The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-12-14
BENTON. LOUISIANA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER IA. 1899.

pIoSeu nlmSeu so agfeedD1e a guest
that they made him stay 36 years, and
side by side Augustus Toplady, who has
got over his dislike for Methodists, and
Charles Wesley, freed from his dislike
for Calvinists, and George w. Bethune,
as sweet as a song-maker as he was
great as preacher and the author OF
The Village Hymns" andsmany who
wrote in verse or song, in church or by
eventide cradle, and many who were
passionately 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 Gottschalk.
Oh, that music room, the headquarters
of cadence and hythm, symphony 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 cymbals, and Gabriel puts his lips
to the trumpet and the four and twenty
elders chant, and Lind and Parepa rem
der matchless duet in the music room
of the old heavenly homestead! "In
my Fathers house are many rooms"
Another room in our Fathers house
will be the family room. It may corre-
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 separate room, in the family
room they all gather, and joys and sor-
rows and experiences of all styles are
there rehearsed. Sacred room in all
our dwellings, whether it be luxurious
with ottomans and divans and books in
Russian lids standing in mahogany case
or there be only few plain chairs and
a cradle. So the family room on high
will be .he place where the kinsfolk
assemble and talk over the family ex-
periences of earth, the weddings, the
births, the burials, the festal days Of
Christmas and Thanksgiving reunion.
Will the children departed remain chill
dren there? Will the aged remain aged
there? Oh. no! Everything is perfect
there. The child will go ahead to
glorifed maturity, and the aged will
go back to glorificd maturity. The ris-
ing sun of the one will rise to meridian,
and the descending sun of the other will
return to meridian. However much we
love our children on earth, we would
consider it domestic disaster If they
growth here. And when we meet in
the family room of our Fathers house
we will be glad that they have grandly
and gloriously matured, while our par-
ents, who were aged and inffrm here, we
shall be glad to find restored to the
most agile and vigorous Immortality
there. If 10 or As or so 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 family 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 and sympa-
thize with us? Did you know we had
that awful sickness? Were you hover
ing anywhere around us when we
plunged into. that memorable accident?
/ Did you know of our backsliding? 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, whether
they know it or not, we will tell them
all. But they will have more to tell US
than we to tell them.
Ten wears on earth may be very event.
full. but what must be the biography OF
ten years in Heaven? They will have to
tell us the story of coronations, story
| of news from all immensity, story Of
conquerors and hierarchs, story OF
wrecked or ransomed planets, story Of
angelic victory over diabolic revolts, OF
lextinguished suns, of obliterated con
stellations, of new galaxies kindled and
swung, of stranded comets, of worlds
on fire and story of Jehovah's majestic
reign. If in that family room of oul
Fathers house we have SO much to tel
them of what we have passed through
i since we parted, how much more thrill
ing and arousing that which they hav'
to tell us of what they have passet
through since we parted! Surely tina
family room will be one of the most ia
yored rooms in all our Fathers house
What long lingering there. for we shal
i never again be in hurry! Let m
Iopen a window" said a humble Chris
titan servant to Lady Rafaes, who, be
cause Of the death Of her child, had shu
herself up in dark room and refused
ia see anyone "You have been man,
ldays in this dark room. Are you no
ashamed to grieve in this manner, whel
YOU ought to be thanking God for ha,
ing given you the most beautiful chill
that ever was seen, and, instead Of leay
ling him in this world till he should b
worn with trouble, has not God take
4 him to Heaven in all his beauty? Leay
ON weeping and let me open win
dow" So to-day ] am trying to ope
upon the darkness of earthly separs
/ finn the windows and doors and room