The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-01-31
treated on that excursion rney will never

treated on that excursion Iney Will never
let Him go again.
Oh, the joy of meeting our brother, Jo-
seph-Jesus! After we have talked about
Him for ten, or fifty, or seventy years, to
talk with Him, and to clasp hands with
the hero of the ages; not crouching as
underlings in His presence, but as Jacob
and Joseph, hug each other. We will
want some new term by which to address
Him. On earth we call Him Saviour,
or Redeemer, or Friend; but when we
throw our arms around Him in eyerlast-
ing embrace, we will want some new name
of endearment. I can think of what we
shall do through the long ages of eternity;
but what we shall do the first minute J. can
not guess. In the first flash of His
countenance, in the first rush of our emo
lions, what we shall do l can not imagine.
Oh, the overwhelming glory of the first
sixty seconds in Heaven! Methinks we
will just stand and look, and look, and
look.
The Kings wagons took Jacob up to see
his lost boy, and so really think that the
Kings wagons will take us up to see our
lost kindred. How long is it since Joseph
went out of your HOUSEHOLD? How many
years is it now, last Christmas, or the 18th
of next month? It was dark night when
he died, and stormy day it was at the
burial; and the clouds wept with you and
the winds sighed for the dead. The bell
at Greenwood's gate rang only few mo-
ments, but your heart has been tolling, toll
ing ever since. You have been under delu-
sion, like Jacob of old. You have thought
that Joseph was dead. You put his name
first III the birth record of the family
Bible, and then you put it in the death
record of the family Bible, and you have
been deceived. Joseph is yet alive. He
is more alive than you are. OF all the six
teen thousand millions of children that
statisticians say have gone into the
future world, there is not one of
them dead, and the Kings wag-
ons will take you up to see them. You
often think how glad you will be to see
them. Have you never thought, my broth
er, my sister, how glad they will be to see
you? Jacob was no more glad to see Jo-
seph than Joseph was to see Jacob. Every
time the door in Heaven opens they look
to see if it is you coming in. Joseph, once
standing in the palace, burst out crying
when he thought of Jacob-afar off. And
the Heaven of your little ones will not be
fairly begun until you get there. All the
kindnesses shown them by immortaIs will
not make them forget you. There they
are, the radiant throngs that went out
from your homesl l throw kiss to the
sweet darlings. They are all well now in
the palace. The crippled child has sound
foot now A little lame child says: "Ma,
will be lame in Heaven?' 'sNo, my dar-
ling, you won't be lame in Heaven" A
little sick child says: s'Ma, will I be sick
in Heaven?" ''No, my dear, you won't be
sick in Heaven" A little blind child says:
''Ma, will be blind in Heaven?" s'No, my
dear, you won't be blind in Heaven
They are all well there.
In my boyhood, for some time we lived
three miles from church, and on stormy
days the children stayed at home, but
father and mother always went to church:
that was a habit they had On these
stormy Sabbaths when we stayed at home,
the absence of our parents seemed very
much protracted; for the roads were very
bad, and they could not get on very fast.
So we would go to the window at twelve
O'Clock to see if they were coming, and
then we would go at 1880 to see if they
were coming, and at 12:45, and then at one
O'Clock. After awhile Mary, or David, or
Dewitt would shout: 1.-THE wagons COM
ingp and then we would see it wind
ing out of the woods and over the brook
and through the lane, and up in front OF
the old farmhouse; and then we would
rush out, leaving the doors wide open,
with many things to tell them, asking them
many questions. Well, my dear breth-
rem, think we are many of us in the
Kings wagons, and we are on the way
home