A Religious and Miscellaneous Newspaper, devoted to Religion Morality Literature, General Intelligence, and the support of the Principles of the Christian Chut1, t
PUBLISHED WEEKLY. “THE LORD GOD IS A SUIT AND SHIELD." $1:50 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.
VOLUME X.RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, JULY 27, 18-5:1 _NUMBER 30
JEEs
COMMUNICATIONS.
For the Christian Sun.
(Continued.)
IP IY. HSAVKN IS FREE FROM ALL PHYSICAL EVIL.
Its inhabitants are not exposed to any of the evils to -which
Ahe denizens of earth are. “They shall hunger no more,
heither thirst any more; neither shall the snn light on them,
hor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living foun
tains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes.” “ And there shall bo no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the for
ts mor things are passed away4’ “ And there shall be no more
cnrse.” „
Our world is exposed to innumerable physical evils. The
angry storm and the destructive tempest sweep over it, spread
ing destruction and-death, the' volcanoes boloii forth their burn
ing rivers of melted lava, and sweep villages, and cities from
the face of the earth ;• and earthquakes lay waste whole coun
tries, and sweep thousands do&n to death. Heaven is free
from all those terrible evils. It is free from death. Its inhab
itants shall never die. What a blessed thought! Hero all
must die. There is no discharge in this war. Death floats
upon the breeze. The mild zephyrs of eummer and the bleak
winds of winter are loaded with the agents of death. None
are Bafo from the fatal /hafts of the dark angel of the grave.
The aged sire, the venerable matron, the smiling youth, and
the lovely infant must die. Here we are called to the couch
of the dying father and the beloved mother. For the last
time we must take the parting hand of that beloved father that
has so often administered to our wants, and of that mother
that has so often wiped the falling tear from our eyes. Our
brothers and sisters, with whom we have so often mingled
around the cheerful heal th of onr father’s happy home, must
dio. In heaven, thank God! there is no death.
No chilling winds, or poisonous breath,
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and fear’d no more.
There we never sflall be called to weep around the couch of
our dying friends. All shall bloom in unwasting youth, and
unfading beauty. Mother, have you followed a lovely child
to the-silent tomb? Does the thought of the loved little one
rend, your soul with sorrow? O lift up your head. Wipe
away your tears, and weep not as those who have no hope.
Yonder is a land that God has prepared for the pure, the holy
and the good. There death is an eternal stranger. There that
* loved one, now’bonverted to an angel of light, shall live to die
no more. It is clothed in robes of beauty, and garments of
immortality, phrist has wiped away the last tear from its eye,
and itlsnow engaged in plucking amaranthine joys from bowers
of bliss.
O, dry thy .tearful eyes,
And say, “Thy will be done”—
Far, far beyond the skies,
Wafts thee thy cherub ong!
Know thou a holy tie. is given,
To bind more close thy heart to heav’n.
| V. Heaven is free fr6m all moral evil.
It is free from all willed society. “ And there shall in no
wise enter into it nriypmfg tJiat defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abouiinatiofjiJgOr makoth a lie; but they which are
written, in the Lanib’sDook, of life.” “Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God f Be not
deceived ; -neithef fornicators,,norjidnlterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor rovilers, nor gxtortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God.” Who was it that John saw in
heaven? Let the Elder answer—'1 Theso are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and v
made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they
before the throne of God, and serve him day and uighin Hist
temple.” There were npne among all that mighty multitude
but those who had washed away their sins in the atoning
—blood of. Qlirjgt^ and had put on the robes of righteousness.
One of the most fruitful souroes of our misery'and unhappi
ness, is the wickedness of the society in which weha.veto live.
How often is the peace and happiness of the family destroyed,
and the family shrouded in gloom,.by. the wickedness of one
member. Look yonder at that interesting family circle! The
parents are devoted Christians, and surrounded by an interest
ing band of lovely children. * Peace and happiness shed their
gonial*rays around the cheerful hearth. What a lovely pic
ture! Look again 1 How changed the scene 1 The husband
and parent has become a drunkard. The warm affections and
glowing sympathies of ms soul, are burnt up by the fires of
* alcohol. He is a brute. .Their happiness has fled, and the
dark cloud of sorrow lilts settled upon the once happy circle.
