Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-20

and thrum the harps, and clap the GYM
balls, and jingle the tambourines while we
sit down, at this great distance of time
and space, and learn the lesson of the
Kings wagons.
Ny friends, we are in a world by sin
| famine struck; but the King is in constant
communication with us, his wagons COM
ing and going perpetually; and in the rest
of my discourse will show you what the
wagons bring and what they take back.
In the first place, like those that came
from the Egyptian palace, the Kings wag-
ons now bring us corn and meat and
many changes of raiment. We are apt to
think of the fields and the orchards as
feeding US, but who makes the fax grow
for the linen, and the wheat for the bread,
and the wool on the sleeps back? o, 1
wish we could see through every grain
field, by every sheep fold, under the trees
of every orchard, the Kings wagons.
They drive up three times day-morning,
noon and night. They bring furs from
the arctic, they bring fruits from the trop-
les, they bring bread from the temperate
zone. The King looks out and he says:
''There are twelve hundred millions Of
people to be fed and clothed. So many
pounds Of meat, so many barrels Of -four,
so many yards of cloth and linen and
flannel, so many hats, so many socks,
so many shoes" enough for all, save
that we who are greedy get more shoes
than belong to US and others go bare
footed. None but God could feed and
clothe the world. None but Kings corn
crib could appease the worlds famine.
None but q King could tell how many
wagons to send, and how heavily to load
them, and when they are to start They
are coming over the frozen ground to-day.
Do you not hear their rumbling? They
will stop at noon at your table. o, if for
little while they should cease, hunger
would come into the nations, as to Utica
when Hamilcar besieged it, and as in
Jerusalem when Vespasian surrounded it;
and the nations would be hollow eyed,
and fall upon each other in universal can
nibalism; and skeleton would drop upon
skeleton; and there would be no one to
bury the dead; and the earth would be
field of bleached skeletons; and the birds
of prey would fall dead, flock after flock,
without any carcasses to devour; and the
earth in silence would wheel around, one
great black hearse! All life stopped be-
cause the Kings wagons are stopped. o,
thank God for bread-for bread!
Iremark again, that like those that came
from the Egyptian palace, the Kings
wagons bring us good news. Jacob had
not heard from his boy for great many
years. He never thought of him but
with heartache. There was in Jacobs
heart a room where lay the corpse of his
unburied Joseph; and when the wagons
came-the Kings wagons-and told him
that Joseph was still alive, he faints dead
away. Good news for Jacob! Good
news for us! The Kings wagons come
down and tell US that our Joseph-Jesus is
yet alive; that He has forgiven us because
we threw him into the pit of suffering and
the dungeon of shame. He has risen from
thence to stand in palace. The Bethle-
hem shepherds were awakened at mid
night by the rattling of the wagons that
brought the tidings. Our Joseph-Jesus
sends us message of pardon, of life, of
Heaven; corn for our hunger, raimeRt
for our nakedness. Joseph-Jesus is yet
alive!
1 go to hunt up Jesus. Igo to the village
of Bethany and say: ''Where does Mary
liver" They say: ''Yonder Mary lives"
/ go in. see where she sat in the sitting
room. 1 go out where Martha worked in
the kitchen, but / fnd no Jesus. go into
Pilates court room and 1 find the judges
and the police and the prisoners box, but
no Jesus. go into the Arimathean ceme-
terry, but the door is gone, and the shroud
is gone, and Jesus is gone. By faith l
look up to the Kings palace; and behold,
l have found Him! Joseph-Jesus is still
alive! Glorious religions religion made
not out of deaths heads and cross bones,
and underiaker's screwdriver, but one
bounding with life, and sympathy and
gladness. Joseph is yet alive!
81 know that my Redeemer lives.
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my everything Head!
HE lives to grant me daily breath,
He lives, and shall conquer death.
He lives my mansion to prepare,
He lives to bring me safely there.
HE lives, all glory to His name;
He lives, my Jesus still the same.
o, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
1 know that my Redeemer lives"
The Kings wagons will after awhile I'M
load, and they will turn around and they
will go back to the palace, and l really
think that you and l will go with them.
The King will not leave us in this famine
struck world. The King has ordered that
we be lifted into the wagons, and that we
go over into Goshen, where there shall be
pasturage for the largest flock Of joy, and
then we will drive up to the palace. where
there are glories awaiting US which will
melt all the snow of Egyptian marble into
forgetfulness.
think that the Kings wagons will take
us up to see our lost friends. Jacobs chief
anticipation was not seeing the Nile nor
of seeing the long colonnades of architect
ural beauty, nor of seeing the throne
room. There was a focus to all his jour
neyings, to all his anticipations, and that
was Joseph. Well, my friends, do not
think Heaven would be worth much if our
brother Jesus was not there. If there
were two Heavens, the one with all the
pomp and paraphernalia of an eternal
monarchy, but no Christ, and the other
were plain Heaven, humbly matched,
with a few daisies in the yard, and Christ
were there would say: "Let the Kings
wagons take me up to the old farm house"
II Jesus were not in Heaven there would
be no music there; there would be but few
people there; they would be off looking for
the lost Christ crying through the uni
verse: "Where is Jesus? Where is Jesus?"
and after they had found Him, with loving
violence they would take Him and bear
Him through the gates; and it would be
the greatest day known in Heaven within
the memory OF the oldest inhabtant. Je-
sus never went on from Heaven but once.
and He was so badly treated on that ex-
cursion they never let Him go again.
o. the joy of meeting our brother. Joseph
Jesus! After we have talked about Him