Milo

A VISION OF HEAVEN

That heaven is real there can be no doubt. That others beside St. Paul have been allowed a view of Paradise, is evident from the testimony of the most reliable witnesses, such as Dr. Tennent, of New Jersey, Dr. Coke, and many others. One of the most interesting and touching incidents of this character is related by James B. Finley, in his “Autobiography.” It occurred in 1842, when he was presiding elder of the Lebanon District, Ohio Conference.He tells us that he was “winding up the labors of a very toilsome year. I had scarcely finished my work till I was most violently attacked with bilious fever, and it was with great difficulty I reached my home.” He sank rapidly. The best medical skill failed to arrest the disease, and life was utterly despaired of. ” On the seventh night,” he says, “in a state of entire insensibility to all around me, when the last ray of hope had departed, and my weeping family and friends were standing around my couch, waiting to see me breathe my last, it seemed to me that a heavenly visitant entered my room. It came to my side, and in the softest and most silvery tones, which fell like rich music on my ear, it said: ‘I have come to conduct you to another state and place of existence.’ In an instant I seemed to rise, and gently borne by my angel guide, I floated out upon the ambient air. Soon earth was lost in the distance, and around us on every side were worlds of light and glory. On, on, away, away, from world to luminous worlds afar, we sped with the velocity of thought. At length we reached the gates of Paradise; and oh, the transporting scenes that fell upon my vision, as the emerald portals, wide and high, rolled back upon their golden hinges! Then in its fullest extent, did I realize the invocation of the poet:

‘Burst, ye emerald gates, and bring
To my raptured vision,
All the ecstatic joys that spring
Round the bright Elysian.’

“Language, however, is inadequate to describe what then, with unveiled eyes, I saw. The vision is indelibly pictured on my heart. Before me, spread out in beauty, was a broad sheet of water, clear as crystal, not a single ripple on its surface, and its purity and clearness indescribable. “While I stood gazing with joy and rapture at the scene, a convoy of angels was seen floating in the pure ether of that world. They all had long wings, and although they went with the greatest rapidity, yet their wings were folded close to their sides. While gazing, I asked my guide who these were, and what their mission. To this he responded: “They are angels, dispatched to the world from whence you came, on an errand of mercy.” I could hear strains of the most entrancing melodies all around me, but no one was discoverable but my guide. At length I said: “Will it be possible for me to have a sight of some of the just made perfect in glory?” Just then there came before us three persons; one had the appearance of a male, the other of a female and the third an infant. The appearance of the first two was somewhat similar to the angels I saw, with the exception that they had crowns upon their heads of the purest yellow, and harps in their hands. Their robes, which were full and flowing, were of the purest white. Their countenances were lighted up with heavenly radiance, and they smiled upon me with ineffable sweetness. “There was nothing with which the blessed babe could be compared. Its wings, which were the most beautiful, were tinged with all the colors of the rainbow. Its dress seemed to be of the whitest silk, covered with the softest white down. The driven snow could not exceed it for whiteness or purity. Its face was all-radiant with glory; its very smile now plays around my heart. I gazed and gazed with wonder upon this heavenly child. At length I said: ‘If I have to return to earth, from whence I came, I should love to take this child with me, and show it to the weeping mothers’ of earth. Methinks when they see it, they will never shed another tear over their children when they die.’ So anxious was I to carry out the desire of my heart, that I made a grasp at the bright and beautiful one, desiring to clasp it in my arms; but it eluded my grasp and plunged into the river of life. Soon it rose up from the water; and, as the drops fell from its expanding wings, they seemed like diamonds, so brightly did they sparkle. Directing its course to the other shore, it flew up to one of the topmost branches of one of life’s fair trees. With a look of most seraphic sweetness it gazed upon me, and then commenced singing in heaven’s own strain: ‘To Him that hath loved me, and washed me from my sins in His own blood, to Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen.’ “At that moment, the power of the eternal God came upon me, and I began to shout; and clapping my hands, I sprang from my bed, and was healed as instantly as the lame man in the beautiful porch of the temple, who ‘went walking, and leaping, and praising God.’ Overwhelmed with the glory I saw and felt, I could not cease praising God. “The next Sunday, I went to camp-meeting, filled with the love and power of God. There I told the listening thousands what I saw and felt, and what God had done for me; and loud were the shouts of glory that reverberated through the forest.”This is a most remarkable case. Father Adams, a member of the Ohio Conference, now residing at Orange, South Carolina, told us that he was present at the camp-meeting, and heard Mr. Finley relate the circumstances, when such power fell on the people that not less than five hundred sinners were crying to God for mercy, while the saints of God shouted for joy. The healing was divine, done by the power of God.

