Democratic messenger., 1892-12-03

GCOd spirits rclgneu supreme, anu
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 ncighborhood reunion,
and SO heaven will he inst that. There
they come up! They slept i'll the old
village churchyard. There they come
up! They reclined amid the fountains.
and the sculpture. and the parterres of a
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-
stcr abbey! They come up, They come
up. All the hindrances to their better
nature husked off. All their spiritual
despondencies husked off. All their
To usefulness husked off.
The grain. the golden grain, the God
fashioned grain, visible and conspit nous.
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
perfeciions 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
Won how often they had To stand up for
you in some battles until You wished al
most that they had been slain i'll 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 he Every one he meets as happy as
he can be- Heaven one great neighbor-
hood reunion. All kings and queens. all
songsters, AL 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
with fire. Stand at the gate of
the granary and see the grain come in.
ont 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 the
wide open door of the Kings granary
like as a shock of corn cometh III in his
HEAVEN Is \ 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 ont the
citizen of :. smaller mansion. No clique
i'll one corner whispering about a clique
in another corner David taking none
of the airs of 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. Naan.dn. captain of the Syrian host,
no more hohored than the captive maid
who told him where he could get good
doctor. Or, my soul, what country!
The humblest man king. The poorest
woman a queen. The meanest house a
palace. The shortest lifetime eternity.
And what Is more strange about it all is
we may all get there. Not j" SAYS
some one standing back under the gal
leries. YES. you. Not L. says some
one who has not been in church in fif-
teen years before. Yes. you. Not l."
saws some ore who has been for fifty
years filling up his life with all kinds of
Yes, you. There are mo-
nopolies ON earth. monopolistic railroads
and monopolistic telegraph companies,
and monopolistic grain dealers, but no
in religion.
All who want to be saved may be
saved without money and without
price" Salvation by the Lord Jesus
Christ for all the people. OF course use
common sense in this matter. You can
not expect to get to Charleston by TAX
ing the ship for Portland, and You can
not get to heaven by going in an oppo-
site direction. Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and tiiou shalt be saved. Through
that one gate of pardon and peace all
the race may go in.
But" saws some one. do YOU really
think would be at home in that super
nal society if should reach it, think
you would. | know you would. re-
that in the husking time there
was great equality of feeling among
the neighbors. There ut one corn shock
y farmer would he at work vino owned
two hundred acres of ground. The man
whom he was talking with at the next
rorn shock owned but thirty acres of
ground, and perhaps all that covered 10y
u mortgage.
That evening. at the close of the huSk-
Ing day, one man drove home u roam
span so frisky. So full of life they got
their feet over the traces. The other
man walked home. Great difference in
education. great difference i'll worldly
means, but | noticed at the husking
time they all seemed To enjoy each
others society. They did not ask any
man how much property he owned or
what his education had been. They all
seemed to be happy together i'll those
good times. And So it viii be in heaven
Our Father will gather his children
around him. and the neighborS Will
come in. and the past will he rehear 'cd.
aud some one will tell of victory. aEd
we will all celebrate it, and some one
will tell Of great struggle, and we will
all praise the grace that fetched him ont
Of it. and some one will say: Here Is
my old father that | put away with
just look AT him. He Is rs
young as any of us!'
And some one will say: Here is my
darling child that | buried in Green
wood, and all the after years of my life
were shadowed with desolation. Just
look ut her. She doesn't seem as if she
had been sick minutcr' Great social
itv Great ncighborhood kipdneSs, tso