Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-11-10
Music of Heaven.

music there. perhaps not such as on
earth was thrummed from trembling
string or evoked by touch OF ivory
key; but, II not that. then something
better. There are so many Christian
harpists and Christian composers and
Christian organists and Christian
choristers and Christian hymnologists
that have gone up from earth, there
must be for them some place Of espe-
| cial delectation. Shall we have music
| in this world Of discords and no music
| in the land OF complete harmony?
cannot give you the notes Of the first
bar Of the new song that Is sung In
heaven. cannot imagine either the
solo or the doxOlogy. But heaven
| means music. and can mean nothing
else. Occasionally that music has es-
capped the gate. DR.. Fuller. dying at
Beaufort, S. c., said: "Do you not
hearT "Hear what" exclaimed the
bystanders. "The musicl Lift me
upl Open the windowsY'
In that music room OF our Fathers
house you will some day meet the old
masters, Mozart and Handel and Men
delssohn and Beethoven and DOd-
bridge, whose sacred poetry was as re-
markable as his sacred prose. and
James Montgomery and William Cow
per, at last got rid of his spiritual mel
ancholy, and Bishop Heber, who sang
of "Greenland's icy mountains and In
dia's coral strand" and DR.. Raffles.
who wrote Of High In yonder realms
Of light" and Isaac Watts. who went
to visit Sir Thomas Abney and wife
for a week. but proved himself so
agreeable a guest that they made him
stay SO years, and side by side Au-
gustus Toplady. who has got over his
dislike for Methodists, and Charles
Wesley, freed from his dislike for Cal
vinists. and George w. Bethune, as
sweet as a songmaker as he was great
as n preacher and the author Of THE
Village Hymns" and many who wrote
in verse or song, in church or by
eventide cradle. and many who were
passlonately fond Of music, but could
make none themselves. the poorest
singer there more than any earthly
prima donna and the poorest players
there more than any earthly Gott-
schalk. Oh, that music room, the head
quarters of cadence and rhythm. SYM
phony and chant, psalm and antiphon!
May we be there some hour when
Haydn sits at the keys OF one of his
own oratorios. and David the psalmIst
fingers the harp, and Miriam Of the
Red sea banks claps the cyisbals. and
Gabriel puts his lips to the trumpet
and the four and twenty elders chant,
and Lind and Parepa render match
less duet In the music room OF the old
heavenly homestead! "In my Fa-
ther's house are many rooms"
joyful Reunions.
Another room In our Fathers house
will be the family room. 1t may CORE
spond somewhat with the family room
on earth. At morning and evening,
you know, that is the place we now
meet Though every member OF the
household have a separate room, In
the family room they all gather, and
joys and sOrrows and experiences OF
all STYLES are there rehearsed. Sa-
cred room In all our dwellings. wheth-
er II be luxurious with ottomans and
dlvans and books In Russian lids
standing In mahogany case or there
be only few plain chairs and era
die. So the family room on high will
be the place where the kinsfolk assem-
bic and talk over the family expert
ences OF earth, the weddings, the
births. the burials. the festal days OF
Christmas and Thanksgiving reunion.
VIII the children departed remain chill
dren there? VIII the aged remain
aged therel On. no! Everything ls
perfect there. The child will 90 ahead
to glorifed maturity. and the aged
will 20 back to glorifed maturity. The
rising sun OF the one will rise to meri-
dian. and the descending sun OF the
other will return to meridian. How
ever much we love our children on
earth. we would consider II domestic
disaster II they staid children, and so
we rejoice at their growth here. And
when we meet In the family room Of
our Fathers house we will be glad that
they have grandly and glorlously ma
tured, while our parents. who were
aged and inflrm here. we shall be glad
to find restored to the most agile and
vigorous Immortality there. II 40 or 45
or 30 years be the apex Of physical and
mental life on earth. then the heavenly
childhood will advance to that. and
the heavenly old age will retreat to
that When we join them in that fami-
ly room. we shall have much to tell
them. We shall want to know Of them,
right away. such things as these: Did
you see us In this or that or the other
struggle? Did you know when we
lost our property aud sympathlze with
us? Did you know we had that awful
slckness? Were you lowering any
where around us when we plunged
| into that memorable accidenti Did
you know of our backslidlng? Did
you know Of that moral victory? Were
you pleased when we started for
heaven? Did you celebrate the hour
Of our conversion? And then, wheth-
er they know 1t or not we Will tell
them all But they will have more to
| tell us than we to tell them.
Ten years on earth may be very
| eyentful, but what must be the biogra-
ply OF ten years In heaven? They Will
have TO tell us the story OF coronations,
story Of news from all immenslty. sto-
ry OF conquerors and hlerarchs, story
| Of wrecked or ransomed planets, sto-
ry Of angelic victory over dlabolic re-
volts. OF eItlnguished suns, OF obllt-
| Grated considerations, OF new galaxies
kindled and swung. OF stranded COM
cts, of worlds on fire. and story OF Je-
hoyah's majestic reign. II In that fam
|, lily room Of our Fathers house we have
80 much to tell them OF what we have
passed through since we parted. how
much more thrilling and arousing that
which they have to tell us OF what they
have passed through since we parted!
Surely that family room will be one
1 % In a