well, that Is Just the kind of place that Heaven la. Again, we are told that the Inhabi tants of heaven are not only hnppy and holy, but they are triumphant. “He that overcometh shall Inherit all things." They are not good Just be cause naturally It turn been easier for them to be good than otherwise, but they arr victors. They are those who have left the tires of earthly tempta tion, who have been tested, end yet have made good. Everyone In heeven ts a hero-* moral hero—a spiritual hern. II Is a very Illustrious compeny that Is guthered there. They Illustrate the much telked of principle of the sur vival of the attest. The great and good of all the ages are there; all chil dren of the King, all bom again, and All heirs of Ills inheritance. They are HEAVEN By REV. RICHARD ORME FLINN, Pastor North Avenue Presbyterian Church REV. RICHARD ORME FLINN. all Oiled with HIs spirit, and os David tells us In the Psalms, everyone of them Is In HIs likeness. And besides these victors from earth there are the holy hosts of angels who have never fallen. As we consider these Inhabitants there le no reaeon why anyone of us. who can read our title clear, should hesitate to leave our aosoclotloas of earth, no matter how satisfying, to exchange them for puch a goodly company. Where It Heaven? I cannot answer that. We are not told. Heaven la always spoken of as above the earth, but where In the great realm of God’s universe this Capital City ts located we do not know. We need not be troubled at this, however, as there ts no danger of our losing our way. Christ ts as much Interested in soefng that we reach heaven. If we are ntted for It, as we can be to and our way thither. He prayed to the Father asking that where He waa HIs disci ples might be also. And. moreover, wherever heaven may be It ts not distant When we think of heaven as afar off we miss the meaning of everything God says con cerning it. Of course, 1 do not mean to say that heaven ts near It we meas ure the Intervening distance In fur longs. It may be, so far as distance Is concerned, far beyond the remotest star known to the astronomer, but after all we do not measure by dis tance, but by time and by our ability to reach a place. Chicago Is very much nearer New York now than It used to be. and New York Is very much nearer Atlanta. In Palestine today they speak In terms of time rather than of space In reckoning the distance between places. And so, wherever heaven may be, we repeat, It Is near, so near that there Is Joy In heaven over every sin ner that repenteth; so near that God hears every sigh, sees every tear, known every secret longing of every burdened heart. A Change of Focus. Sometimes as life’s tide Is ebbing and ns eyes grow dim to the sights about them they seem to catch a new vision, as the lenses change, or as they are re focused, so that the nearer objects are blurred and they get a clearer vision of the things a little further off. And there are those' In these last moments who have wonderful things to say about what they see. I heats) a short time ago of a little child who was dying. The parents stood beside watching, as the heavy breathing and deathly pallor betokened the approaching end. Presently the large eyes opened, looked upward, and then about the room until they rested on the faces off his father and mother, and with a smile playing upon his beautiful but emaciated featuree he asked: "Mother, what Is that beauti ful country beyond the mountains?" The mother replied: "Child, I do not see any mountains: there are none visi ble from the window here." He said: "ljook! Yonder are the mountains— they are so near!" The father and mother looked Into each other’s eyes, and she answered: "Eddy, the land rou see Is heaven. Isn’t It?” “Yes," the .lltle boy answered. "It must be heav en. But how am I to get across the mountains. Won’t you carry me?" Tears came to their eyes again as they answered: “Child, we cannot go with you or carry you now." He closed his Ayes, but presently opened them again with a smile, and said faintly: "The strong man ts come. He will carry me over the mountain*” and In a moment the little heart hod ceased to beat and he was gone. The strong man had taken him Into that beautiful laud. * 'Nothing but a child’s vision,” you say? Very well; but did you ever hear of a sinner having * vision like that at such an hour? Have you ever ob served that eyes accustomed to look upon sin do not catch such visions of glory In the hour of dissolution? ‘ Ye* It may be but the hallucination of a diseased mlnJ, and you may dismiss it with a scornful laugh, but by the same liberty that allows your doubt, thank God, wo are allowed our faith, and whatever it may mean to you to us It la but an Indication that heaven ts near. Shall Wo Have Bodice in Heaven? But there la another question: Hare we bodies In heaven, or will It be a place of disembodied spirits? Upon this there Is abundant Scripture, and Its answer Is definite. Those who have faUen asleep and have gone before us are at present disembodied spirits. But they are very happy spirit* They are with Jesua And Paul, who enjoyed one of the most glorious and exalted splrittipl experiences that a man ever had on earth, said—not In'a moment of excitement, but while