Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-11-16

hASlhCS, VIA ~ NC, JUST 1oT ohC c0S~
ond to see him. The most rapturous
idea we ever had OF him on sacramen-
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 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 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 aud 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! 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
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, a 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 80 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 other
Bible writers talk SO much about the
music OF heaven that there must be
music there, perhaps not such az on
earth was thrummed from trembling
string or evoked by touch OF ivory
key, but II 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? / 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
sacred 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.. Rallies.
who wrote of High in yonder realms
of light" and Isaac Watts, who went
to visit Sir Thomas Abney and wife
for a week, but proved himself so
agreeable a guest that they made him
stay thirty-six years; and side by side
Augustus Toplady, who has got over
his dislikes for Methodists. and
Charles Wesley, freed from his dis
like for Calvinists; and George W..
Bethune, as sweet as a song maker as
he was great as a preacher and the
author OF The Village Hymns; and
many who wrote In verse or song. in
church or by eventide cradle; and
many who were passionately fond OF
music but could make none them
selves. 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 ca
dence and rhythm, symphony and
chant, psalm and antiphon!
Another room In our Fathers house
will be the family room. 1t may cor
respond somewhat with the family
room on earth. At morning and even
ing. 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 sorrows and experiences
of all styles are there rehearsed.