The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-12-10

Almost oYcTy ia'2llIy iJD%s back 10
homestoad--gotae country place whore
you grew ~. Yca g.t on the doorsilI.
You heard ;iie foofsfep If the rain on
the garnet roof You swung on the
gate. You ransaciScd the barn. Ncu
waded into the brook. Yon thrasllrd
the orchard for apples and the nclyh-
boring woods for nuts, and everything
around the old homestead Ia Of interest
to You. i tell you OF the old home
stead OF eternity. In my Fathers
house are many mansions. When we
talk Of mansions we think of Chats
worth and its park, nine miles in cir
cumfFence, and It's conservatory, that
astonishcsthe world its galleries Of nrt,
that contain the triumphs Of Chantrey.
Canova and Thorwaldsen; Of the kings
and the queens who have walked It's
stately halls, or, flying over the heather,
have hunted the grouse. But all the
dwelling places OF dukes and princes
and queens are as nothing to the fam
iy mansion that is already awaiting
our arrival. The hand of the Lord
Jesus lifted the pillars, and swung the
doors, and planted the parks Angels
walk there, and the good of all ages.
The poorest man In that house IL a
millionaire and the lowliest king, and
the tamest word ne speaks Is an ON.
them and the shortest life an eternity.
THE OPEN GARDENS OF GOD.
1t took n Paxton to build for Chats
worth n covering for the wonderful
flower Victoria Regia, five feet In diam
eter. But our Lily OF the Valley shall
need no shelter from the blast, and In
the open gardens of God shall pat forth
its full bloom, and all heaven shall
come to look at it, and its aroma shall
be as though the clIerubim had swung
before the throne n thousand censers
/ have not seen it yet. am in for.
eign land. But my father is waiting
for me to come home. have brothers
and sisters there. In the Bible / have
letters from there telling me what a
fine place it is. 1t matters not much to
me whether 1 am rich or poor, or
whether the world hates me or loves
me, or whether go by land or by sea,
II only may lift my eyes at last on the
family mansion.
It Is not frail house, built in Il
month, soon to crumble, but an old
mansion which is as firm as the day it
was built. Its walls are grown with
the Ivy of many ages, and the urns at
the gateway are abloom with the cen
tury plants of eternity. The Queen of
Sheba hath walked its halls, and Es-
ther and Marie Antoinette and Lady
Huntingdon and Cecil and Jeremy
Taylor and Samuel Rutherford and
John Milton, and the widow who gave
two mites, and the poor men from the
hospital-these last two perhaps out
shining all the kings and queens of eter
nifty.
A family mansion means reunion
Some of your families are very much
scattered. The children married and
went off to st. Louis or Chicago or
Charleston; but perhaps once a year
you come together at the old place
How you wake up the old piano that
has been silent for years! Gather and
mother do not play on it, How you
bring out the old relies, and rummage
the garnet, and open old scrapbooks,
and shout and laugh and cry and talk
over old times, and, though you may
be forty-five years of age, act as though
you were sixteen Yet soon it is goodby
at the car window and goodby at the
steamboat wharf.
But how will we act at the reunion
in the old family mansion of heaven
1t is good while since you parted at
the door of the grave. There will be
Grace and Mary and Martha and
Charlie and Lizzie and all the darlings
of your household-not pale and sick
and gasping for breath, as when you
saw them last, but their eye bright
with the luster of heaven and their
cheek roseate withthe flush of celestial
summer.
What clasping of hands, What EN-
bracing What coming together Of
lip to ipl What tears of joy! You
say, 81 thought there were no tears ir
heaven" There must be, for the Bible
says that God shall wipe them away,
and If there were no tears there how
could he wipe them away2 They can
not be tears of grief or tears of disap
pointment. They must be tears o.
gladness. Christ will come and say
s'What, child of heaven, is it too much
for thee2 Dost thou break down under
the gladness of this reunion2 Then
will help thee" And with his one arm
around US and the other arm around
our loved one he shall hold US Rp ir
the eternal jubilee.
OH, DAY OF REUNION.
While l speak, some of you will
broken hearts can hardly hold you
peace. You feel as if you would SPEAK
out and say: "Oh, blessed day, speed
on! Toward thee press with blisteret
feet over the desert way. My eyes fai
for their weeping. faint from listen
ing for feet that will not come, and the
sound of voices that will not speak
Speed on, oh, day of reunionl And
then, Lord Jesus, be not angry witt
me II after have just once kissed thy
blessed feet 1 turn around to gathe]
up the long lost treasures of my heart
Oh, be not angry with mel One loof
ut thee were heaven. But all these
reunions are heaven encircling heaven
heaven overlapping heaven, HEAVIER
coTnmingIing with heaven!"
was at Mount Vernon, and wen
into the dining room in which our frs
president entertained the prominent
men of this and other lands. 1t was
very interesting spot. But, oh, tn,
banqueting hall of the family mansion
OF which / speak, Spread the table
spead it wide, for great multitude ar
z to sit at it. From the Tree by tn,
River gather the twelve manner o
8 fruits for that table.
Take the clusters from the heavenl,
vineyards and press them into the gold
en- tankards for that table On haskell