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