Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-11-28


al around rs there are people VITO
amount % comparatively nothing. They
develop into no kind OF usefulness They
arc nibbled on one side By the world
and nibbled ca the other slde BY TIE
devil, and mildcwed all over. Great
promise and no fulfiluient All oobs
and no corn Nubbins. They are worth
saving. suppose many Of them VIII
get 10 heaven. bat they are not worthy
10 be mentioned in the same day with
those who went through great triDaia-
ton into the kingdom Of our God.
Who would rot rather have the pains
Of this life, the misfortunas OF this HE
who would not rather DO torn and
wounded ami lacerased and wrenched
and husked, and al last go IN amid the
very BEST grain Of the granary-than TO
be pronounced not worth husking at al.
Nubbins. In other words, l want To say
TO you people who have distress OF body
and distress In business and distress OF
al sorts, the Lord has not any grndge
against you. IL is no derogatory; II Is
complimentary. Whom the Lord loyeth
he chasteneth,n and IL Is proof positive
that there Is something valuable IN you,
Or the Lord would not have husked you.
COP APPROVES OF JOYOUS SPIRIT.
You remember also that IN the time
Of husking il was neighborhood re-
union. BY the great fireplace IN the
winter, the fires roaring around the
glorious backlogs on an old fashioned
hearth, OF which the modern stoves and
registers are only the degenerate de-
scendants, the farmers used TO gather
and spend the evening, and there would
be much sociality; but it was not any
thing like the JOY Of the huskins time,
for then all the farmers came. and they
came in the very best humor, and they
came from beyond the meadow, and
they came from beyond the brook, and
they came from regions two and three
miles around.
Good spirits reigned supreme, and
there were great handshakings, and
there was carnival. and there was the
recital of the brightest experiences In all
their lives, and there was a neighbor-
hood reunion the memory of which
makes all the nerves of my body tremble
with emotion, as the strings Of harp
when the fingers of the player have
swept the chords. The husking time
was the time of neighborhood reunion.
and so heaven will be just that There
they come upi They slept in the old
village churchyard. There they come
No! They reclined amid the fountains,
and the sculpture, and the parterres Of
city cemetery. There they come up!
They went down when the ship foun-
dered off Cape Hatteras. They come up
from all sides-from potter's field and
out of the solid masonry Of Westmin-
ster abbeyi They come up! They come
MP! All the hindrances to their better
nature husked off. All their spiritual
dependencies husked off. All their
hindrances to usefulness husked off.
The grain, the golden grain, the God
fashioned grain, visible and conspicuous.
Some of them on earth were such dis
agreeable Christians you could hardly
stand it in their presence. Now III
heaven they are 30 radiant you hardly
know them. The fact is, all their i'm
PROJECTIONS have been husked off. They
did not mean ON earth to be disagree
able. They meant well enough, but
| they told you how sick you looked, and
they told you how many hard things
they had heard about you, and they told
you how often they had to stand up for
you in some battles until You wished al
most that they had been slain in some of
the battles. Good, pious, consecrated,
well meaning disagreeables. Now in
heaven all their offensiveness has been
husked off. Each one is as happy as he
can be- Every one he meets as happy as
ne can be. Heaven one great neighbor-
hood reunion. All kings and queens, all
songsters, all millionaires, all banquet
| ers.
God the Father, with his children all
around him. No ''goodby" in all the air.
No grave cut in all the hills. River of
crystal rolling over bed of pearl, under
arch of chrysoprase, into seas Of glass
mingled with fire. Stand at the gate of
the granary and see the grain come in,
out of the frosts into the sunshine, out
| of tho darkness into the light, out of the
tearing, and the ripping, and the twist
ing. and the wrenching and lacerating,
and the husking time Of earth into the
wide open door of the Kings granary
like as shock Of corn cometh in in his
season."
HEAVEN Is LONG THANKSGIVING.
Yes. heaven il great sociable, with
JOY like the JOY of the husking time. No
one there feeling so big he declines to
speak to some one that is not SO large
Archangel willing to listen to smallest
| cherub. No boiling of the door Of caste
at one heavenly mansion to keep out tho
citizen of smaller mansion. No clique
in one corner whispering about a clique
in another corner. David taking none
Of the airs of giant killer. Joshua
making no one halt until be passes be-
cause he made the sun and moon halt
| Paul making no assumption over tho
most ordinary preacher of righteous
ness Nsanan, captain of the Syrian host,
no more honored than the captive maid
who told him where he could get good
| doctor Oh. my soul, what country.
The humblest man king. The poorest
woman queen The meanest house q
palace. The shortest lifetime eternity
l And what il more strange about it all il
we may all get thsre. Not l." says
some one standing back under the gal
leries. Yes. you. Not t. says some
one who has not been in church In If