The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-07-31
OUR FATHERS HOUSE.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, D. D.
The Heavenly Mansion Lisened to tho
Old Home on the Hiil-A House of
q Many Rooms-How the Mortals
of Earth are Welcomed In
tho Celestial Palace.

Rev 7. Dewitt Talmage preachedrecently
at The Hamptons, n. Y, ON the subject:
tsOur House on the Hills" His text was
John xiv, 2: ''In my Fathers house are
many rooms" Following is the sermon:
Here is a bottle of medicine that is cure
all. The disciples We're sad and Christ
offered heaven as an Alternative, stimulant
and tonic. He shows them that their sor-
rows are only dark background of bright
picture Of coming felicity. He lets them
know that though they now live in the low
lands they shall yet have house on the up
lands. Nearly all the Bible descriptions of
Heaven may be tgurative. am not posi-
tive that in all Heaven there is a literal
crown, or harp, or pearly gate, or throne, or
chariot. They may be onlyused to illustrate
the glories Of the place, but how well they
do it! The favorite symbol by which the
Bible presents celestial happiness is house.
Paul. who never owned a house. although
he hired one for two years in Italy, speaks
of Heaven asa "house not made with hands,"
and Christ in our text, the translation Of
which is little changed so as to give the
more accurate meaning, says: s1n my
Fathers house are many rooms
This divinely authorized comparison Of
q
commodations propose to carry out. In
some healthy neighborhood a man builds
very commodious habitation. He must have
room for all his children. The rooms come
to be called after different members Of the
family. That is mothers room. That is
Georges room. That is Henry's room. That
is Flora's room. That is Mary's room. And
the house is all occupied. But time goes by,
and the sons 60 outinto the world and build
their own homes, and the daughters are mar
ried or have talents enough singly 70 20 out
and do good work in the world. After
while the father and mother are almost
alone in the big house, and, seated by the
evening stand. they say: ''Well, our
family Is no larger now than when we
started together forty years ago" But time
goes still further by and some Of the chill
dren are unfortunate and return to the old
homestead to live, and the grandchildren,
come with them, and perhaps great-grand-
children, and again the house Is full. Many
millennia ago God built on the hills Of
Heaven great homestead for family in
Vulnerable, yet to be. At first he lived
alone in that great house, but after while
1t was occupied by very large family,
cherubic, seraphic, angelic. The eternities
passed on and many of the inhabitants be-
came wayward and left, never to return.
And many of the apartments were vacated.
I refer to the fallen angels Now these
apartments are filing up again. There are
arrivals at the old homestead of Gods chill
dren every day, and the day will come when
there will be no unoccupied room in all the
house.
AS you and expect to enter it and make
o1 ,rht
like to get some more particulars about that
many roomed homestead ''In my Fathers
house are many rooms" You see the place
is to be apaazsasaS off into apartments.
We 1srg in Heaven, but
ths=e1srs sssssss ssss ss ga people xhs@/-so
would not want to live with in the same
room. They may be better than we are, but
they are Of divergent temperament. We
would like to meet with them on the golden
streets and worship with them in the tenn
pie and walk with them on the river banks,
but am glad to say that we shall live in
different apartments. "1n my Fathers
house are many rooms" You see Heaven
viii be so large that il one wants an entire
room to himself or herself, 1t can be al
forded An ingenious statistician, taking
the statement made in Revelation, twenty
first chapter, that the heavenly Jerusalem
was measured and found to be twelve thou
sands furlongs and that the length and
height and breadth of it are equal, says that
would make Heaven in size 9tS seXtilllon,
eSS ouintillion cubic feet, and then reserv-
ing a certain portion for the court Of Heaven
and the Streets and estimating that the
world may last hundred thousand years,
he ciphers out that there are over five tril
lion rooms, each room seventeen feet long,
sixteen feet wide, fifteen feet high. But
have no faith in the accuracy OF that calcu-
lation He makes the rooms too small. From
all can read the rooms will be palatial, and
those who have not had enough room in
this world, vii nave plenty of room at the
last The fact is that most people in this
world are crowded, and though out on
vast prairie or in mountain district people
may have more room than they want, in most
cases it is house built close to house, and
the streets are crowded and the cradles
crowded by other cradles, and the graves
crowded in the cemetery by other graves,
and one Of the richest luxuries Of many
people IN getting out of this world will be
the gaining Of unhindered and uncramped
room And / should not wonder II instead
of the room that the statistician ciphersd
out as only seventeen feet by sixteen, it
should be larger than any Of the imperial
rooms at Berlin. St. James, or Winter Pal
ace. sIn my Fathers house there are many
rooms'' Carrying out still further the sym
bolism of the text let US join hands and go
up to this majestic homestead and see for
ourselves.
AS we ascend the golden steps, an invisi-
bic guardsman swings open the front ooor
and we are ushered to the right into the re-
ception room Of the old homestead. That IS
the place where we first meet the welcome
of Heaven. There must be place where the
departed spirit enters and place III which
it confronts the inhabitants celestial. The
reception room of the newly arrived from
this world-what scenes it must have wit
messed since the first guest arrived, the vic
tim of the first fratricide, pious Abel In
that room Christ lovingly greeted all new
comers. He redeemed them and He has the
right to the first embrace ON their arrival
What minute when the ascended spirit
first sees the Lord Better than alive ever
read about Him, or talked about Him, or
sang about Him in all the churches and
through all our earthly lifetime, will it be,
lust for one second to see Him. The most
rapturous ideas we ever had Of Him on sac
ramental days or at the height OF some great
revival, or under the uplifted baton Of an
oratorio are bankruptcy Of thought COM
Dared with tne nrst 1iasn OF HIS appearance
In that reception room. AT that momenI
when you confront each other, Christ look
ing 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
900 Christ chose that repentant sinner and
,tba+ renentart sinner chose Christ Might
best moment of an immortal history-the
,srst kiss of Heaven! Jesus and the soul.
The soul and Jesus.
But now into that reception room pour
the rloriSed kiusfolk Enough Of earthly
retention to let you know them, but with
ont their wounds or THEN. sickness or their
troubles. So. what Heaven has done for
them. SO radiant, so glecn1l, so transports