The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-07-24

greet you with an ard0r proporioned to the
anguish Of your parting and the length Of
your separation. Fatherl Mother There
is your child. Sistersl Brothersi Friends!
wish you Joy. For years apart, together
again In the reception room Of the old home.
stead. You see they will know you are COM
ing. There are so many immortals filing
all the spaces between here and Heaven that
news like that flies ike lightning.
They will be there In an instant;
though they were in some other world on
an errand from God sigfal would be
thrown that would fetch them. Though
you might at first feel dazed and overawed
at their supernal splendor, all that feeling
will be gone at their first touch of heavenly
salutation, and we will say: 30 my lost
boyp' 80 my lost compauonl'' 90 my lost
friend, are we here togetherl" What scenes
have been witnessed in that reception room
Of the old homestead! There met Joseph
and Jacob, finding it a brighter room than
any thing they saw in Pharaoh's palace;
David and the little child for whom he once
tasted and wept; Mary and Lazarus after
the heartbreak Of Bethany; Timothy and
grandmother Lois; Isabella Graham and her
sailor son, Alfred and George Goodman, the
mystery Of the sea at last made manifest;
Luther and Magdalene, the daughter he be-
moaned; John Howard and the prisoners
whom he gospelized; and multitudes with
out number who, once so weary and SO sad,
parted on earth but gloriOusly met in Heav-
en-. Among all the rooms Of that house
there is no one that more enraptures my
soul than that reception room. I'm NV
Fathers house are many rooms"
Another room in our Fathers house is the
throne ROOM We belong to the royal fami-
ly. The blood of King Jesus flows in our
veins, so we have rightto enter the throne
room. 1t is no easy thing on earth to get
through even the outside door Of kings
residence. During the Franco German war
one eventide in the summer of 1870, stood
studying the exquisite scuipturing Of the
gate Of the Tuilleries, Paris. Lost in ad-
miration Of the wonderful art of that gate,
knew not that / was exciting suspicion.
Lowering my eyes to the crowds of people I
found myself being closely inspected by gov
ernmental officials, who from my complex
ion Judged me to be German, and that for
some belligerent purpose might be exam
lining the gates of the palace. My expla-
nations in very poor French did rot satisfy
them and they followed me long distances
until I reached my hotel, and We're not salts
fed until from my landlord they found was
only an inoffensive American. The gates
of the earthly palace are closely guarded,
and, If so, how much more severely the
throne room. A dazzling place is it for
mirrors and all costly art. No onewho ever
saw the throne room of the first and only
Napoleon will ever forget the letter IN"
embroideredin purple and gold on the up
holstery Of chair and window; the letter
IN" gilded on the wall, the letter "N'
chased on the chalices, the letter IN"
flaming from the ceiling. What con-
fiagration of brilliance the throne room of
Charles Immanual of Sardinia, Of Ferdi-
nand of Spain, of Elizabeth of England, of
Boniface of Italy. But the throne room of
our Fathers house hath glory eclipsing
all the throne rooms that ever awscepter
wave or crown glitter, or foreign embas-
sador bow, for our Fathers throne is a
throne of grace, throne Of mercy, throne
of holiness, throne Of justice, . throne of
universal dominion. We need not stand
shivering and covering before it, for our
Father says we may yet one day come up
and sit on it beside Him. ITO him that
overcometh will grant to sit with me in
my throne" You see we are princes and
princesses. Perhaps now we move about
as Peter the Great in the garb of
a ship carpenter at Amsterdam, or as Queen
Tirzah in the dress of peasant woman
seeking the prophet for her child's cure;
but it will be found out after while who
we are when we get into the throne room.
Aye! we need not wait until then. We
may by prayer and song and spir-
itual uplifting this moment enter the throne
room. o king, live forever! We touch the
forgiving scepter and PROSTATE ourselves at
Thy feet The crowns of the royal families
of this world are tossed about from genera
ton to generation and from family to family.
There are children four years old in Berlin
who have seen the crown on three en-
perors. But wherever the coronets Of this
world rise or fall they are destined to meet
in one place. And l look and see them
coming from north and south and east and
west the Spanish crown the italian crown,
the English crown, the Turkish crown,
the Russian crown, the Persian crown,
aye, all the crowns from under the
great archiv6lt of heaven; and while l
watch and wonder they are all flung in
rain OF diamonds around the pierced feet.
Jesus shall reign where'sr the sun
Does his successive journeys run,
His kingdom stretch from shore 10 shore
Till the sun shall rise and set no moro.
O, that throne room of Christi s'In my
Fathers house are many rooms"
Another room in our Fathers house is the
music room. st. John and other Bible wri-
tiers talk so much about the music of heaven
that there must be music there, perhaps not
such as on earth was thrummed from tremb-
ling string or evoked by touch of ivory key,
buff not that, then something better. There
are so many Christian harpists and Chris
tian composers and Christian organists and
Christian choristers and Christian hymnol-
ogists that have gone up from earth,
there must be for them some place
of especial delectation. Shall We have
music in this world of discords and no mu-
sic in the land Of complete harmonyl can
not give you the notes of the first bar Of the
new song that is sung In Heaven, I can not
imagine either the solo or the doxology. But
Heaven means music, and can mean nothing
else. Occasionally that music has escaped
the gate. DR.. Fuller, dying at Beaufort, s.
c., said: "Do you not heara" "Hear whatl"
exclaimed the bystanders. 1.-THE musici
Lift me upl Open the windowp In that
of our Fathers house, you will
some day meet the old Christian masters,
Mozart and Handel, and Mendelssohn, and
Beethoven, and Doddridge, whose sacred
poetry was as remarkable a. his sacred
prose, and James Montgomery and Will
lam Oswper, at last got rid Of his
spiritual melancholy, and Bishop He
Der, who sang of ''Greenland's icy
mountains and India's coral strand !" and DR..