The Monitor-register., 1897-03-12

pher, but at our Fathers table sit all
the returned prodigals, more than con-
querors. The table is so wide its leaves
reach across seas and lands. Its guests
are the redeemed of earth and the glori-
fed of heaven. The ring of Gods for
giyeness on every hand. The robe of a
Saviour's righteousness adroop from ev-
ery shoulder. The wine that glows in
the cups is from the bowls of 10, 900
sacraments. Let all the redeemed of
earth and all the glorified of heaven rise
and with cleaning chalices drink to the
return of a thousand prodigals. Sing,
sing, sing! Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive blessing and riches
and honor and glory and power, world
without end" That scene of jubilence
comes out before me this moment as in
a sort of picture gallery. All heaven in
pictures.
Heroes and Heroines.
Look Look! There is Christ. Cuvp
painted him for earthly galleries, and
Correggio and Tintoretto and BENJAMIN
West and Dore painted him for earthly
galleries, but all those pictures are
eclipsed by this masterpiece of heaven.
Christ! Christ! There is Paul, the hero
of the Sanhedrim, and of Agrippa's
courtroom, and of Mars hill, and of
Nero's infamy, shaking his chained fist
IN the very face of teeth chattering row
atty. Here is Joshua, the fighter of
Bethoron and Gideon, the man that
postponed shutdown. And here is Vashti.
the protiigacy OF the Persian court un-
able to remove her veil of modesty or
rem it or lift it. And along the CORR
doris of this picture gallery 1 find other
great heroes and heroines-David with
his harp, and Miriam with the cymbals.
and Zechariah with the scroll, and st.
John with the seven walls, and the res
direction angel with the trumpet. On
farther in the corridors see the faces of
our loved ones, the cough gone from the
throat, the wanness gone from the cheek.
h WEAKNESS gone from the limbs, the
languor gone from the eye. Let us go ND
and greet them. Let us go up and en-
brace them. Let q; and live with
them. We will! MAN.!..!
From this hilltop I catch a glimpse Of
those hilltops where all sorrow and
signing shall be done away. Oh, that
God would make that world to us a
reality! Faith in that world helped old
Dr. Tying when he stood by the casket of
his dead son, whose arm had been torn
off in the thrashing machine, death en-
suing, and DIR. Tying, with infinite com
nnc17r 70 nroaohaA tho funoro1 or,,o0n 0f
his own beloved son. Faith in that
world helped Martin Luther without
n tear to put away in death his favor
lite child. Faith in that world helped
the dying woman to see on the sky the
letter ''W," and they asked her what
she supposed that letter"W" on the sky
meant. ''Oh," she said, ''don't you
know? w stands for Welcome" Oh,
heaven, swing open thy gates! Oh, heav-
en-, roll upon us some of the sunshine
anthems! Oh, heaven, flash upon us the
vision of thy lusterl An old writer tells
US of a ship coming from India to
France. The crew was made up of
French sailors who had been long from
home, and as the ship came along the
coast of France the men skipped the
deck with glee, and they pointed to the
spires of the CHURCHES where they onca
worshiped and to the hills where they
had played in boyhood. But when the
ship came into port, and these sailors
saw father and mother and wife and
loved ones on the wharf, they sprang
ashore and rushed up the banks into the
city, and the captain had to get another
crew to bring the ship to her m%oorings.
So heaven will after awhile come SO
fully in sight, we can see its towers, its
mansions, its hills, and as we go into
port and our loved ones shall call from
that shining shore and speak our names
we will spring to the beach, leaving this
old ship of a world to be managed by
another crew, our rough voyaging of the
seas ended forever.