The man was made whole in a moment, after all hope of life had fled. — Christian Witness.

A SHIP’S CREW SAVED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER

I had a singular experience, which is very vivid to my mind. The precise year I cannot say, and I may be mistaken in the name of the vessel. But somewhere about the year 1860, the boat, Benjamin Burgess, sailed from Boston for Cienfugos. The crew were mostly from the house of which I had charge. There had been, and there still was, a powerful religious influence pervading our house. I said to the men as they were going on board: “Remember, I shall pray for you every day.” I made it a practice, directly after 12 M., to retire, and pray, and commune with God.

One day, after the ship had been gone about six weeks, while bringing up before the Lord the different cases, this crew was presented with unusual interest. I was thrown into an agony of feeling before God, and I cried to him to have mercy on that crew. Such were my feelings. I noted the time. After the terrible struggle in prayer for God to save that crew, with strong cries and tears, there came into my feeling a great peace, as though prayer were’ answered, and that crew made safe.

Unbeknown to me, the bark was chartered to go to Antwerp, and thence to Boston. On their arrival back, I said “Boys, did you have a hard time in either passage? ” “Yes,” said they, “a fearful time on the voyage from Cienfugos to Antwerp.

We were being driven upon the rocks in a terrible gale and storm. Captain Snow said to us: “Boys, there is no hope and no deliverance, unless God helps us; ” and sure enough, to our great astonishment, there came a wind from off the shore, and we were saved.” The day of my agony of prayer before the Lord for that crew, that they might be saved, was the day they were having that terrible experience on the bark. I have no comments to make on that experience. I simply give the facts in the case. – N. Hamilton, in Christian Witness.

A RICH MAN’S DEATH SCENE

A striking incident was communicated to the New York Press a few years ago, by a deeply humble minister. One of the leading members of his church was greatly distressed in his last sickness, on reviewing his mode of living and reflecting upon his family and the comparatively small sum he had given to the Lord’s cause. In every way the pastor endeavored to comfort him.

He spoke of his having given cheerfully, and as much as others did. He reminded him that the best of us are unprofitable servants, and must look to the, mercy of God in Christ as our only hope. The troubled man found no peace or comfort, but grew more and more uneasy, distressed and agonized as his end drew near. At last, taking the hand of his pastor, he said:

“Brother, I am going to the Judge unprepared to meet because you have been unfaithful to me. For years I lived, and taught my family to live largely for this world, have denied ourselves nothing, but spent thousands on comforts. When I gave hundreds to Christ and church it should have been thousands. My business energy and time and money have been mostly devoted to self–pleasing and gratification, and how can I meet my Judge and make an account of my stewardship? I am beyond recovery. Do what you can to save other professors who are in the current of worldly self-indulgence and extravagance, which is sweeping them to destruction. – Matlock.

A PERSECUTOR’S AWFUL END

The following is from the Journal of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends. Fox says of this wonderful occurrence

“Then I came again to Thomas Taylor’s, within three miles of Halifax, where was a meeting of about two hundred people, amongst which were many rude people, and divers butchers, several of whom had bound themselves with an oath before they came out, that they would kill me (as I was told); one of these butchers had been accused of killing a man and a woman.

They came in a very rude manner, and made a great disturbance in the meeting. The meeting being in a field, Thomas Taylor stood up, and said unto them: “If you will be civil, you may stay, but, if not, I charge you to be gone off my ground.”

