Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-02-20


l. alas! There may be geranium and cactu
d In that family window and upholster
II lowering over it and childish faces looI
Is ing out of it, but there is no scarle
:, thread stretched across it. Althoup
e that house may seem to be O
s the best street in all the tow
|; or city 1t is really on the edp
|, OF a marsh across which sweep mos
s poisonous malarias, and it has sand,
y foundation and its splendor will COM
!. down and great will be the fall of it. /
e home without God. A prayerles
$ father! An undevout mother! Awful
T awful! Will you keep on, my brother
4 on the wrong road, and take your loved
t ones with you? Time is so short thar
5 we can not waste any Of it on apologies
( or lndirections, or circumlocutions. You
: owe to your children, o father. c
mother, more than food, more thar
} clothing, more than shelter-you owe
them the example of prayerful, conse.
Grated, pronounced, out and out Chris
t1an life. You can not afford to keep il
away from them.
} Now, as stand here, you do not see
! any hands Outstretched toward me, and
} yet there are hands on my brow and
hands on both my shoulders. They are
hands Of parental benediction 1t is
quite good many years ago now since
we folded those hands as they began the
last sleep on the banks of the Raritan
In the village cemetery; but those hands
are stretched out toward me to-day, and
they are just as warLa and they are
just as gentle as when 1 sat on her knee
at five years of age. And 1 shall never
shake off those hands. do not want to.
They have helped me so much thou
sand times already, and 1 do not expect
to have trouble or trial between this
and my grave where those hands will
not help me. 1t was not very splendid
home as the world calls it; but we had a
family Bible there, well worn by tender
perusal; and there was a family altar
there, where we knelt morning and
night; and there was holy Sabbath
there; and stretched in a straight line or
hung in loops or festoons, there was a
scarlet line in the window.
the tender, precious, blessed mem
DRY Of Christian home! Is that the
impression you are making upon your
children? When you are dead-and it
will not be long before you are-when
you are dead, will your child say: ''If
there ever was good Christian father
mine was one. If there ever was a good
Christian mother, mine was one?"
Still further: We want this scarlet
line OF The text drawn across the win
dow Of our prospects. l see Rahab and
her father and her mother, and her
brothers and sisters looking out over Jer-
1cho, the city of palm trees, and across
the river, and over at the army invad-
ing, and then up to the mountains and
the sky. Mind you, this house was on
the wall, and 1 suppose the prospect
from the window must have been very
wide. Besides that, l do not think
that the scarlet line at all inter
fered with the view of the land
scape. The assurance it gave of safety
must have added to the beauty of the
country. To-day, my friends, we sit in
the window of earthly prospects and we
look off toward the hills of Heaven
and the landscape of eternal beauty.
God has opened the window for us and
we look out. We now only get dim
outline of the inhabitants. We now |
only here and there catch note Of the |
exquisite harmony.
But blessed be God for this scarlet
line in the window. That tells me that
the blood of Christ bought that home
for a soul, and shall go there when my
work is done. And as put my hand on
that scarlet line every thing in the
future brightens. My eyesight gets bet
ter, and the robes of the victors
are more lustrous, and our loved
ones who went away some time
do not stand any
more with their backs to us; but their
faces are this way and their voices drop
through this Sabbath air, saying, with
all tenderness and sweetness: Come!
Come! Gomez" And the child that you
'hlnk of as buried-why, there she is,
Ind it is May day in Heaven; and they
gather the amaranth, and they pluck
he lilies, and they twist them into a
garland for her brow, and she is one of
he May queens of Heaven. o, do you
hink they could see our waving to-day?
t is quite pleasant day, pretty clear,
md not many clouds in the sky. Iwon-
Ter If they can see US from that good
and? 1 think they can.
If from this window of earthly pros
'ects we can almost see them, then from
heir towers of light think they can t
ully see us. And so / wave them the ?
Tory, and L wave them the Joy, and 1 q
ay: "Have you got through with all c
our troubles?" and their voices answer:
God hath wiped away all tears from i
ur eyes" l say: ''Is it as grand up (
here as you thought it would be?" and v
he voices answer: Eye hath not seen $
or ear heard, neither hath it entered 7
nto the heart of man the things which n
rod hath prepared for those who love v
Him." 1 say: 'Do you have any more
truggle for bread?" and they answer: L
We hunger no more" And l say: f,
Have you been out to the cemetery of 7
he golden city?" and they answer: Il
There is no death here" And Il
'ok out through the heavens, and b
say: where do you get your II
ghts from nights, and what do Il
Oh burn in the temple?" and they P
1sWer: There Is no night here, and Il
e have no need of candle or of star" il
nd say: "What book do you sing out H
2" and they answer: THE Hallelujah Il
horus." And 1 say: SIN the splendor Il
Id magniicence of the city, don't you
Ter get lost?" and they answer: 1.-THE VI
amb which sin the midst of the throne
adeth us to living fountains o: water" &c
how near they seem. Their wings M
} you not hear them? And all that fir