[A map showing America, the Atlantic, and Europe would make this talk more vivid. If the talk is used in England, change “Europe” to “India,” and omit the reference to French and German.]
Suppose you were going to go to Europe. Would you forget all about it, never thinking of it or speaking about it? Or would you do all your thinking and talking about it only one hour of one day in the week? O no! I think it would hardly be out of your thoughts for a minute. You would talk it over with every one you met.
And you would be getting ready for it all the time. You would be studying about the countries you were to see. Maybe you would try to learn a little French or a little German. You would get ready your dresses, and plan what things you would take with you and what things you would leave behind.
If it rained or was cloudy you would care little, for were you not going to Europe? If it happened that your mother wanted you to stay home from a certain picnic, you would gladly stay, for you were going to Europe. You would count all these little troubles not worth minding, with the great journey so soon to come.
Now many of you children may never go to Europe, but all of you are going to a far more wonderful place,—heaven. How ought you to be getting ready for that great journey? Remember, you may take the journey tomorrow; and, even if you live here many years, it will seem, after all, only a little time.
Wouldn’t it be sensible to talk about it a great deal, to find out what sort of place heaven is, what kind of people are in it, and what you must do here to get a home there? You can learn on earth the language they speak in heaven, and you can practise the life they live there, and you can send things before you so as to find a treasure ready for you when you get there.
And if you think and talk and plan for this heavenly journey as you should, you will come to care very little for the trouble of this world, your mind will be so full of the wonderful world to which you are soon going.