Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-11-28


ali around us there are people who
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 mildewed all over. Great
promise and no fulfllment. All cobs
and no corn. Nubbinsl They are worth
saving. 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 tribula-
hon 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 and
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 alE
Nubbinsl In other words, want to say
TO Won people who have distress of body
and distress in business and distress OF
ell sorts. the Lord has not any grudge
against you. 1t is not derogatory; 1t is
complimentary "Whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth," and it is proof positive
that there is something valuable in you,
mr. the Lord would not have husked you.
GOD APPROVES OF A 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 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 husking time,
for then all the farmers came, and they
came in the very best humor, and they
came from beyond the meadow, ana
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 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 upl They slept in the old
village churchyard. There they come
M! They reclined amid the fountains,
and the sculpture, and the parterres OF
city cemetery. There they come upl
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 abbeyl They come up! They come
up! All the hindrances to their better
nature husked off. All their spiritual
despondencies husked off. ALI 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 i'm
perfections have been husked off. They
did not mean ON earth to be Disagree
able. They meant we'll 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 lacerating
and the husking time of earth into thu
wide open door of the Kings granary
'like as shock of corn cometh in in hi
season."
HEAVEN IS A LONG THANKSGIVING.
Yes, heaven is q great sociable, will
Joy like the JOY of the huslSing time. M
one there feeling SO big he declines b
sneak to some one that Is not so large
Archangel willing to listen to smalles
cherub No bolting of the door of cast
at one heavenly mansion to keep out tn
citizen of |. smaller mansion. No cliqu
in one corner whispering about cliqu
in another corner. David taking non
of the airs of giant killer. Joshu
making no one halt until he passes be
cause he made the sun and moon halt
Paul making no assumption over tn
most ordinary preacher of righteous
ness. Naainan, captain of the Syrian host
no more honored than the captive mai
who told him where he could get a goo
doctor. Oh, my soul, what a country
The humblest man a king The poores
woman a queen. The meanest house
palace. The shortest lifetime eternity
And what is more strange about it all
we may all get there. mot l, say
some one standing back under the ga
leries. Yes, you. mot l. says som
one who has not been in church in iii
teen years before. Yes, you. ."Not l,
says some one who has been for fift
.,aa.s 6lt,ne, mn his life with ull kinds n