The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-22


over. Great promise and no fulfllment.
All cobs and no corn. Nubbinsi
They are worth saving. I suppose
many Of them will get to heaven, but
they are not worthy to be mentioned in
the same day with those who vent
through great tribulation into the king
dom of our God. Who would not rather
have the pains of this life, the misfor-
tunes 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 pro-
nounced not worth X at all?
Nubbins! In other words, I want to
say to you people who have distress of
body and distress in business n dis
tress of all sorts the Lord has not any
grudge against you. It Is not deroga-
tory, it is complimentary. Whom the
Lord loveth he c~hasteneth," and it is
proof positive that there is something
value in you or the Lord would not
have husked you.
You remember also that in the time
of husking 1t was a neighboring re-
union. By the great fireplace in the
winter, the fires roaring around the
gloriied backlogs on an old fashioned
hearth, of which the modern stoves and
registers are only the degenerate de-
~scendents, 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 regions two and three
miles around. Good spirit reigned SUI
preme, and Their were great handshak-
ings, and there was carnival, n there
was the recital Of the brightest expert
ences in all their lives, and there was a
neighborhood reunion the memory Of
which makes all the nerves Of my body
tremble with emotion as the strings of
a harp when the fingers OF a player
have swept the chords.
The husking time was the time Of
neighborhood reunion, and sc heaven
will be just that. There they come up!
They slept in the old village church.
yard. There they come up! They re-
clined amid the fountains and the
sculpture and the parterres OF a city
cemetery. There they come up! They
Cape Hatteras. They come up from all
sides-from potter's field and out of
the solid masonry Of Westminster alb
hey. They come up! They come up!
All the hindrances to their better ma
ture husked OFF. All their physical all
ments husked off. ALI their spiritual
despondences husked Off. ALI their hin
ORANGES to usefulness husked off. The
grain, the golden grain, the God fash
toned 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 adian you hardly
know them. The fact is. all their i'm
Projections have been husked off. They
did not mean on earth to be disagreea-
bile. They meant well enough, but they
told you how sick you looked, and they
told you how many hard things they
had heard abut you, and they told you
had heard about you, n they told you
in some battles until you wished almost
that they had been slain in some Of the
battles. Good, pious, consecrated, we'll
meaning disagreeables.
HUsKED OFF.
Now in heaven all their offensive
ness has been husked off. Each n is
as happy as a be. Every me he
meets as happy as he can be. Heaven
one great n~eighborhood reunion. All
kings and queens, all songsters. all mil
lionaires, all b~anQueters. 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 chrysoprasus. into b sea Of
glass mingled with fire. Stand at the
gate Of the granary and see the grain
come in-Out OF the frOSts into the sun
shine, out Of the darkness into light,
out Of the tearing, and the ripping, and
the twisting, and ne wrenching, and
the decorating, and the husking time of
earth into the wide open door of the
Kings granary, like as a shock Of corn
cometh in in his season."
Yes, heaven a great SOciable, with
joy like the joy of the husking time.
No one there feeling so big he declines
to speak to some o who is not Sc
large. Archangel willing to listen to
smallest cherub. No boiling Of the door
of caste at n heavenly mansion to
keep OUT the citizen Of a smaller man
sion. No clique in one corner whisper
ing abo.t a clique in another corner
David tn,-ing none Of the airs of a giant
killer. Joshua making no one halt I'M
til he passes because he made the sun
and moon halt. Paul making no as
SYMPTOMS over the most ordinary
preacher of Righteousness. Naaman, cap
tain of the Syrian host, no more honor
ed h the captive maid who told him
where he could get a good doctor.
Oh, my soul, what a country. The
humbleSt man a king. The poorest
woman q queen. The meaneSt house
a palace. The shortest lifetime eterni-
ty. And what is more strange about it
all is we may all get there. Not l."
says some n standing back under the
galleries. Yes, you. mot J." says
some one who has been for fifty years
filling up his life with all kinds Of
~wickedneSs. Yes, you.
There are monOpolies on earth, mo-