and Baxter, Stephen and Father Abraham, Martha and
Mary and the widow who gave her two mites. Pausing,
I beheld, with banners above, an innumerable number
“marching on,” with Lincoln and Lovejoy,
Lyman, Beecher and John Brown in the advance, and on
the banners was inscribed, “These are they which
came out of great tribulation.” Rev., viii,
14. The angel said: “That is the multitude
of poor slaves from the cotton fields of earth, doing
homage to their deliverers.” “They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.”
Rev., vii, 16. Here I also found Watts and Wesley
singing, while Bliss (who had but lately been translated
from earth to heaven by way of Ashtabula bridge), catching
the inspiration, was setting the songs of Heaven to
the music of earth. Gazing on the many thrones
and crowns, there were some of peculiar brightness.
I looked on one, and what was the inscription?
Was it, I was a Methodist? No. I was
immersed? No. I was a Jew? No.
But rather this: “Because I delivered
the poor that cried and fatherless, and him that had
none to help him, the blessing of him that was ready
to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s
heart to sing with joy.” Job, xxix, 12,
14. And this was the crown of Job. And
there was another just beyond, and I read the inscription.
Was it, I was a Presbyterian? No. I prayed
by quantity? No. I was a Universalist?
No. But “Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless
and the widow in their affliction and to keep himself
unspotted from the world.” James, i, 27.
And while the memory and name of Peabody, the philanthropist,
is and shall be honored and loved for ages to come
in two hemispheres, his crown of glory in heaven is
second to none. But there was still another.
It was worn by one of queenly beauty, and she sat
upon her throne; the splendor of her robe and the
brilliancy of her apparel dimmed my vision. I
read her inscription, set, as it was, in Heaven’s
choicest diamonds. Was it, I was an Episcopalian?
No. I was baptized? No. I was a
Catholic? No. But thus: “I was
an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and
ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me
in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited
me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”
Matt., xxv, 35, 36. And before her throne stood
thousands who had come up from the battle fields of
the Crimea, and the widows and orphans, the lame and
the halt, the blind and the deaf from the streets
and alleys of London, and as they shouted their hallelujahs
before her, they carried banners on which were emblazoned
these words: “Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me.” Matt., xxv, 40.
And the crown of Florence Nightingale glistens brightly
in Heaven. Passing on, and observing a large
number of vacant thrones and crowns, I naturally asked,
for whom are these? The angel replied: “For
the Christians of earth; the managers of the ‘homes’
for the friendless, the widows and the orphans, and
those who, regardless of their respective church creeds
and doctrines, like their Master when he was on earth,
go about doing good.” The angel vanished,
and I awoke.