Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1891-12-17

i
apostle he says: "All are yours"
What! everything? Yes, every.
thing! This world and the next. In
distinguished families there are old
pictures hanging on the wall. They
are called ''heirlooms" of the estate.
They are very old, and have come
down from generation to generation.
So look upon all the beauties of the
natural world as the heirlooms Of
our royal family. The morning
breaks from the east. The mists
travel up hill, mountain above
mountain, until sky-lost. The forests
are full of chirp, and buzz and song
Trees leaf and bird wing flutter with
gladness. Honeymakers in the log,
and beak against the bark, and souir-
rels gathering on the rail, and the
call of the hawk out of a clear sky
make you feel glad. The sun,
which kindles conhagrations among
sets minaret and dome
aflame stoops to paint the lily white,
and the buttercup yellow, and the lor-
get-me-not blue. What can resist the
sun? Light for the voyager over the
deep! Light for the shepherd guarding
the flocks afeld Light for Che poor
who have no lamps to burn! Light for
the downcast and the lowly! Light
for aching eyes, and burning brain and
wasted captive! Light for the smooth
brow of childhood, and the dim Wis
sions of the octogenarian! Light for
queens coronet, and for sewing girls
needle! Let there be light! Whose
morning is this? My morning. Your
morning. Our Father gave us the
picture and hung it on the sky in
loops of fire. tits the heirloom of our
family. And so the night. It is the
full moon. The mists from shore to
shore gleam like shattered mirrors;
and the ocean, under her glance, comes
up with great tides, painting upon the
beach, mingling as it were, foam and
fire. The poor man blesses God for
throwing such cheap light through
the broken window pane into his
cabin; and to the sick it seems g. light
from the other shore which bounds
this great deep OF human pain and
woe.
You cannot see large estate III one
morning. You must take several
walks around it. The family prop
erty of
THIS ROYAL HOUSE OF JESUS
is so great that we must take several
walks to get any idea OF it's extent.
Let the first walk be around this
earth. All these valleys, the harvests
that wave in them, and the cattle
that pasture them-all these mount
aims, and the precious things hidden
beneath them, and the crown of
glacier they cast at the feet of Alpine
hurricane-all these lakes, these is
lands, these continents are ours. In
the second walk go among the street
lamps of heaven, and see stretching
off on every side a wilderness of
woods. For us they shine. For us
they sang of a Savior,s nativity. For
us they will wheel into line, and with
flaming torches add to the splendor
of our triumph on the day for which
all other days were made, In the
third walk, go around the Eternal
City. AS we come near it, bark to the
rush OF its charlots, and the wedding
peal fitsgreat towers. The bell ofheav-
en- has struck twelve. 1t is high noon.
We look off upon the chaplets which
never fade, the eyes that never weep,
the temples that never close, the low
ed ones that never part, the process
sion that never halts, the trees that
never wither, the walls that never can
be captured, the sun that new
er sets, until we can no longer gaze,
and we hide our eyes, and exclaim:
"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of
man, things which God hath prepared
for them that love him!" As these
tides OF glory rise, we have to retreat,
and hold fast lest we be swept off and
drowned in the emotions OF gladness,
and thanksgiving, and triumph.
Almost every family looks back to
q homestead-some country place
where you grew up. You sat on the
door-sill. You heard the footstep of
the rain of the garret-roof. You swung
on the gate. You waded into the
brook. You threshed the orchards
for apples, and the neighboring woods
for nuts; and everything around the
old homestead is of interest to you. |
tell you of the old homestead OF eter-
nifty. In my Fathers house
are many mansions. When
we talk OF mansions, we think
of Chatsworth, and it's park,
nine miles in circumference, and it's
conservatory, that astonishes the
world; it's galleries of art, that con-
tain the triumphs of Chantrey, Cano-
va, and Thorwaldsen; of the kings
and the queens who have walked it's
stately halls, or, flying over the heath
er, have hunted the grouse. But all
the dwelling-places of dukes, and
princes, and queens, are as nothing
to the family mansion that is already
awaiting our arrival.
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. (Father and
mother do not play on it. How you