Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-12-15
qeovor There mnst he n nloce

since the first guest arrived, the vic
tim of the first fraticide, pious Abel!
In that room Christ lovingly greets all
newcomers. lie redeemed tne0, and
lie has the right to the first embrace on
arrival. What minute when the
assembled spirit first sees the Lord! Bet
ter than all we ever read about Him or
talked about Him or sang about HINT
all the churches and through all our
earthly lifetime will it be, just for one
second, to see Him. The most raptur-
Gus idea we ever had of Him on sacra-
mental days or at the height of some
great revival or under the uplifted
baton of an oratorio is bankruptcy of
thought compared with the first flash
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 beggar all description.
Look! They need no introduction.
Long ago Christ chose that repentant
sinner, and that repentont 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 glorifed kinsfolk, enough of
earthly retention to let you know them,
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! Friendsl l
wish you joy. For years apart, togeth-
er 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 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,
signal would be thrown out that
would fetch them. Though you might
at first feel dazed and overawed at
their supernal splendor, all that feel
ing will be gone at their first touch
of Heavenly salutation, and we will say:
ooh, my lost boy!" "Oh, my lost COM
panion!" "Oh my 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
lLNit anu NlNuOuI
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. I'm
my Fathers house are many rooms"
Another room in our Fathers house
is the music room. st. John and ether
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 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
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. Occasional
ly that music has escaped the gate
DR.. Fuller, dying at Beaufort, S. G.,
said: "Do you not hear?" Hear
what?" exclaimed the bystanders. 1.-THE
music! Lift me up Open the win
dows!"
In that music room of our Fathers
shouse you will some day meet the old
masters. Mozart and Handel and Men.
delssohn and Beethoven and Doddridge
whose sacred poetry was as remark
able as his sacred prose, and James
Montgomery, and William Cowper, at
last got rid of his spiritual melancholy
and Bishop Heber, who sang of Green
lands icy mountains and midas cora
strand" and Dr. Raffles, who wrote oil
High in yonder realms of light" ant
Isaac Watts, who went 10 visit Sir
Thomas Abney and wife for week, but
proved himself so agreeable CUES
that they made him stay SO years, ant
side by side Augustus Toplady, who hai
got over his dislike for Methodists, ant
Charles Wesley, freed from his dislilt,
for Calvinists, and George W. Bethune
as sweet as song-maker as he wal
great as preacher and the author o
"The Village Hymns" and many WHIT
wrote in verse or song, in church or b,
eventide cradle, and many who were
passionately fond of music, but coulc
make none themselves, the poores
singer there more than any earthl,
} prima donna and the poorest player
there more than any earthly Gottschalk
) Oh, that music room, the headquarter
Of cadence and hythm, symphony ant
chant, psalm ard antiphon! May W
be there some hour when Haydn sit
at the keys Of one of his own oratorios
and David the psalms. fingers the harp