St. Landry democrat., 1892-01-23

street lamps Of heaven, and see stretching
off on every side a wilderness of worlds. For
us they shine. For US they sang at Say
iours nativity. For us they will wheel into
line and with their flaming torches add to
the sole..dor Of our triumph on the day for
whiSl all other days were made.
Ia the third walk go around the Eternal
} City, As we come near it. bark to the rush
of its chariots and the wed ling peal OF its
great towers. The bell OF heaven has STRUCK
twelve. 1t is high noon. We look off upon
the chapiets which never fade, the eyes that
| never weep the temples that never close tho
| loved ones that never part, the procession
that never haIts, the trees tna5 never wither,
the walls that never can be captured. t1e
sun that never sets until We can no lOrrer
gaze, and we hide Our eyes and exclain,
Eye hatn not seen, nor ear head, neither
have entered into thu heart OF man, the
things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him. As these tides of glory
rise we have to retreat an hold fast lest we
be swept Off and drowned in the emotions Of
| glalnesS and thanksgiving ami triumph.
w hat think you OF the family pro )ertY?
1t Is considered an honor to marry into
family where there is great wealth. HE
| Lord, til \ brld groom o. earth AMI heaven,
offers you His heart and His hand, saying
| IN the words of the Canticles, Rise up, Nv
love, My fair one, and come away" ami
| once having put on thy hand the Siguet ring
of His love you will BE- endowed with all tl3
wealth of earth and all the honors of heaven.
Almost every family looks back to home
| stead-Some country place where you grew
up. You sat on the doorsll. You heard tile
1ootstep OF the rain on the garnet roof. You
| swung on the gate. You ransacked the
barn. You wadei into the brook. You
thrashed the orchard for apples, and the
| nel9hborlng woods for nuts: AMI
| everything around the old homestead
Is OF interest to you. | tell you of the old
homestead of eternity. In my Fathers
house are many mansions When we talk
of mansions we think OF Chatsworth and its
park, nine miles in circumference, and its
conservatory that astoniShes the world: its
galleries OF art, that contains the triumphs
of Chantrey, Canova and Thorwaldsen; of
the kings and the queens who have walked
its stately halls, or, flying over the heather,
nave hunted the grouse. But all the dwell
ing places OF dukes and princes AMI queens
are as nothing to the family mansion that is
already awaiting on our arrival. The hand
of the Lord Jesus lifted the pillars AMI swung
the doors AMI planted the parks. Angels
walk there, and thu gods of all ages, The
poorest man in that house is a millionaire.
and the lowliest a king, and the tamest
word he speaks in an anthem and the short
est life an eternity
1t took Paxton to buill for Chatsworti
acovering for the wonderful flower. Vic
toria Regia, five feet in diameter. But orr
II
the blast, and in the open gardens Of Col
shall put forth its full bloom, and all heaven
shall come to look att, and its aroma shall
be as though the cheruhim had swung before
the throne thousand cenSers [ have not |
seen 1t yet am in foreign land. But my |
Rather IS waiting for me to come home | |
have brothers and sisters there. In the |
Bible have letters from there, tellin, ME |
what a fine place it is. 1t matters not much |
70 me whether am rich or poor, or whether |
the world hates me or loves me, or whether |
60 by land or by sea, if only I may lift my
eyes at last on tls family mansion.
1t is not frail house, built in a 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 abioom with the
century plants of eternity. The Queen OF
Sheba hath walked its halls, and Esther and
Marie Antoinette aud Lady Huntingdon and
Cecil and Jeremy Taylor and Samuel Ruth
erford and John Milton, and the widow who
gave two mites, and the poor men from the
hospltal-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
The children married, and went off to st.
Louis or Chicago or Charleston, but psr-
haps once year you come together at the
old place. How you wake uD the old piano
that has been silent for years! Father and
mother do not play in it, How you bring
out the old relics, and rummage the gar
ret and open old scrapboo IS and shout and
laugh and cry and talk over old times, and,
though you may be forty-five years OF age,
act as though You were sixteen. Yet |
soon 1t IS goodbye at the car window, and
goodbye at 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 gasp
ng for breath, as when you saw them last,
out the eye bright with the lu5ter of heaven, |
and the cheek roseata with the flush of celes-
lai summer
What cIaspng of hands! What EN-
oracings! What coming together of lip to
ip, What tears of joy! You say, Il ,
bought there were no tears in heaven"
There must be, for the Bible says that God
hall wipe them away" and if there were no s
ears there, how could He wipe them away?
They cannot be tears Of grief or tears Of dis
appointment. They must be tears Of glad
less. Christ will come AMI say: What! {
hid of heaven is it too much for thee? (
lost thou break down under the gladness of
his reunion? Then I will help thee And,
With His one arm around us and the other
rn around our lowell one, He shall hold US
p in the eternal jubilee. !
While SPEAK, some OF you, with broken =
carts can 1'y 15'1 75as psacsrins1a
sssss1ss il you would speak out aud say: "Oh,
blessed day. speed on. Toward thee [ press
with biiStered feet over the desert way Ny
eyes fail Tor their weeping. l faint from
listening for feet that will not come and tne
sound of voices that will not speak Speed
on, oh, day of reunion! Aud then, Lord
Jesus, be not angry with me if after 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 ali these
reunions are heaven encircing heaven,
heaven overlapping heaven, heaven COM
mingling with heavenm
[ was at Mount Vernon and went into thu
in which our first President en-
the prominent men of this AMI
other lands 1t was very interesting spot.
But Oh. the banqueting hall of the family
mansion Of which l speak, Spread the ia
Die; spread it wide, for a great multitude
are to sit at it. From the Tree by the River
gather the twelve manner of fruits for that
table. Take the clusters from the
heavenly vineyards and press them
nto the golden tankards for that
able. On baskets carry in the bread of
which, ii man eat, he shall never hunger |
lake all the shot-torn flags of earthly con-
quest and entwine them among the arches
Let DAVID come with his harp, and Gabriel :
With his trumpet, and Miriam with the
lmbrel, for the prodigals are at home, and
he captives are free, and the Father hath t
invited the mighty of heaven and the re-
eemed OF earth to come and dine.
A NaHnTyCr