The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-17

reception room. At rlnat ONE when
you confront each other, Christ looking
upon you and you looking upon Christ,
there Will be an ecstatic thrill and
surging of emotion that beggar all de-
scription- o They need no intro
duction. Long g Christ chose that
~repentant sinner. and that ~repentant
sinner chose Christ. Mighttest moment
of an immortal history-the first kiss
Of heaven! Jesus and the SOUL The
soul and JesusI
THE GLORIFIED KINSFOLK.
But % into that reception room
pour the glorified kinsfolk, enough OF
earthly retention TO let you know them,
but without their wounds or their sick
nesses or their troubles see what
heaven has done for them-So radiant.
SO 'Gleeful, so transportingly lovely
They call you by name. They gre5t
you with an ardor proportfoned to h
angui5h of your parting and the
length of your separation. Father
Mother! There is your child. Sisters!
Brothers.! FriendsI I wish you JOY.
For years apart, together again IN the
reception room of the Old homestead.
You see, they viii know you are COM
ing. There are so many immortals
filling all the PAGES between here and
heaven that news like that flies like
lightning. They viii be there in an
instant. Though they were in some
other world on errand from God, a
signal would be thrown that would
fetch them. Though you might at first
feel daZed and Oyerawed at their Su-
peTnal splendor, all that feeding will
be gone at their first touch of heavenly
salutation, and we will say: ooh, my
lost friend, Are we here together"
What scenes in that reception room
Of the old homestead have e wit
messed! There me Joseph and Jacob,
finding it brighter room han any,
thing they saw in Pharaoh's palace;
David and the little child for whom he
C tasted and wept; Mary and Laz-
arus after the heartbreak of Bethany;
Timothy and grandmother Lois; Isa-
bella Graham and her sailor son; AL
fred. and George Goodman, the mystery
Of the sea at last made manifest; Lu-
Their and Magdalene, the daughter he
bemoaned; John Howard and the pris-
oners whom he gospeliZed, and multi-
tudes 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
tina reception room. "In my Fathers
house are many rooms"
THE THRONES OF HEAVEN.
another room in our Fathers house
is the throneroom. 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 a kings residence. Dur
ing the Franco-German war, one even
tide in the summer of 1870, 1 stood
studying the exquisite sculpturing OF
the gate of the Tuileries, Paris. Lost
in admiration of the wonderful art of
that gate, I knew not that 1 was excit-
ing suspicion. Lowering my eyes to
the crowds of people,, / found myself
being closely inspected by the govern
mental officials, who, from my COM
plexion, judged me to be a German
and THAT for some beligerent r
l might be examining the gates of the
palace. My explanation in very poor
French did not satisfy them, and they
olloWed me long distances until I
reached my hotel and were not satisfied
until from my landlord they found that
I was only an i~noffensive American.
The gates of earthly palaces are care
fully guarded, and, if so, how much
more the throneroom! A dazzling pal
ace is it for mirrors and all costly art.
No one who ever saw the ~throneroom
of the first and only Napoleon win ever
forget the letter N embroid cred in pur-
pile and gold ON the upholstery of chair
and wind oW, the letter n gilded ON the
wall, the letter n chased ON the chal-
ices, the letter n flaming from the
ceiling. What a conflagration of brill
lance the throneroom of Charles I'M
manuel of Sardinia, of Ferdinand Of
SPAIN, of Elizabeth of England, Of Bon
iface of Italy! But the ~throneroom of
our Fathers house hath a glory eclip-
sing all the t~hronerOOms that even saw
scepter wave or crown glitter or for
eign ambassador bow, for our Fathers
throne is a throne of holiness, a throne
of Justice, a trone Of universal domin-
ion. We need not stand shivering and
covering before it, for our Fathr says
we may yet one day come up and sit
on it beside hin Ito him that over
cometh win I grant to sit with me in
my throne You see we are princes
and princesses. Perhaps now we move
about incognito, as Peter the Great in
the garb Of a ship carpenter ait Am
sterdam or as Queen TirZah in the dress
of a easan woman seeking the pro-
phet for her chfld's cure; but it will
be found out after awhile who we are
when we get into the throneroom. Aye,
we need moi wait until then. We may
by prayer and song and spiritual uplift-
ing this moment enter the throne
room. o King, live forever! We touch
the scepter and prostrate ourselves at
thy feet.
The crowns Of the royal family of
n@~+~~~ C>~S<