The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-24
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DlVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Our House OH the Hills"
preached at the Hamptons,
Long Island.)

Here is bottle of medicine that is a cure
all. The disciples were sad and Christ Of
fered heaven as an alternative, stimulant
and a tonic. He shows them that their sor-
rows are only dark background of bright
picture of COMING, felicity. He let! lets
on the lowlands they shall yet have q
house on tho uplands. Nearly all the Bible
descriptions of heaven may be fgurative.
T am not positive that in all heaven there is
O literal crown or harp or pearly cato or
throne or chariot They may be only used
to illustrate the glories OF the place, but how
we'll they DO it! The favorite symbol by
which the Bible presents celestial happiness
is house. Paul. who never owned house,
although be hired one for two years in Italy,
speaks of heaven as a ''house not made with
hands" and Christ in our text, the transla-
ton Of which is q little changed so as to give
tho more accurate meaning, says: lin my
Fathers house arc many rooEs."
This divinely authorized comparison of
heaven to great homestead of large accom-
modations l propose to carry out In some
healthy neighborhood man builds q
very commodious habitation. He must
have room for all his children. The
rooms como to be called after the
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 tho house
is all occupied. But time goes by and the
sons 20 out into tho world and build
their own homes and daughters are married
or have talents enough Siugly To 80 out and
do good work in The world. Aftor whilo
the father and mother arc almost alone in
the big house anu, seated by tho evening
stand, they say: "Well, our family is no
larger now than wi,cn VIC started together
e. Il,,I -ff,n ~ tl,oy,
by and some Of tho children arr unfortunate
and return 10 the I'D homestead to live,
and the grandchildren come with them, and
perhaps great-grandchdren and again
the house is full. Muay millennia ago
God built on the hills of heav-
en- a great homestead FOR family innumer-
able, yet to be. At first He lived alone in
that great house, but after Il while it was
occupied by a very large family, cherubic,
seraphic, angelic. The eterni.ins passed on
and many OF tho inhabitants became way
ward and left never to rcturn. Aud nsny
If the apartments were vacated. refer to
the fallen angels Now khesc apartments
are filling up again. 'Shere are arrival. at
the old homestead Of Gods children every
day, and tx say will come when there will
be no unoccupied room in all tho house.
As you and expect to enter it and make
there eternal residence, thought you would
Like to get some moro particulars about that
many-roomed homestead. I'm my Fathers
is to be apportioned off 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 q divergent temperament. We would
like to meet with them on the golden
streets and worship with them in
the temple and walk with them on the river
banks, but I am glad to say that we shall
live in different apartments "In my Fathers
house are many rooms" You see heaven will
be so large that if one want an entire room to
himself or herself, it can be afforded. An in
genious statistician taking tho statement
made in Revelation, twenty-frst chapter, that
the heavenly Jerusalem was measured and
found to be twelve thousand furlongs and
that the length and height and breadth
of it are equal says that would mako
heaven in size 94S se1tillion 9SS
quintillion cubic feet, and then reserving q
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 feet high. But have no faith
in the accuracy of that calculation. He makes
the rooms two 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 though out on a vast prairie or In @
mountain district people may have more room
than they want in most cases it's house built
close to house. and the streets arc 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 unhindered and uncramped room.
And I should not wonder if instead of the
room that the statistician ciphered out as
only seventeen 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 go up to this majestic
homestead and see for ourselves.
As we ascend the golden steps, an invisible
guardsman swings open the front door and
we are ushered to the right into the recep-
tion 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 q place in which it
confronts the inhabitants celestial. The A.
ceptlon room OF the newly arrived 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 new COM
ers. He redeemed them and He has the
right to the first embrace on their arrival.
What minute when the assembled 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
on fO
idea we ever had Of Him on sacramcntal
days or at the height of some great revival
or under the uplifted baton Of an oratorio
are bankruptcy Of thought compared with
the first flash Of His appearance in that
reception room. At that moment when you
confront 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. Mlghtiest moment of an i'm
mortal history-the first kiss Of heaven!
Jesus and the soul. The soul and Jesus.
But NOW into that reception room pour
the gloriied kinsfolk. Enough Of
earthly retention to let you lnow them,
but without their wounds or their sick
nesses 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 proportioned to the anguish Of
your parting and the length of your separa-
ton. Father! Mother! There is your child.
,istersl Brothers! Friends I wish you joy.
For years apart, together again in the rccep-
ton room Of the old homestead. You see
they will know you are coming. There are
so many immortals filling oil the spaces be-
tween here and heaven that news like that flies
like lightning They will he there in an in
slant; though they were in some other world
on errand from God signal would be
thrown that would fetch them. Though you
might at first feel dazed and ovcrawed at
their slIpernal splendor all that feeling