The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1899-11-16

enters anu place IN WHICH IL COo>
fronts the inhabitants celestial. The
reception room of the newly arrived
from this world-what scenes 1t must
have witnessed since the first guest
arrived. the victim Of the first fratri-
eide, pious Abel! In that room Christ
lovingly greets all newcomers. He
redeemed them, and he has the right
to the first embrace on arrival. What
a minute when the assembled spirit first
sees the Lord! Better than all We
ever read about him. or talked about
him. or sang about him in all the
churches and. through all our earthly
lifetimes, will it be. just for one Sec
ond to see him. The most rapturOus
idea we ever had Of him On saccamen-
tai days or at the height Of some great
revival. or under the uplifted baton OF
an oratorio are a bankruptcy OF
thought compared with the first fash
Of his appearance in that reception
room. At that moment when you con-
front each other, Christ looking upon
you. and you looking upon Christ. there
will be an ecstatic thrill and surging
Of emotion that beggars all description.
Look! They need no Introduction.
Long ago Christ chose that repentant
sinner, and that repentant sinner chose
Christ. Mightiest moment Of an i'm
mortal history-the first kiss Of heav-
en-! Jesus and the soul. The soul and
Jesus.
But now into that reception room
pour the glorified kinsfolk Enough
Of earthly retention to let you know
them, but without their wounds or
their sickness 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 ardor proportional
to the anguish Of your parting and the
length Of your separation. Father!
Mother! That is your child. Sisters!
Brothers! Friends! 1 wish you JOY.
For years apart, together again in the
reception room Of the old Homestead.
You see, they will know you are COM
ing. There are so many immortals
heaven 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, q sig
nal would be thrown that would fetch
them. Though you might at first feel
dazed and overawed at their supernal
splendor, all that feeling will be gone
at their first touch of heavenly saluta-
ton, and We will say, "Oh, my lost
boy!" "Oh. my lost compartment" "Oh.
my lost friend, are we here together?"
What scenes in that reception room Of
the old homestead have been wit
messed! There met Joseph and Jacob.
finding it brighter room than any
thing they saw in Pharaoh's palace;
David and the little child for whom he
once tasted and wept; Mary and La
zarus after the heartbreak Of Bethany:
Timothy and grandmother Lois; Isa-
bella Graham and her sailor son; AL
fred and George Goodman. the mys-
terry Of the sea at last made manifest:
Luther and Magdalene, the daughter
he bemOaned; John Howard and the
prisoners whom he gospelized; and
multitudes without number who, once
so weary and so sad, parted on earth
but glOriOusly 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 music room. st. John and other
Bible-writers talk so much about the
music Of heaven that there must be
music there, perhaps not such as on
earth was thrummed from trembling
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
choristers and Christian hymnologists
that have gone up from earth, there
must be for them some place Of eS-
pecial delectation. Shall We have
music in this world of discords. and no
music in the land of complete har-
mOny? l 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 escaped the gate. DR.. Fuller, dy-
ing at Beaufort, S. c., said: do you
not hear?" Hear what?" exclaimed
the bystanders. THE music. Lift me
up! Open the windows?" In that
music room of our Fathers house, you
will some day meet the old masters, |
Mozart and Handel and Mendelssohn |
and Beethoven and Doddridge, whose |
poetry was as remarkable as
his sacred prose; and James Mont |
gomery. and William Cowper. at last |
got rid of his spiritual melancholy; |
and Bishop Heber. who sang OF |
'Greenland's icy mountains and In |
dia's coral strand" and DR.. Rafles, |
who wrote of High in yonder realms |
Of light" and Isaac Watts. who went |
to visit Sir Thomas Abney and wife |
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