But they were the worse, and said they would make it like a common; and they yelled, and made a noise, as if they had been at a bear-baiting. They thrust Friends up and down; and Friends, being peaceable, the Lord’s power came over them. Several times they thrust me off from the place I stood on, by the crowding of the people together against me; but still I was moved of the Lord to stand up again, as I was thrust down.

At last I was moved of the Lord to say unto them: “If they would discourse of the things of God, let them come up to me one by one; and if they had anything to say or to object, I would answer them all, one after another;” but they were all silent and had nothing to say.

And then the Lord’s power came so over them all, and answered the witness of God in them, that they were bound by the power of God; and a glorious, powerful meeting we had, and his power went over all; and the minds of the people were turned by the Spirit of God in them to God, and to Christ their teacher. The powerful word of Christ was largely declared that day; and in the life and power of God we broke up our meeting; and that rude company went their way to Halifax.

The people asked them why they did not kill me, according to the oath they had sworn; and they maliciously answered, that I had so bewitched them, that they could not do it. Thus was the devil chained at that time. Friends told me, that they used to come at other times, and be very rude; and sometimes break their stools and seats, and make frightful work amongst them; but the Lord’s power had now bound them.

Shortly after this, the butcher that had been accused of killing a man and a woman before, and who was one of them that had bound himself by an oath to kill me, killed another man, and then was sent to York jail.

Another of those rude butchers, who had also sworn to kill me, having accustomed himself to thrust his tongue out of his mouth, in derision of Friends when they passed by him, had it so swollen out of his mouth that he could never draw it in again, but died so.” — Shining Lights.

A MOTHER’S PRAYER ANSWERED

Trained religiously, I had reached a young man’s years before yealding to God. Prior to my conversion, thoughts of the ministry sometimes flashed across my mind; but it was only a flash. After my conversion, I was earnest for the welfare of others, and wanted to promote the interests of the church and of humanity. The conviction grew upon me that I must preach; yet I tried to put that away, because I feared I could never succeed. I saw the greatness of the work, and the reproachful poverty then connected with the itinerant ministry. There were two special difficulties in the way. First, I had no gift of speech. My voice was poor, and in school I always shunned oration. I firmly believed I could never make a speaker, and so chose the profession of medicine, which I studied three years in a professional school. I think I should have resolutely rejected the idea of the ministry, except that it seemed inseparably connected with my salvation. I fasted, I prayed for Divine direction; but I found no rest until, reading in the Bible one day, I found a passage which seemed especially written for me “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; lean not to thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” I accepted it, and resolved to do whatever God in his providence should indicate by opening the way. I never told any friend the slightest intimation of my mental agony, but I took a more earnest part in the church services.

One Sunday I felt a strong impression that I ought to speak to the people at night in prayer-meeting, as we had no preaching. I said to myself: ” How shall I? For my friends will say I am foolish, as they know I cannot speak with interest.” Especially I dreaded an old uncle, who had been a father to me, and superintended my education. While I was discussing this matter with myself in the afternoon, my uncle came into the room, and, after a moment’s hesitation, said to me: “Don’t you think you could speak to the people tonight?” I was surprised and startled. I asked him if he thought I ought. He said, “Yes; I think you can do good.”

That night, for some strange reason, the house was crowded, and I made my first religious address to a public congregation. It was not written. It was not very well premeditated. It was simply an outgushing of a sincere and honest heart.

My mother was a widow. I was her eldest son, the only child remaining at home. I feared it would break her heart to leave her, and feared it would be impossible to do so. One day, after great embarrassment, I was induced to speak to my mother on the subject of my mental struggles, and tell her what I thought God required of me. I never shall forget how she turned to me with a smile, and said : “My son, I have been looking for this hour ever since you were born

She then told me how she and my dying father, who left me an infant, consecrated me to God, and prayed that, if it were His will, I might become a minister; and yet that mother had never dropped a word of intimation in my ear that she ever desired me to be a preacher. She believed so fully in the Divine call, that she would not bias my mind with even a suggestion of it in prayer.

That conversation settled my mind. Oh, what a blessing is a sainted mother! To-day I can feel her hands on my head, and I hear the intonation of her voice in prayer. – Bishop Simpson.