The Portland daily press., 1892-12-03


amount to comparatively nothing. They
develop into no kind of usefulness. They
are nibbled on one side by the world
and nibbled on the other side by the
devil, and widowed all over. Great
promise and no fulfllment. All cobs
and no corn. Nubbins! They are worth
saving. l suppose many Of them Will
get to heaven, but they are not worthy
to be mentioned in the same day with
those who went through great tI1bula-
ton into the kingdom of our God.
Who would not rather have the pains
of this life, the misfortunes of this life
who would not rather be torn aud
wounded and lacerated and wrenched
and husked, and at last go in amid the
very best grain of the granary-than TO
be pronounced not worth husking at all!
Nubbins! In other words, want to say
to you people who have9distress OF body
and distress in business and distress OF
all sorts, the Lord has not any grudge
against YOU 1t is not derogatory; it is
complimentary. "Whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and it is proof positive
that there is something valuable IN you,
or the Lord would not have husked you.
GOD APPROVES OF JOYOUS SPIRIT.
You remember also that in the time
of husking it was a neighborhood re-
union. By the great fireplace IN the
winter, the fires roaring around thef
glorious backlogs on an Old fashloned |
hearth of which the modern stoves andt
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 husking 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 neighbor-
hood reunion the memory OF which
makes all the nerves of my body trenbie
with emotion, as the strings OF aEhar3o
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 up! They slept in the old
village churchyard. There they come
up! They reclined amid the fountains,
and the sculpture, and the parterres OF q
city cemetery. There they come upl
They went down when the ship founr
dered off Cape Hatteras. They come up
from all sides-from potter's field and
out of the solid masonry of Westmin-
ster abbey! They come up! They come
up! 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 in
heaven they are so radiant you hardly
know them. The fact is, all their inn
perfections 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
he 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 the darkness into the light, out of the
tearing, and the ripping, and the twist
| ing. and the wrenching and decorating,
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 A LONG THANKSGIVING.
Yes, heaven is 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 the
citizen of Il smaller mansion. No clique
in one corner whispering about clique
in another corner. David taking none
of the airs hof giant killer. Joshua
making no one halt until he passes be-
| cause he made the sun and moon halt.
Paul making no assumption over the
most ordinary preacher of righteous
ness. Naaman, 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 a