There are no such scenes in heaven. . There are no drunkards
there. There tl*o wickod cease from troubling and the weary
are at rest.v There ,the disconsolate wife .will find everlasting
peace, and the worse than fatherless children shall weep no more.
The last tear shall be wiped from their eyes by the hand of their
Savior, and they shall mingle theiF heaven-inspired voioeswith
the angels of God in singing" tlm sweet songs of heaven.
In heaven there is the beat of society. There are all these
illustrious characters of whom we readinfcthe Bible,.whoso
history we 16ve to study, and whose excellency and -viffue'we
are wont-to admire. There are all the children of God. Mo
ther, there is that lovely daughter that you followed in sorrow1
to the tomb. Father, there is that belovod.son that^wafi cut
down in early life bysthe hand of death. There are all those
$f pious loved ones with whom we used to mingle in the scenes
and associations of earth. There are all the holy angels—“and
all the ange Is g|Qod round about tfife throne." Tharc^we shall ,
be the companions of angels.” They shall be our intonate ns
| sooi»tes.“Ye arecoraei”says Pau)|lS\^th tho antieipatingspir
t'of prophecy., “ qpto mount Sion, andMnto the city of the
' .. in*
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, nnd to an innumerable
company of angels.” The angels are the highest, and the no
blest among all created intelligences of the universe. They
fill the highest rank in the scale of being. They have lived in
the presenco of the eternal Throne surrounded by all the match
less glories of heavon, for countless ages. O then what a
blessing to be admitted into their society, and mingle in their
sublime employments. Animated by this glorious prospect the
Christian may sing—
In such a society as this,
My weary soul shall rest;
The man who dwells where Jesus is,
Must be be forever blest.
In heaven' the Christian will no longer be exposed to
temptation and danger. There are no enemies there.—
There is nothing to cool the ardor of this devotion, or
draw his devotion away from God. He is placed by the
confluent forces of moral causes, in eternal exemption from
all danger of sinning, including deliverance from all pos
sibility of evil. “There is, there no aching head or brow of
care, and the harps of Sion no longer wail, in melancholy dirge;
the sorrows of a bruised or broken heart 1 Inquietude shall no
longer bleed the vitals, or despair give fearful tension to the
maddening brain. Never, again, shall the tear of penitence
tremble in the eye of the mourner, nor prayer of misery woo
the throne of God and humbly motion heaven for relief.”
When “ the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to
* ^ie celestial ’ Zibn with songs; everlasting joy shall be upon
their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrowing
and sighing shall flee Sway.” Heaven is the residence of hap
piness. The redeemed walk its golden streets in eternal free
dom from all evil. Everything which it contains is clothed in
beauty, and robed in grandeur to the eye. All its sounds fall
in harmony upon the ear, and its sublime scenes kindle rapture
in tho soul: rapture which admits^o mixture, and knows no
termination. “ I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no
man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood beforo the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried
with a loud voice, saying. Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne, and uuto the Lamb. And all the angels stood
around the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and
fell before the throfto on tlieir faces, and worshiped God, sayt
ing, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thankgiving
and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever
and ever.”
There’s a land far away from this storm-beaten shore,
Where troubles and trials, and tears are no-more;
There sunshiue and beauty, eternally rest,
And music resounds from the harps of the blest.
’Tis a land where no sinfulness e’er can intrude,
’Tis a laud which our God has nroparod for the good ;
And there the sad spirit released from all strife;
May drink and be glad at the fountain of life.
And there the sweet thoughts which ariso in tho soul.
May be cherished and nurtured Beyond all control;
No shadows can rest on the splendor softflright,
For Jesus our Savior is the glorious light.
O turn, quickly turn (ye that know not the road,
And steer thy frail bark to that blissful abode;
• Thy Savior is there, on that heavenly strand,
To welcome thoc borne to tljgp beautiful land.
DISCOURSE II
THE ENTRANCE OF THE SPIRIT INTO HEAVEN, AND THE STATE
OF THE REDEEMMED THERE.
