Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1889-07-25
A HOUSE ON THE HILLS.
SERMON DELIVERED EY DIR. tai
MAGE IN BROOKLYN.
House tho Favorite Biblical Simile for
Heaven-s.In My Fathers House Arc
Many Rooms"-The Doctors Idea Of What
the Home of the Blest Will He.


Subjecf-"Our House on the Hills.
Tert-"In MY Fathers house are many
rooms"
Here is a bottle of medicine that is a
eure-all The disciples were sad and
Christ offered Heaven as an alternative.
q stimulant, and tonic. He shows
them that their sorrows are only dark
background of bright picture of COM
ing felicity. He let's them know that
though now they live on the lowlands
they shall yet have house on the up
lands. Nearly all the Bible descrip-
tions of Heaven may be fgurative. /
am not positive that in all Heaven
there is literal crown or harp or pearly
gate or throne or chariot. They may be
only used to illustrate the glories of the
place, but how we'll they do it! The ia
vorite symbol by which the Bible pre-
sents celestial happiness is house.
Paul, who never owned house, al
though he hired one for two years in
Italy, speaks of Heaven as "a house not
text, the translation of which is little
meaning. says: In my Fathers house
are many rooms.
This divinely authorized comparison
of Heaven to a great homestead of large
accommodations propose to carry out.
In some healthy neighborhood a man
builds a very commodious habitation.
He must have room for all his children.
The rooms come to be called after the
different members of the family. That
is mothers room. That is Georges
room. That is Henrys room. That is
Flora's room. That is Mary's room.
And the house is all occupied. But
time goes by and the sons go out into
the world and build their own homes
and the daughters are married or have
talents enough singly to go out and do
good work in the world. After a
while the father and mother are almost
alone in the big house and, seated by
the evening stand, they say: We'll,
our family is no larger now than when
We started together forty years ago."
But time goes still further by and some
of the children are unfortunate and re-
turn to the old homestead to live, and
the grandchildren come with them, and
perhaps great grandchildren, and again
the house IS full. Many millenia ago
homestead for a family innumerable.yet
to be. At first He lived alone in that
great house, but after a while it was oc-
cupied by very large family, cherubic,
seraphic, angelic. The eternities passed
on and many of the inhabitants became
hayward and left never to return. And
many of the apartments were vacated. l
refer to the fallen angels. Now these
apartments are filling up again. There
are arrivals at the old homestead of
Gods children every day, and the day
will come when there will be no unoc-
cupied room in all the house.
As YOU and l expect to enter it and
make there eternal residence, L thought
you would like to get some more par
ticulars about that many roomed home
stead. In my Fathers house are many
rooms You see the place is to be APP
portioned of into apartments. We shall
love all who are in Heaven, but there
are some very good people whom We
would not want to live with in the same
room. They may be better than We are,
but they are of a divergent tempera-
nent. We would like tomeet with them
on the golden streets and worship with
them in the temple and walk with them
on the river banks, but l am glad to say
that We shall live in different apart
ments. In my Fathers house are many
large that if one want an entire room to
himself or herself, it can be afforded.
An ingenious statistician, taking the
statement made in Revelation, twenty
first chapter, that the Heavenly Jeru-
salem was measured and found to be
1000 furlongs and that the length and
height and breadth of it are equal, says
that would make Heaven in size 9lS
Bextillion 9SS quintillion cubic feet, and
then.reserving 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 trilliOn rooms,
each room seventeen feet long, sixteen
feet wide, fifteen high. But l have no
faith in the accuracy Oft calculation.
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 will have plenty of
room at the last. The fact is that most
people in this world are crowded, and
thongh out on a vast prairie or in a
mountain district people may have more
room than they want, in most cases it Is
house built close tc house, and the
streets are crowded and the cradle is
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 unhindred and un-
cramped room. And should not Won
der If instead of the room that the
statistician ciphered out as only seven
teen feet by sixteen, it should be larger
than any of the imperial rooms at Ber-
lin. St James, or Winter palace. In
my Fathers house are many rooms"
Carrying out still further the symbolism
of the text let us Join hands and 90 M
to this majestic homestead and see for
ourselves.
As We ascend the golden steps, an in
visible guardsman swings open the
front door and We are ushered to the
right into the reception room of the old
homestead. That is the place where we
first meet the welcome of Heaven.
There must be a place where the de-
parted spirit enters and place in which
it confronts the Inhabitants celestial.
The reception room of the newly ar
rived from this world-what scenes it
must have witnessed since the first
guest arrived, the victim of the first
fratricide, pious Abel. In that room
Christ lovingly greeted all the new
corners. He redeemed them and he has
suc iSAe " Tue uIbt embrace on tlelr
arrival. What q minute when the as
cended spirit first sees the Lord. Better !
than all we 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, Just for one !
second to see Him. The most rapturous /
idea We ever had of Him on sacramental |
days or at the height Of some great re-
vival or under the uplifted baton of an |
oratorio are a bankruptcy of thought
compared with the first flash of His APP
pearance in that reception room. At
that moment when you confront each |
other. Christ looking upon you and
.ou looking upon Christ, there will be !
/; n ecstatic thrill and surging of emotion |
that beggars all description. Look! !
hey need no introduction. Long ago |
Christ chose that repentant sinner and |
that repentant sinner chose Christ. |
Mightiest moment of an immortal his |
tory-the first kiss of Heaveni Jesus !
and the SOUL The soul and Jesus.