"HE'S COMMING TOMORROW." (BY THE AUTHOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.")

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 219, 10 September 1887, Page 1

"HE'S COMMING TOMORROW." (BY T HE AU THOR OF "U NC LE TOM' S CAB IN.")

"Then shall thcj sec tlie Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, for your redemption it, niyh."-Luke xxi. 27. Cornxr; !— The Ron of Man really coming, coming into this world again with power and great glory. ••Will this really ever happen? Will this solid, common-place oai tli j-oc it V " So our minister preached, in a solemn sermon ; and for moments, at times, J fult a thrill of reality in hcaiing. But as the well-dressed crowd passed down the aisle, my neighbour, Mr Stockton, whispered to mo not to forgot the meeting of the Bank Directors on Monday evening, and Mrs Uoldthwaite poured into my wife's ear a charge not to forgot, her party on Tuesday ; and my wife, as she came out, asked me if I had observed the extravagant toilet of Mrs J'ennyman. I spoke of the sermon. " Yes,'' said my wife, " what a sermon !— so solemn ! My dear, by-the-bye, don't forget to change Mary's opal ring for a diamond one— dear

me ' Tho Christmas presents wore all so un my mind, and that was so wrong of me !" "My dear," saidl, "sometimes it seems to mo as if all our life was unreal. We go to church, and the things that we hear are either true or false. If they aro true, what things they are ' If we" are looking for that coming, wo ought to feel and live differently horn what we do ! Do we really believe \\ h\i v c hear in church, or is it a dream ?" Attei a pau-e I said, " Suppose Christ j should really come this Christmas, and it i should be authoritatively announced that H • would bo here to-morrow ?'' That evening the thoughts of the waking hours mirrored themselves in a dream. j I -eemed to be walking in the streets, i and to be conscious of a strange vague sen^e of something just declared, of which all were speaking with a suppressed air of m\sLeiious voices. Thoie was a whispering stillness around. (ivoup.i of men stand at the corners of tho | «aeet>, and discuss an impending some- | fhinu with hushed voices. 1 heard one -ay to another, " Really coming ? What ? Tomoirow'r" And the other said, " Yes tomonow." It was night. The star.s were glitteiing do'A ;i with a keen frosty light, the -hops glistened in their Christmas array, and the i :-.i:iie t-ense of hushed expectancy prevaded j e\ei) tiling. There seemed to be nothing j doina, and each poison looked wistfully on hi- neighbour, as if to -ay, Have you heard ? ►Suddenly, as I walked, an angel form was v ith me, gliding softly by my side. Tho f-\c* \va- solemn, .serene, and calm. Abo\o the forehead was a pale radiance of light, piuer than any on carth — o di tie rent from that of the street lamps. Vet, though I felt awe, I felt a <-ort of era tiding lo\ e as I said, "Tell me— is it ically tine ? Is Chi ist coming ? " I "He it," said the angel. "To-morrow He v. ill be here ! " " What joy, ' [ cried. "Is it joy ? " said the angel. ' ' Ala-, to man} in this city it is only teiroi. Come with' me." In a moment I seemed to be standing wkhhnnin a pailour of one of the chief palace of the city. A stout, florid, baldi headed man was seated at a table co\ered j v ith papers, which he was soiting over ! wizh nervous anxiety, muttering to him-elf ;as lie did so. On a sofa lay a delicate : v Dunn, hei emaciated hands elapsed over a ! little book. The 100 m was, in all its | appointment^, a witness of boundless ■ wealth. Gold and silver and gems, and I fo:oi<in foieign furniture, and costly | pictaies ; everything that money could buy «v.i heaped together ; and yet tho man him-i-^h .seemed nei vous and uneasy lie w iped ' he .sweat from his biow and spoke : l< I don't know, wife, how you feel, but I I don'c like thi- news. I don't understand it. ! It put* a .stop to evci} thing that 1 know anj thing about."' v 'Oh, John,'' Paid the woman, turning | towa.d.s him a face pale and fervent, and clamping her hands, " how can you say *o ?'' " Well, Muiy, it's the tiuth. 