And he "shewed me n pure river of water of life, clear as crys
, tal, proceeding out of the |hrone of God and the Lathe
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month ; and the leaves of the tree were
lor the healing of the nations. And there shall1 be no more
curse; but the throne of God aud of tho Lamb shall be in it;
and His servants shall serve Him. And tnev shall see His
face; and His n|me shall be in their foreheads. And there shall
be no night there; and they need “no oandte^ neither light of
the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light;' and they shall
reign forever and ever,-—Rev. xxii, 1—5.
The good and innocent-minded—the children of God every
where when they think of heaven, think of it as a home—the
home of the pure and tho. virtuous, their eternal home. When
they look forward to the time of their death, they think and
speak of it as the time when they hope to bo taken home, even
their heavenly Father’s house. When a man of ClirjJjjtn
meekness, patience, faith and love, closes his earthly career, his
friends and neighbors say $he good man has gone home.
Home! What a heavenly meaning and heavenly music there
lain this little word! Meaning which the universal Tinman
mind perceives—music which the universal human heart feels.
-Home is the hallowed spot to which the heart’s fondest affec
tions always cling—the centre of our dearest remembrances,
opr strongest attachments, our sweetest joys, our brightest
libpes. • Everything dearest to the heart of a good man, every
thing most .serene and peaceful in life, as well as everything
pMsant, and pven tolerable ih death, clusters aron^ the word
home. Thesoldier in the camp, the* sailor on t^e etas, the
traveller in foreign clipjes tarns with thrilling interest to the
homo of his yottyh; ^ and 0! how does his eye kindle, and ’his
henrt throb at the mention of this preoions word !
Among alhtlie deep-' and strong yearnings of a good man’* /
jti there are.-uoije more deep and strong than .his yearnings
>r a peaceful home. And to say of a man that he has no,
home, is to represent him .as a wanderer and exile upor
earth.
• Now God must aud will provide for the gratification of ill
the deep desires which His own boundless love has implart«d
in the soul. And this universal desire of every regenerati
man heart, for a quiet happy home, is Ho deeply rooted
1U
•ur
mental and spiritual constitution, that we may be sure it will
not perish with the body. Especially when we reflect that
this desire becomes stronger and stronger in us, the nearer we
approach to the heavenly state, we have abuedant reason for
believing that it will exist in heaven also, and be even stronger
there than here.
God has provided a home for the Christian—a home that
will moet all the desires of the human heart, where all theten
' derest, the best feelings, and the warmest and deepest sympa
thies of the soul shall be fully developed. ITgaven is the
home that God has propared for His virtuous chilHfen. It was
to prepare man for, and bring him to this home that Christ left
his throne in glory, and came into this world. In solemn pray
er to his Father Christ said, “ 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; for Thou
lftvedst me before the foundation of the world.” Heaven was
formed, and furnished to be the everlasting home of the re
deemed. “In my Father’s house are* many mansions,” said
Christ, “ if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive yoil unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also.”
To complete the heavenly world, to adorn it with everything
that is beautiful and grand, to store it with His choicest bless
ings, to fill it with proper inhabitants, that He might reign
over it in all the matchless displays of His perfection forever,
is exhibited in the Scriptures as the end God had in view in all
His antecedent dispensations. Hence, Christ is represented as
saying unto the righteous in the day of judgment: “ Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.”
I. Do THE 6 AIXTS, AT DEATH, PASS 1MJ1EDIATETY INTO HEAVEN?
This is a question of deep interest to the Christian,and one on
which all have often meditated. Yonder,in a quiet room,shaded
by the mellow twilight of sorrow and mourning, lies a dying
/Christian. There stands the lovely wife weeping as though her
heart would break. There are those loved little ones looking
with dcop anxiety upon the wan features of the dying father.
The last word has been spoken, the farewell taken, and now
they are watching with thrilling interest for the last struggle.
With an angelic smile playing upon Ins countenance he calmly
sinks into the arms of death. Where has the spirit fled ? To
whafrland has it gone? Where has it taken up its abode?
