The Russellville Democrat., 1890-02-20

tho 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 gentle as when sat on her knee at five years of age. And shall never shake of those hands. I do not want to. They have helped me so much thousand times already, and I do not expect to have a trouble or trial between this and my grave where those hands will not help me. It was not very I splendid home, as the world calls it; but we had family Bible there, we'll worn by tender perusal; and there was a family altar there, where we knelt morning and night; and there was a holy Sabbath there; and stretched in a straight line or hung in loops or fes- toons there was scarlet limo in tho window. Oh, the tender, precious, 1 blessed memory of Christian homel Is that the impression you are making upon your children2 When you are dead --and it will not be long before you are when you are dead will your child say:
 ssIf there ever was a good Christian father, mine was one. If there ever was good Christian mother, mine was one"
 Still further: we want this scarlet line of the text drawn across the win dow of our prospects. I see Rahab and her father, and her mother, and her brothers and sisters looking out over Jericho. the city of palm trees, and across the liver, and over at the army invading, and then up to the mountains and the sky. Mind you, this house was on the wall, and I suppose the prospect from the window must have been very wide. Beside that, do not think that the scarlet line at all interfered with the view of the landscape. The assur- ance 1t 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 of to- wards the hills of Heaven and the land- scape 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 a note of the exquisite har mony.
 But blessed be God for this scarlet line in the window. That tells me that the blood of Christ bought that home for my soul, and I 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 better, and the robes of the victors are more lustrous, and our loved ones who went away some time ago-they 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 sweet ness: '.Come Come. Comet" And the child that you think of only as buried why, there she is, and it is May day in Heaven; and they gather the amaranth, and they pluck the lilies, and they twist them into a garland for her brow, and she is one of the May queens of Heaven.
 o do you think they could see our waving to-day? It is quite a pleasant day, pretty clear, and not many clouds in the sky. l wonder if they can see us from that good land? l think they can. If from this window of earthly prospects we can almost see them, then from their towers of light I think they Gan fully see us. And so I wave them the glory, and wave them the joy. and I say:
 Have you got through with all your trou bles?" and their voices answer: "God hath wiped away all tears from our eyes"
 tTo ar,I +hnr thought itvwould be?" and the voices an swer:
 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre-. pared for those that love Him.
 Do you have any more struggle foi bread?"
 "We hunger no more, we thirst no more.-
 Have you been out to the cemetery of the golden city?"
 ''There is no death here"
 And look out through the heavens, ard say: "Where do you get your light from nights, and what do you burn in the temple?' and they answered.:
 '"There is no night here, and we have no need of candle or ot star"
 "What book do you sing out of ?''
 ''The Hallelujah Chorus"
 And I say: Tn the splendor and magnificence of the city, don't you ever get lost?" and they answer: "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne leadeth us to living fountains of water"
 O. how near they seem. Their wings do you not feel them? Their harps- do you not hear them? And all that through the window of our earthly pros poets, across which stretcheth the scarlet line. Be that my choice color forever Is it too glaring for you? Do you like the blue because it reminds you of the sky, or the green because it makes you think of the foliage, or the black because it has in it the shadow of the night. I take the scarlet be- cause it shall make me think of the price that was paid for my soul o, the bloodi the blood! the blood of the Lamb of God tbat taketh away the sin of the world. l see where you are. You are at the crossroads. The next step decides every thing. Pause before you take lt, put uo not pause too long. l hear the blast of the trumpet that wakes the dead. Look outl Look outl For in that day, and in our closing moment on earth, better than any other defense or barricade, however high or broad or stupendous, will be one little, thin, scarlet thread in the window.