1 don't caio if I .say it. I don't want to meet — ' w ell, fwi- h He would put it oil' ! What does j He want of me? I'd be willing to make ; ovei — well, thiee millions, to found a hospital, if He'd be satisfied and let me go on. i'e-, I'd give thiee millions —to buy oil' fiom to-moirow.' 1 "Is he not our be.-t Friend ?"' j ' Best fiicncl ? ' said the man, with a look 'of half fright, hah anger. "Maty, jou [ don't know what you re talking about ! I Ym know I always hated those things. There's no use in it ; I can't see into them. ( In fact I hate them.' 1 I She cast on him a look full of pit}'. , <v Cannot I make you see ?" she said. j "No, indeed you can't. Why, look here,'' he added, pointing to the papei.-, " heie is i w hat stands for millions ! To-night it's • mine and to-morrow it will bo all so much waste paper, and then what have I left ? | Do you think I can rejoice ? I'd give half ; LW give— yes, the whole, not to have Him I come tho-e hundred years." She sketched ' out her thin hand towards him, but he pushed it back. '* Do you see,'' said the angel to me, solemnly, " between him and her there is a ' uuk vt gulk fixed ' V They lived in one house with that gulf between them for jeans! She cannot go to him ;he cannot come to her. To-morrow she will rise to meet Christ ; he will call to the mountains r-nd rocks to fall on him— not because Chri->t hates him, but because he hates Christ. ' Again the scene was changed. We stood together in a little low attic, lighted Iry one small lamp — how poor it was! — a broken chair, a rickety table, a bed in the corner where the little ones were cuddling close to one another for warmth. Poor things, the air was so frosty that their breath congealed upon the bed clothes, as they talked in soft baby voices. " When mother comes .she will bring us some supper !" said tney. " But I'm so cold," said the little outsider. " Get in the middlo then," said the other two, "and well warm you. Mother promised she d make a lire when she came in, if that man would pay her." " What a bad man he is," .said tho oldest boy; "he never pays mother if he can help it." Just then the door opened, and a pale, thin woman came in, laden with packages. j She laid all down and came to her children's bed, clasping her hands in rapture. " Joy, joy ! children ! Oh, joy! joy! Christ is coming ! He will be hero tomorrow." Every little bird in the nest was up, and the little arms around the mother's neck ; the children believed at onco. They had heard of the good Jesus ; He had been their mother's only Friend through many a cold and hungry day, and they doubted not He was coming. " Oh, mother, will He take us ? He will, won't He?" " Yes, my little ones,'' she said softly to herself; "He shall gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom." Suddenly again, as by the slide of a magic lantern, another pceno was present. I stood in a brilliant room, full of luxuries. Three or four fair women were standing pensively talking with each other. Their apartment was bestrewn with jewellery, laces, silks, velvets, and e/crye /cry fanciful elegance of fashion ; but they looked troubled. •'This seems to me really awful," said one with a suppressed sigh.

" Yes " said another, " and it puts a stop so to everything ! Of what use ■will all these be to-morrow ! " There was a poor seamstress in the coiner of the room, who spoke. "We shall be for e\er\\".) L n 3 Lord," she said ' " l % iii -..lie I don't know whnt that can mean, ' m\(\ the iir»fc speaker with a kind of shudder ; " it seems rather fearful." "Wei!," said the other, "it seems so sudden— "u hen one never dreamed of any such thiu^— to change all at once from this to that uhher hfe.'j "It is enough to be with Him," said the poor woman. ' ' Oh, I have so longed for it !" Unsaved reader, '• That One," who may soon )jr here, ib only waiting to hear you confer and' believe. ' " He loved ME, and gave Himself for ME." To behe\ c this is eternal life for you ; and then you would rejoieo were you to know, " Hc'-> coming- to-morrow." "(loilsi lo\ed the world, that Tie gave His only begotten Son, that whosooxci believelh in Him should not pori.sh, but have eveila.-ling life " (John iii. 16).