Many Mansions! # 2

Many Mansions! # 2

I find it difficult, yes, I may say impossible, to entertain such a thought as that, and accordingly, I must either conclude, contrary to all presumptive evidence, that they have been, and are still, under the dominion of sin, or that they are designed to form so many provinces of that Heaven which God's holy creatures shall inherit, so many separate "mansions" in the house of my Father. I prefer the latter conclusion it is a more glorious one, and commands itself more to the instincts of my heart.

But, further than this; I am confirmed and strengthened in this conclusion when I consider that in so far as we can form a conception of the scenery and appearance of other worlds, some of them at least are not unworthy of such a destiny. We see one planet, for example, attended by seven moons, and surrounded with two rings of great magnificence. Now, what variety of agreeable lights and shades may these occasion, and how gloriously must they diversify the scenery of its sky! Then there are stars of various colors, which are suns to different worlds, every object in which is bathed in their glorious light. But these things only serve to suggest the thought of other aspects of magnificence, and other places of glory which may fairly be supposed to distinguish more distant worlds, rendering them fit to be the habitation of those whom God delights to honor, and justifying the splendid imagery which the Bible employs to describe our heavenly home.

As I said before, I do not contend that these considerations give certainty to my conjecture; but even as a probability, I think it deserves to be entertained. To every large-hearted and thoughtful man it must be a grateful supposition, that the worlds are "mansions" in his Father's house, to no one of which he will be confined exclusively, to any and to every one of which he will be welcomed, and in all of them be at home; from one to another of which he is to pass, levying glory from them all, making them all contribute to his stores of knowledge, finding in them all new accessions to his joy, receiving from them all new illustrations of divine perfections.

As we indulge the supposition, we feel as if standing on the summit of a great rock which lifts us above ourselves, and above this little ball of earth, and raises us into a higher region, where we breath a new atmosphere; floods of new life come pulsing through our veins, the breath of Heaven fans our face, new vigor is imparted to our frame, new light comes to clarify our mental vision, so that we form a more definite conception of the destiny which awaits us, while it kindles within us a more intense longing for its enjoyment.

Whatever you may think, however, of all that has been said of the many mansions in our Father's house, there is this thought that must appear clear enough to you all that Heaven is something vast. They are altogether mistaken in their conception of it, and have no sympathy with its spirit, with what the Bible says of it, who look upon it as the meeting place of a sect, a sort of little room where a small party are to be gathered together. Oh no! There is a "great multitude" there, "which no man can number," and they come from no land in particular, but from every nation, and kindred, and people, and tribe, and tongue, "a great multitude which no man can number."

It has nothing in harmony with those little feelings which we are sometimes apt to have. I am grieved when I hear men quote the passage, "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" quoting it, not because it contains a blessed promise for those to whom it applies, not rejoicing in the promise, but rejoicing because God's flock is a "little flock." I hold that it is a spirit altogether unchristian. God has His own people in the earth that is true; but let us rather cherish that expansive benevolence which will rejoice in the thought that there may be many more who are His people than we are prone to suppose; that in that better land we shall find many whom we did not expect to see; that from various nations they will come and will form a great multitude.

That is the feeling we ought to cherish. If it be the case that few get to Heaven, that many perish, it is not a thing to be rejoiced in, but a thing to be mourned over; and instead of contending with a paltry pettiness for the littleness of the number who shall appear there, let us rather labor that we may be among the great number, and labor to bring many more with us, who, in the day of the Saviour's coming, will hail us as those to whose instrumentality they have been indebted for their salvation, through whom they have been brought to swell the ranks of the redeemed.

`W. Landells~

(continued with # 3)