These are interesting questions, and a subject on which we love
to dwell.
In the early ages of the world it was thought that when
men died their spirits went to a dark, gloomy, dreamy under
world. The great entrance to this land of spirits was supposed
to be in the extreme West. Ata later day we find tiie doctrine
of transmigration of souls. It was bel'eved that when men
die their souls enter into another body. Sometimes into a hu
man bod}’, others into bodies of animals, and sometimes oven
plants and trees.
There is'one class of Christian philosophers that believe in
an intermediate state between earth and heaven where the
spirit remains until the resurrection of the body. In this place,
it is supposed that the spirit eiyoys as much happiness as it is
capable of, while in ^ disembodied state ; but its happiness will
will be increased by being reunited with the body.
Others believe that when the body dies the soul perishes with
it, and remains unconscious and inactive till the resurrection
of the body. This is a cold, dark, and gloomy theory.
It is the opinion of some that the spirits of the dead linger
about the graves of their bodies uutil tho resurrection. This
was the opinion of many of many of the ancient philosophers,
Jews and primitive Christians. In the year SIS a Christian
council forbade the kindling of a light in the buryiug ground, '
lest the spirits of tho saints should be disturbed*
The doctrine of the Bible is, that when the spirits of the
-just leave tho body they ascend immediately to heaven.
Ouo gentle sigh their fetter breaks;
We scarce can say, “They are gone !
Before the willing spirit takes
Her mansion near tho throne.
Our Savior said to the thief on the cross, “To-day thou
slialt be with me in paradiso.” Where and what is paradise ?°
This question may be answcred by turning to those passages of
Scripture where the word is used, and its sense cannot be mis
taken. Paul says, I knewaniantn Christ about fourteen
years ago, (whether in .the body, I cannot tell; or whether out
4 of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth ;) such an one caught
np to the third heaven. And I know such a man, (whether
in the body or ont of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
how that he was up in.to paradise.’’ This is an important pas
sage, and clearly determines what is meant by paradise as men
tioned in the Scriptures. The Jews enumerated three heavens
the first was tho region of the air, where-the birds fly, which
are therefore called “the fowls of heaven.” Job xxvv. II.
The .second is that part of space in which are fixed the heaven
ly luminaries. This Moses was instructed to call “Hie firma
ment or expanse of heaven. Gen. 1: IS. The third Heaven*
the homo of Qpd and the holy angels. The* throne of uni
versal empire. In the above language this is called the paradise
God. In Rev. ii. 7, 22, 2, wo arc informed that the tree
of .life stands in the midst of the paradise of Gotf, and
by *tlie side of' the river of life that flows from the
throne of God and the Lamb. From this it is obvious that
paradise or the third heaven is the place where God, Jesus
Christ, and the holy angels dwell. Where the penitent thief
Was with Christ. It is obvious from this that when men die
their spirits ascend immediately to heaven.
Paul settles the question in the following language: “ Whilst
we are at home in tho body, we are absent from the Lord ; we
are confident, I say, aud willing rather to be absent from the
body, nud.bd present with the Lord." Here we learn that
while absent from the body the spirit of the good man is pre
sent with Christ. How where is Christ ? Let Peter answer:
“ gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God.” Now,
if Christ gU,i$aven, and the disembodied spirit of the just are
with Mm, it follows necessarily that when Hie body of the
righteous man dies the deathless spirit abends to heaven.
When Stephen was about sinking into tho arms ofdeath, ha
prayed, “ saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” It isobvious
from this that he believed that when the body dies the spirit of
the virtuous and holy ascends to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the letter to the Phillippians we find the following stri
king language: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But
if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit df my labor; yet what I
shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt the two,
having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is fer
better.” It is evident from this passage that Paul expected
when he left this world to go to Christ. Was he mistaken
on this point? None dare take the position.
Paul said, “I bow my knees unto the Father of onrLord
Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named.” Here we learn that the whole family of Christ is
in but two places—heaven and earth; but according to the
theory of an intermediate state, some of them must be in a
third place.
