The Yale expositor., 1897-02-12

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travelled. No world had ever hailed
heaven, and heaven had never hailed
any other world. think that the win
dows and the balconies are thronged,
and that the pearly beach was crowded
with those who had come to see him
sail out of the harbor of light into the
oceans beyond. Out and out and out, and
on and on and on, and down and down
and down he sped until one night,
with only one to greet him, he arrived.
His Decentralization so unpretending,
SO quiet that it was not known on
earth until the excitement in the cloud
gave intimation that something grand
and glorious had happened. Who comes
there? From what port did He sail?
Why was this the place of His destina-
ton? | question the shepherds.
question the camel drivers, / question
the angels. l have found out. He was
an exile. But the world has had plenty
of exiles. Abraham, an exile from Ur
of the Chaldees; John, an exile from
Ephesus; Kosciusko an exile from
! Poland Mazzini, an exile from Rome;
Emmett, an exile from Ireland; Victor
! Hugo, an exile from France; Kossuth,
an exile from Hungary. But this one
of whom l speak today had such re-
sounding farewell and came into such
| chilling receptlon-for not even an
hostler went out with his lantern to
help him in-that He is more to be cele-
brated than any other eXpatriated one
of earth or heaven.
At our best estate we are only pill
| grims and strangers here. Heaven is
our home" Death will never knock
at the door of that mansion, and In all
that country there is not single grave.
! How glad parents are in holiday time
to gather their children home again!
But | have noticed that almost always
there is a son or daughter absent-ab-
sent from home, perhaps absent from
the country perhaps absent from the
world. Oh, how glad our heavenly Fa-
Their will be when He gets all His chill
dren home with Him in heaven! And
how delightful 1t will be for brothers
and sisters to meet after long separa-
ton! Once they parted at the door OF
the tomb; now they meet at the door
of immortality. Once they saw only
Through glass, darkly; now it is
face to face" corruption, incorrup-
ton; mortality, Immortality. Where
are now all their sins and SORROWS and
troubles? Overwhelmed in the Red Sea
of death while they passed through
dryshod.
Gates of pearl, capstones of anne
thyst, thror.s of dominion do not stir
my soul so much as the thought of
home. Once there, let earthly sorrows
howl like storms and roll like seas.
Home! Let thrones rot and empires
wither. Home, Let the world die in
an earthquake struggle and be buried
amid procession of planets and dirge OF
spheres. Home! Let everlasting ages
roll in irresistible sweep. Home! No
sorrow, no crying. No tears No
death. But home, sweet home; home,
beautiful home, everlasting home, home
with each other, home with angels,
home with God.
One night. lying on my lounge, when
very tired, my children all around
about me in full romp and hilarity and
laughter-on the lounge. half awake
and half asleep, dreamed this dream;
was in a far country. 1t was not
Persia, although more than Oriental
luxuriance crowned the cities. 1t was
not the tropics. although more than
tropical fruitfulness filled the gardens.
1t was not Italy, although more than
Italian softness filled the air. And
wandered around looking for thorns
and nettles, but | found that none of
them grew there, and L saw the sun
rise. and | watched TO see 1t set,
but il sank not And / saw the
people in holiday attire, and ! said:
when will they put off this and put
on workmen's garb and again delve in
the mine or swelter at the forge?" But
they never put off their holiday attire.
And l wandered in the suburbs of the
city to find the place where the dead
sleep. and | looked all along the line
of the beautiful hills. the place where
the dead might most blissfully sleep,
and | saw towers and castles, but not
a mausoleum or a monument or white
slab could / see And | went into the
chapel of tie great town and | said:
Where do the poor worship and where
are the hard benches on which they
sit?" And the answer was made me-:
1--WE have no poor in this country.
And then | wandered out to find the
novels of the destitute, and | found
mansions of amber and ivory and gold,
but not tear could | see, not sigh
could hear, and l was bewildered and
sat down under the branches OF a
great tree and / said Where am /?
And whence comes all this scene?'
And then out from among the leaves.
and up the fiowery paths, and across
the bright streams there came beau
tiful group, thronging all about me,
and as / saw them come l thought
knew their step, and as they shouted
! thought knew their voices; but then
they were so gloriously arrayed in APP
parel, such as had never before wit
messed that | bowed as stranger to