The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-02-21

alas! There may be geranium and cactus
in that family window and upholstery
| lowering over it and childish faces look
ing out of it, but there is no scarlet
thread stretched across it. Although
the best street in all the town
or city it is really on the edge
| of marsh across which sweep most
poisonous malarias, and it has sandy
| foundation and its splendor viii come
down and great will be the fall of it. A
home without God. A prayerless
father! An undevout motheri Awful
awful! Will you keep on, my brother,
on the wrong road, and take your loved
ones with you? Time is so short that
we can not waste any of it on apologies,
or indirections, or circumlocutions. You
owe to your children, o father, o
mother, more than food, more than
| clothing, more than shelter-you owe
them the example of prayerful, conse-
Grated, pronounced, out and out Chris
tan life. You can not afford to keep it
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 warm and they are
just as gentle as when / sat on her knee
at five years of age. And 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 nota very splendid
home as the world calls it; but we had
family Bible there, we'll worn by tender
perusal; and there was family altar
there, where we knelt morning and
night; and there was holy Sabbath
there; and stretched in straight line or
hung in loops or festoons, there was a
scarlet line in the window.
o 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 q 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. l see Rahab and
her father and her mother, and her
brothers and sisters looking out over Jer-
icho, 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 l 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 landJ
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 of 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 q 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 homo
for 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
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 sweetness: "Come!
Come. Comet" And the child that you
think of as buried-why, there she is,
and it is May day in Heaven; and they
gather the amaransh, 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?
1t is quite pleasant day. pretty clear,
and not many clouds in the sky. Iwon-
der if they can see US from that good
land? think they can.
II from this window of earthly pros
poets we can almost see them, then from
their towers of light 1 think they can
fully see US. And so l wave them the
glory, and wave them the joy, and I
say: ''Have you got through with all
your troubles?" and their voices answer:
''God hath wiped away all tears from
our eyes" / say: ''Is it as grand up
there as you thought it would be?' and
the voices answer: Eye hath not seen
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into the heart Of man the things which
God hath prepared for those who love
Him." say: ''Do you have any more
struggle for bread?" and they answer:
1--WE hunger no more" And l say:
''Have you been out to the cemetery Of
the golden city," and they answer:
There is no death here" And
look out through the heavens, and
1 say: "Where do you get your
lights from nights, and what do
you burn in the temple?" and they
answer: There is no night here, and
we have no need Of candle or of star"
And say: "What book do you sing out
OFF" and they answer: ''The Hallelujah
Chorus" And say: SIN the splendor
and magnificence of the city, don't you
ever get lost?" and they answer: Tho
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
leadeth US to living fountains o: water"
o, how near they seem. Their wings
do you not hear them? And all that