The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-04-10

than usually impressive. The opening
hymn was
"Who are these In bright array,
This innumerable throng,
Round the altar night and day,
Hymning one triumphant song%
After the usual Introductory services
Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
following discourse:
TExT-Revelation vii:9th and 10th
verses "After this, l beheld, and 10 O
great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindredsi
and peoples, and tongues, stood before
the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their
hands, and cried with loud voice." say
ing: Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb"
It impossible to come in contact with
anything grand or beautiful in art, ma
ture or religion, without being pro6tted
and elevated. We go into the art gallery
and our soul meets the soul of the paint
or. and we hear the hum of his forests
and the slash of his conflicts and see the
cloud blossoming of the sky and the
foam blossoming of the ocean and we
come out from the gallery better men
than we went in. We 60 into the con-
cert of music and are lifted into enchant-
ment; for days after, our soul seems to
rock with very tumult of joy, as the sea
after long stress of weather, rolls and
rocks, and surges great while before it
comes back to its ordinary calm. On
the same principle it is profitable to con.
template heaven, and look off upon that
landscape of light and joy which Saint
John depicts; the rivers of gladness,
the trees Of life, the thrones of power
the comminglings of everlasting love.
wish this morning that l could bring
heaven from the list of intangI Ibles, and
make it seem to you as it really is-the
great fact in all history, the depot of all
ages, the parlor of Gods universe.
This account in my text gives picture
of heaven as it is on holiday. Now, il
a man came to New York for the fret on
the day that Kossuth arrived from Hun
gary, and he saw the arches lifted, and
the flowers flung in the streets and heard
the guns booming, he would have been
very foolish to suppose that that was the
ordinary appearance of the city. While,
my friends, heaven is always grand and
beautiful, l think my text speaks of a
gala day in heaven. 1t is time of cele.
bration-perhaps of the birth of Jesus
perhaps the downfall of some despotism;
perhaps of the rushing in of the milen-
mum. l know not what; but it does
seem to me in reading this passage, as if
it were a holiday in heaven. AFTER
this beheld, and 10 great multitude,
which no man could number, of all ma
tions. and kindreds, and tongues and
peoples, stood before the throne and the
Lamb, clothed in white robes and palms
in their hands, and cried with loud
voice, saying, Salvation to our God
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb"
shall speak to you Of the glori6ed in
heaven-their number, their anteCedents
and their dress, their fong and symbols.
Bat how shall l begin by telling you Of
the numbers of those in heavenP l have
seen curious estimate by an ingenious
man, who Calulates how long the world
is going to last, and how many people
there are in each generation, and then
sums up the whole matter, and says he
thinks there will be twenty-seven triliion
souls in glory. | have no faith in his es.
innate. simply take the plain state
ment of the teYt-it is "a great multi
tude which no man can number" Ev.
cry few years in this country we take
census of the population, and it is very
easy to tell how many people there are
in city or in nation, bit who shall
the census Of the great nation to besa'
vedP 1t is quite easy to tell how many
people there are in different denOmina-
tiOns of Christians. How many MethO-
dists, Baptists, Presbyterians Ola the
denominations of Christians we could
make an estimate. Suppose they were
gathered in one great audience room,
how overwhelming the spectacle But
it would give no idea of the great audi
ence room of heaven-the multitudes
that bow down and lift up their hosan
mas. Why, they come from all the ca
thedrals. the chapel5, from all the ages;
they who prayed in splendid li'urgy,and
those who, in broken sentences, uttered
the wish of broken hearts; from Grace
church and Sailors Bethel; from under
shapeless rafters and from under high
sprung arch-"a great multitude that no
man can number" One of the mostim.
pressive things / have looked upon is an
army. Standing upon a hillside you see
forty or fifty thousand men pass along.
You can hardly imagine the impression
if you have not actually felt it. But you
may take all the armies the e8r,h has
ever seen, the legions under SensCherib,
and Cyrus, and Caesar, and Xerxes, and
all our modern forces and put them in
one great army, and then on some swift
steed you may ride along the line and
review the troops, and that accumulated
host from all ages seems like half
formed regiment compared with the
great army of the redeemed. l stood
one day at Williamsport and saw on
the opposite side of the Potomac the
forces coming down, regiment after reg
iment, and battalion after battalion. 1t
seemed as though there was no end to
the procession. But now let me take
the field glass Of ST. John and look off
upon the hosts of heaven thousands Of
thousands, ten thousand times ten thou
sand, and thousands of thousands, until
put down the glass and say, 81 can not
estimate it, a great multitude that no
man can number" You may tax your
imagination, and torture ingenuity, and
break down your powers of calculation,
in attempting TO express the mnltitudes
of the released from earth, and the en-
raptured of heaven; and talk CT hund
reds of hundreds; of thousands of thou.
sands; of millions of millions of millions;
l.. g .I~stI e