St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-12-09

but without their wounds or sicknesses
or their troubles-~see what Heaven has
done for them!-so radiant. so gleeful.
SO transportingly lovely! They call YOU
by name. They greet you with an ar
dor proportional TO the anguish Of your
parting and the length of your separa-
ton. Father! Mother! There is your
child. Sisters! Brothers! Friends! 1
wish you joy. Fer years apart, togeth-
err again in the reception room of the
old homestead. You see, they will know
you are coming There are so many
immortals filling, all the spaces between
here and HeaveS that news like that
flies like lightning. They will be there
in an instant. Though they were in
some other world on errand from God,
a signal would he thrown out that
would fetch thera. Though you might
at first feel dased and overawed at
their supernal splendor, all that feel
ing will be gone at their first touch
of Heavenly salutation, and we will say:
''Oh. my lost bos!" 'Oh, my lost COM
panion!" "Oh. nsy lost friend! Are we
here together?" What scenes in that
reception room Of the old homestead
have been witnessed! There met Jo-
seph and Jacob, finding it brighter
room than anything they saw in Pha-
raoh's palace; David and the little child
for whom he once tasted and wept;
Mary and Lazarus after the heart
break of Bethany: Timothy and grand
mother Lois; Isabella Graham and her
sailor son; Alfred and George Cook
man, the mystery of the sea at last
made manifest; Luther and Magdalene.
the daughter he bemoaned; John How
ard and the prisoners whom he gospel
lied, and multitudes without number
who, once SO weary and so sad. parted
on earth, but glcriously met in Heaven.
Among all the rooms of that house
there is no one that more enraptures
my soul than that reception room. "In
my Fathers house are many rooms"
Another room in our Fathers house
is the throneroem. We belong to the
royal family. The blood of King Jesus
flows in our veins, SO we have a right
to enter the throneroom. 1t is no easy
thing on earth to get through even the
outside door Of . king residence. Dur
ing the FrancoIierman war, one even
tide in the summer of 1870, l stood
studying the exquisite sculpturing Of
the gate of the Tuileries, Paris. Lost
in admiration Of the wonderful art of
that gate, knew not that was excit-
ing suspicion. Lowering my eyes to
the crowds of people, I found myself
being closely inspected by the govern
mental officials, who, from my COM
plexion, judged me to be q German, and
that for some belligerent purpose
might be examining the gates of the
palace. My explanation in very poor
French did not satisfy them. and they
followed me Icing distances until I
reached my hotel, and were not salts
fed until from my landlord they found
that I was only an inoffensive Amer
lean. The gates of earthly palaces are
carefully guarded, and, if SO. how much
more the throneroom! A dazzling pal
ace is il for mirrors and all costly art.
No one whoever saw the thrOneroOm
Of the first and only Napoleon will ever
forget the letter n embroidered in
purple and gold on the upholstery Of
chair and window, the letter n gilded
on the wall, the letter N chased on the
chalices, the letter n flaming from the
ceiling. What conflagration of bril-
lance the thranefoom of Charles I'm
manuel of Sardinia, of Ferdinand of
Spain, of ElisMbeth of England, of
Boniface OF Itaiy! But the throneroom
of our Father'e hppse hath a glory
eclipsing all tie thronerooms that ever
saw scepter wave sors crown glitter or
foreign ambassa1oEib bow, for our Fa-
theirs throne is y throne Of grace.
throne of mercy, 4 throne of holiness,
q throne Of Justice, 4 throne of univer-
sal dominion. We need not stand shiv-
erin6s ands cowelsnee before it. for our
Father says we may yet one day come
~ and st on j. beside him. ITO him
that oyercomeths will l grant to sit with
me kixsRy dhi3Ie." You see we are
princes sand princesses. Perhaps now
we move about incognito, as Peter the
Great in the garb OF a ship carpenter Mt
Amsterdam or as Queen Tirzah in the
dress of peasant woman seeking the
prophet for her child's cure; but it will
be found out after awhile who we are
when we get into the throneroom. Aye,
we need not wait till then. We may
by prayer and song and spiritual up
lifting this moment enter the throne
room. o King. live forever! We touch
the scepter and PROSTATE ourselves at
Thy feet.
The crowns Of the royal family of
this world are tossed about from gen.
Grafton to generation, and from family
to family. There are men comparative
" young in Reriin who have seen the
crown on three emperors. But wher-
ever the coronets of this world rise or
fall they are destined to meet in one
place. And look and see them coming
from north aud south and east and
west, the Spanish crown, the italian
crown, the English crown, the Turkish
crown, the Russian crown, the Persian
crown-aye, al the crowns from under
the great archivolt Of Heaven and
while I watch and wonder they are all
flung in rain of diamonds around the
pierced feet.
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run,
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore
TIL sun shall rise and set no more.
Oh, that throneroom Of Christ! I'm
my Fathers house are many rooms"
Another room in our Fathers house
is the music room. st. John and other
Bible writers talk so much about the
music of Heaven that there must be
music there, perhaps not SO much as
on earth was thrummed from trem-
bling string or evoked by touch of ivory
key, but if not that, then something
better. There are SO many Christian
harpists and Christian composers and
Christian organists and Christian Choir
listers and Christian hymnologists that
have gone up from earth, there must
be for them some place of especial de-
location. Shall we have music in this
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