Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-03-14

and the dead, shroud-wrapped, breakin
open their sepulchres, and rushing out
see what was the matter. We sing his res
urrection-the guard that could not kee
him; the sorrow of his disciples; the cloud
pilipg up on either side in pillared splendol
as he went through, treading the pathles
air, higher and higher. until he came to th
foot of the throne, and all heaven KEEP
jubilee at the return Of the conqueror.
| I say once more, Christ is the everlasting
song. The very best singers sometime
get tired the strongest throats sometime
get weary, and many who sang very sweet
ly do not sing now but l hope by tn
grace of God we will, after awhile, 60 ul
and sing the praises of Christ where W
will never be weary. You know there ar
some songs that are especially appropriat
for the home circle. They stir the soul
they start the tears, they turn the heart ii
on itself, and keep sounding after the tun
has stopped, like some cathedral bel
which, long after the tap of the braze'
tongue has ceased, keeps throbbiDg ON tn
air. Well, it will be home song in heaven
all the sweeter because those who sang witt
us in the domestic circle on earth shall joil
that great harmony.
Jerusalem. my happy home.
Name ever dear to me;
When shall my labors have an end
In Joy and peace in thee"
On earth we sang harvest songs as th'
wheat came into the barn, and the barrack
were filled. You know there is no sucf
time on farm as when they get tbe crops
in; and so in heaven it will be a harves
song on the part of those who on eartt
sowed in tears and reaped in joy. Lift ur
your heads, ye everlasting gates, and lei
the sheaves come in | Angels shout al
through the heavens, and multitudes come
down the hills crying, harvest-home
harvest-home
There is nothing more bewitching to
ones ear than the song of sailors far out al
sea, whether in day or night, as they pull
away at the ropes-the music is weird and
thrilling. So the song in heaven will be q
sailors song. They were voyagers once,
and thought they could never get to shore,
and before they could get things snug and
trim the cyclone struck them. But now
they are safe. Once they went with dam.
aged rigging, guns of distress booming
through the storm; but the pilot came
aboard, and he brought them into the
harbor. Now they sing of the breakers
past, the lighthouses that showed them
where to sail, the pilot that took them
through the straits, the eternal shore on
which they landed.
Ay, it will be the children's song. You
know very we'll that the vast maj ,rity oi
our race die in infancy, and it is estimated
that eighteen thousand millions of the
little ones are standing before God. When
they shall rise up about the throne to sing,
the millions and the millions of the little
ones-ah that will be music for you
These played in the streets of Babylon an6
Thebes these plucked lilies from the foot
of Olivet while Christ was preaching about
them these waded in Sloan these were
victims of Herod's massacre; these were
thrown to crocodiles or into the fire; these
came up from Christian homes, and thest
were foundlings on the city commons
children everywhere in all that land; chill
dren in the towers, children on the seas O
glass, children on the battlements. All, i
you do not like children do not go there
They are in vast majority, and what ;
song when they lift it around about tn
throne!
The Christian singers and composers o
all ages will be there to join in that song
Thomas Hastings will be there. Lowell
Mason will be there. Bradbury will b
there. Beethoven and Mozart will
there. They who sounded the cymbals an
the trumpets in the ancient temples will b
there. The forty thousand harpers tina
stood at the ancient dedication will
there. The two hundred singers that as
sisted on that day will be there. Patriarch
who lived amidst threshing floors, sher
herds who watched amidst Chaldean hills
prophets who walked, with long beard
and coarse apparel, pronouncing wo
against ancient denominations, will meet tn
more recent martyrs who went up wit
leap1ng cohorts of fire and some will speaI
of Jesus of whom they prophesied, an
others of the Jesus for whom they died.
Oh, what song 1t came to John upo
Patmos; it came to Calvin in the prison
it dropped to John Knox in the fire; an
sometimes that song has come to your cal
perhaps, for really do think it sometime
breaks oyer the battlements of heaven.
A Christian woman, the wife of a minis
ter of the Gospel, was dying in the parsor
age near the old church, where on Saturda
night the choir used to assemble and re
hearse for the following Sabbath, and sh
said, How strangely sweet the choir re
hearses tonight: they have been rehears
ing there for an hour" No." said som
one about her, ''the choir is not rehearsin
tonight" Yes," she said, Il know the
are, l hear them sing; how very sweet
they sing p Now it was not choir c
earth that she heard, but the choir q
heaven. l think that Jesus sometime
sets aiar the door of heaven, and passag
of that rapture greets our ears. The mil
strels of heaven strike such tremendou
strain, the walls of jasper cannot hold it.
I wonder, will you sing that song? Wi
I sing it? Not unless our sins are pardone
and we learn now to sing the praise c
Christ will we ever sing it there. The frs
great concert that 1 ever attended was i
New York, when Julien, in the "Crysts
Palace" stood before hundreds of singer
and hundreds of players upon instruments
Some of you may remember that occasion
it was the first one of the kind at which
was present, and shall never forget it,
I saw that one man standing, and with th
hand and foot WELD that great harmony
beating the time. 1t was to me overwheln
ing. But oh /! the grander scene whe
they shall come from the East, and fror
the West, and from the North, and fror
the South, ga great multitude that no ma
can number" into the temple of the skies
host beyond host, rank beyond rank, gale
ry above gallery, and Jesus shall stan
before that great host to conduct the hal
mony, with his wounded hands and hi
wounded foot Like the voice of man
waters, like the voice of mighty thunder
ings, they shall cry, "Worthy is the Lam
that was slain to receive blessings, an
riches, and honor, and glory, and power
world without end. Amen and Amen |!
Oh, if my ear shall hear no other swee
sounds, may 1 hear that If join n
other glad assemblage, may join that.
l was reading of the battle of Agincouri
in which Henry V. figured, and it is sal
that after the battle was won, gloriousl
won, the King wanted to acknowledge tn
divine inteIposition, and he ordered th
chaplain to read the Psalm of David; an
when he came to the word, "Not unto us
o Lord, but unto Thy name be the praise,
the King dismounted, and all the cavalr
dismounted, and all the great host, officer
and men; threw themselves on their faces
Oh. at the story of the Saviour's love an
the Saviour's deliverance, shall we nc
| PROSTATE ourselves before him now, host
of earth and hosts of heaven, falling upo
our faces, and crying, "Not unto us, nc
unto US, but unto Thy name be the glory!
IT'S SOZODONT the whole world tries,
| 'Tis SOZOCONT that purifies
The breath and mouth. and dirt defles,
'Tis SOZODONT for which we cry,
Sweet SOZODONT for which we sigh.