he was writ ing a letter. In perfect calm—“I would rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord.” Mind you, he eald "absent from tho body:" he would rather be a disembodied spirit than to be here with all of his faculties, enjoy. Ing as he did the confidence of his col leagues and the privilege of a mighty ministry. He eald this because he was assured that the blessed fellowship which he would immediately experi ence upon his.departure from earth was Infinitely better than anything earth could offer. . _. But listen—Paul was not satisfied with that, nor did he teach that this was alL He looked forward to the time when he would he not only with the Lord, but In his body and with the Ia>rd. He says "There Is a natural bodv, and there Is a spiritual body." sod “as we have borne the Image of the earthly, so we shall also bear the im age of the heavenly." Read that won derful fiftrenth chapter of First Corin thians If you have any doubt about the resurrection of the body, and see how It ends with that glorious peroration when he cries, “Behold, I shew you a mystery. We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed. In a moment. In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised Incorrupti ble, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on lncorruptlon, and this mortal must put on Immortali ty. Ho when this corruptible shall have put on lncorruptlon, and thin mortal shall have put on Immortality, then .shall be brought to pass the saying that Is written. Death ts swallowed up in victory,’". Ye* thank God, we shall have bodies. Christ rose from the dead and had a body. He was seen. He was touched. He was talked with, and he was called "the first fruits." The first fruits are a sample of what comes after, and Just as Christ had a visible body, so shall we. * Shall We Know Our Friend*? There Is one more question, one that I am sure everyone has asked: Shall we know only our own old earthly friends In heaven? And I am glad for one that we are not left In doubL If wo take tho clear Inference of tho Scriptures w r e may be perfectly sure that we shall know our friends, yes, and know them there a great deal bet ter than we have ever known them here, for here “We live together years and years, . And leave unfathom'd still Each other’s depths of hopes and fears Each other’s strength of will." But In heaven we shall know even as wo are known. And more—we shall know not only our friends, but every body else who Is there. There will be no strangers in heaven, no need of In troductions there. There are somo peo ple In the churches down hero who do not know each other, nnd never speak to one another, but it Is not so In the Church Triumphant You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Ellas were there talking with Jesus, and Pe ter and James nn4 John were present and saw them, they know Moses and Ellas without any Introduction. Peter recognized them at once, though Moses hod departed from earth 1,600 years before and Elias had been dead for centurie* And did you ever think of this, that the only one of that group whom God saw fit to Introduce was Jesus. -He said: "This Is My beloved Bon." Tho men to -whom He said It were living with Jesus, eating with Him, talking with Him; they thought they knew Him pretty well. But He waa the only one they did not know, because they only knew Him on the earth and did not recognise Ills heav enly glory and plenitude of power. And to It Is, we will not only recog nize our loved ones In heaven, but we will know them better than now. Yes. and wc will be on speaking terms of blessed Intimacy with all the mighty spirits of tho past—with Paul, with Pe ter, with David, with John the Baptist, with our old pastors, our fathers and mother* and, best of all. we shall know and commune with Jesus face to. face. Workmen ore about to pull down the house In which Daniel Defoe wrote "Hob- Inson Crusoe," This Is an old manor liouso standing back from tho road opposite Toot ing Junction, near London, ami surround ed by a garden. The plaeo ta seldom vis ited by English people, but many Ameri cana have inapected It DeWolf Hopper bad a slight cold one night nnd In a curtain speech referred to It In this fashion. “I went to my doctor," he declared, "and the doctor said I had Itceu eating too much nitrogenous food sod must stop It snd rat farinaceous fond. Blnce then t haven't been able to eat nt all, roe I don't know what either word Brannen & Anthony’s “The Nearest Drug Store 99 With our special attention to telephone orders and prompt delivery service, every family in this city can con sider ours "the nearest drug store.” —TELEPHONE US- - e FOB ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM A DRUG STORE, and for ■ ✓ INDEPENDENT ICE CO., 349 WHITEHALL STREET Manufacturers of Pure Distilled Water le*. Prompt deliveries made In the city. Carload* shipped to country point* Bell phone 536, West, Atlanta phone 4343, E. B. HARVEY, Manager. JMkWALL PAPER SAMPLES FREE Write St once fot unpin of no, msrtaooU, 1907 tip. or will pppm. Ur rut sod Snrsl nock srpih tosher* fust, rut Isa in petes feu .c t» »f roll. Sinn roe 10 psf csaltrsw rteular rstsu priest, ws shtsuhisiurlutyoShtsb-etsisewsssiiag. " "—'— 3 —“ * 1 WILHS WALL PAPEB CO.