The Bossier banner., 1892-02-11

arrival. The hand of the Lord Jesus
lifted the pillars and swung the DOORS
and planted the parks. Angels were
there, and the good of all ages. The
poorest man in that house is a million
aire, and the lowliest a king, and the
tamest word he speaks is an anthem,
and the shortest life an eternity.
1t took Paxton to build for Chats
worth covering for the wonderful
flower, Victora Regia, five feet in diam
eter. But the lily of the valley shall
need no shelter from the blast, and in
the open gardens of God shall put forth
its full bloom, and all Heaven shall
come to look at it, and it's aroma shall
be as though the cherubim had swung
before the throne a thousand censers.
have not seen it yet. l am in for
eign land. But my Father is waiting
for me to come home. | have brothers
and sisters there. In the Bible l have
letters from there, telling me what
fine place it is. 1t matters not much to
me whether l am rich or poor, or
whether the world hates me or loves
me, or whether go by land or by sea,
If only may lift my eyes at last on the
family mansion. 1t is not frail house,
built in 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 century plants of eternity. The
queen of Sheba hath walked it's halls,
and Esther, and Marie AntOinette, and
Lady Huntingdon, and Cecil, and Jer-
emy 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
outshining all the kings and queens of
eternity.
A family mansion means reunion.
Some of your families are very much
scattered Inc children married, and
went off to St. Louis or Chicago, or
Charleston; but perhaps once 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
bring out the old relics. and rummage
the garret, and open old scrap-b books,
and shout, and laugh, and cry, and talk
over old times, and, though you may be
forty-tive years of age, act as though
you were sixteen! Yet soon it is good
by at the car window, and good-by ut
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 lustre of
Heaven, and their check roseate with
the flush of celestial summer.
What clasping of hands! What en-
bracings! What coming together of lip
to lips What tears of JOY! You say: Il
thought there were no tears in Heav-
en-" 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 away? They can not be
tears of grief or tears of disappoint-
ment. They must be tears of gladness.
Christ will come and say: "What! child
of Heaven, is it too much for thee? Dost
thou break down under the gladness of
this reunion? Then | will help thee. :"
And, with His one arm around us and
the other arm around our loved one,
He shall hold us up in the eternal iubl-
lee.
While / speak some of you. with
broken hearts, can hardly hold your
peace. You feel as if you would speak
out and say: 0 blessed day! speed on.
Toward thee press with blistered feet
over che desert way. My eyes fail for
their weeping. l faint from listening
for feet that will not come, and the
sound of voices that will not speak
Speed on, o day of reunion! And then,
Lord Jesus, be not angry with me if
| after l have just once kissed Thy blessed
feet, | turn around to gather up the
long-lost treasures of my heart. Oh.
be not angry with me. One look at
Thee were Heaven. But all these re-
unions are Heaven encircling Heaven,
Heaven overtopping Heaven, Heaven
commingling with Heaven!'
l was at Mount Vernon, and went
into the dining room in which. our first
president entertained the prominent
men of this and other lands. 1t was a
very interesting spot But OH the
banqueting hall of the family mansion
of which l speak! Spread the table,
spread it wide; for great multitude
| are to sit at it. From the tree by the
river gather the twelve manner o:
fruits for that table. Take the clusters
from the heavenly vineyards, and press
| them into the golden tankards for that
table. On baskets carry in the bread
of which, if man eat, he shall never
hunger. Take all the shot-torn flags
of earthly conquest, and entwine them
among the arches. Let David come
with his harp, and Gabriel with his
trumpet, and Miriam with the timbreI;
for the prodiga's are at home, and the
captives are free, and the Father hath
invited the mighty Of Heaven and the
redeemed Of earth 20 come and dine!
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Christ's Coat.
Those who have been trying to keep
uD with the times bv reading the nreSs