What a pleasing thought to tho mind of the Christian that
as soon as the soul is dismissed from the body it is admittod
ito the happy home of the blest. What a blessed thoug® to
the mind of the mourner, when ho follows tho lifeless form of
a loved one to the silent tomb, that the spirit has left this
world of sorrow and and gone home to heaven 1 It is a foun
tain of joy.
What an interesting moment to the spirit is the hour of death
What sublime and indescribable scenes unfold themselves to
the nnrapturcd spirit! The world fades from its view and hea
ven with all its ineffable glory opens before it.
O change ! O wondrous change ’
Burst are the prison bars ? *- '■'*
This moment there—so low
In mortal prayer—and now
Beyond the stars !
0 change! stupendous change!
Here lies the senseless clod;
The soul from bondage breaks,
The new immortal walks—
Walks with God l
M EAVES IS A STATE OF PEEFKCTIOS.
perfect state. This is only the infancy—the
childhood—of our being.
This is the bud of being, the dim dawn,
The twilight of our day, the vestibule,
Life’s theatre as yet is shut, and death*
Strong death, alone can heave the massy bar,
This gross impediment of clay remove,
And make such an embryo of existence frees
Man possesses a body adapted to the World in which he now
lives; but it is not fully adapted to the full development of the
vast and godlike powers of the immortal mind. It is, to some
degree, a clog to the mind; but in heaven the good man shall
possess a body fully adapted to the nature and powers of the
soul. It will not be a clog to its onward march in the path of
endless progression. “ As we have borne the image of the
earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” '
Heaven is a state of moral perfection. By this I do not
mean that the inhabitants of heaven can never become any
better; bat I mean that their state is such that they are no
longer exposed to temptation, or liable to sin. There may be
a growth in goodness even in heaven. The ardor of devotion
will become stronger, the affections will grow warmer, the
sympathies will be deepened and enlarged as the unnumbered
ages of eternity roll away. The virtuous in heaven will eter
nally become more and more like God.
Heaven is also a state df intellectual perfection. By this I
do not mean that thej;e cau be no accession made to the powers
of the mind, or that its inhabitants can never learn anything
more; but I mean that the intellectual powers of man will
never be subject to decay or weariness, and that he will not bo
liable to err or wander astray from truth. Here we look at
things “ through a glass darkly,” and are liable to err';'but in
heaven we shall look at them “ face to face ” in the clear sun
light of eternity.
There we will be able more perfectly to discharge the duties
■that we owe to God, to ourselves, and to the universe o
mind than we can here. Here we are surrounded by unholyf
influences, and are to some degree Under the dominion of in
correet habits; and in consequence of this we are not always
able to obme to the full measure of pur duty to God and man.
There are many things mingled with all our exercises that are
|incorr«ct; but in heaven the Christian is free from all that is
evil. There he is able to perform his duty perfectly.
Heaven is a"state of perfect enjoymeut. Here all our joys
and pleasures are mingled with sorrow. Every rose has its
thorne, and every sweet its bitter. Our strength wastes away
before the destroying hand of disease, our brightest hopes fade
away and go out in midnight darkness, onr dearest and best
friends sickon and die, the storm and the tempest howl around
us ; but in heaven there are none of those' things. There the
cup of our joy is unmingled with sorrow.
(Tote Cmtinued.)
The following brief but beautiful passage occurs in a late
article in Frazer’s Magazines: “Education does not com
mence with the alphabet. It begins with a mother’s looks—•
with a father’s nod of approbation, or a sign of the hand,
or a brothers noble apt of forbearance—-with handfulls of
flowers in green and daisy meadows—with bird’s nests ad
mired but not touched—with creeping snts, and ' almost
imperceptible emmets—^with bumming bees and glass bee
hives—with pleasant walks in shady lanes—with thoughts
directed in sweet and kindly t«pes, and words to nature,
to acts of benevolence, to deeds of virtue and to the senso
of all good, to God himself. "
M - m ,0.
Alex. Humboldt has written a letter, in whioh he advocates
uje construction of an oceanlo canal without locks, across the
Isthmus of Darien haring reference to points oath* Gulf of
San Miguel and Cupics.