The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1899-11-10

baton of an o%ratorio is a bankruptcy o
thought compared with the first fast
of His appearance in that ~receptio.
room. At that moment wher you con,
front each other. Christ looking upol
you and you looking upon Christ, there
will be an ecstatic rhrii! and sureiue OF
emotion that bergar all description
Look! They need no introduction
Long ago Christ chose that ~repentant
sinner. and that repentant sinner chos,
Christ. Mightiest moment of an i'm,
mortal hi>tory-the first kiss of Heav,
en-, Jesus and the soul, The soul and
Jesus.
But now into that reception room
pour the gloritied kinsfoIk, enough OF
earthly retention to let You know them,
but without their wounds or sickneSscs
OF their troubles-see what Heaven has
done for them.-so radiant. so gleefuI
so transportingly lovely. They call you
by name. They greet You with an ar
dor proportional to the anguish of youI
parting and the length of your separa,
ton. Father. Mother! There is your
child. Sisters. Brothers! Friends.
wish you JOY. For years apart, togeth.
cr again in the reception room OF the
old homestead. You see. they will know
You are coming. There are so many
immortaIs 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 signal would be thrown out that
would fetch them. Thoughyou might
at first feel dazed and ovcrawed AT
their supernal %splendor, all that feel
ing will be gone at their first toucn
of Heavenly salutation, and we will say;
"Oh. my los, boy" 'Oh, my lost com,
panion!' "Oh. my lost friend! Are we
here together?" What scenes in that
reception room of the old homestead
lave been witnessed. There met 10
scph and Jacob, finding it a brighter
room than anything they saw in pha.
raoh's palace: David and the little child
for whom he once tasted and wep1.
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
iHrd. and multitudCs without number
who, once 50 weary and 30 sad. parted
or earth, but gIoriousiy met in Heaven.
Among all the rooms of that house
there is 10 one that more cnrapturcS
my soul than that reception Dom "ln
my Fathers house Hre many rooms
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 TIE th]roneroom. 1t is nc easy
thing on Garth TO get through even the
outside door of Il kings residence. Dur
ing the Franco-German war. one even
tide in the summer of 1870. ] stood
studying the exquisite sculpturing of
the gate Of the Tuileries, Paris. Lost
in admiration of the wonderful art OF
that gate. | knew not that | was exCit-
ing suspicion. Lowering my eyes 10
the crowds Of people. | found myself
being closely inspected by the govern
mental officials. who, from my COM
plGXion. judged mt to be a German. and
that for some b~clligerent purpose I
might be examining the gates of the
palace. My explanation in very poor
French did not satisfy them, and they
followed me long distances until !
reached my hotel. and were not salts
fed until from my landlord they found
that ! was only al inofrcnsive Amer
lean. The gates of earthly palaces are
carefully guarded, and. If so, how much
more the thrOneroom! 4 dazzling pal
ace is il for mirrors and al costly art.
The crowns of the royal family of
this world are tossed about from gen
GRAFTON to generation, and from family
to family. There are men comparative
~ Young in Berlin who have seen the
crown on three emperors. But wher-
ever the c0ronets of this world rise or
fall they are destined to meet in one
place. And | look and see them coming
from north and south and east and
west. the Spanish crown. the Italian
crown. the English crown, the Turkish
crown, the Russian crown. the Persian
crOwn--aye, all the crowns from under
the great archivol; of Heaven -- and
while ! watch and wonder they are all
flung in rain of diamonds around the
pierced feet.
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 so much as
on earth was thrummed from trem-
bling string or evoked by touch of ivory
key. but if not that, then something
better. There are so many Christian
harpisis and Christian composers and
Christian orgauists and Christian Choir
listers and Christian hymnoIogists that
have gone up from earth. there must
be for them some place of especial de-
lectation. Shai! we have music in this
world Of discords end 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.
| canno imagine either the solo or the
doXology. But Heaven means music.
and can mean nothing else. Occasional
~ that music has escaped the gate.
Or. Fuller, dying at Beaufort, S. c..
.aid: DO you not hear?' Hear
what?' exclaimed the bystanders. ''TYe
music. Lift me up! Open the win
dows."
In that music room Of our Fathers
lr...u. 49,. .-.1I - - I