Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1890-07-26
SHALL WE MEET AGAIN?
TALMACE ANSWERS THE OUES-
TON AFFIRMATIVELY.

The blDIe Gives many assurances 1hat
We viii Know Our Friends in Heaven
They Are Waiting for Us on the Other
Side.
The Rev. DIR. Talmage preached to an
enormous outdoor gathering at Waseca.
Mimi, on Sunday, July ID. His subject
was, Meeting Our Friends in Heaven The
eminent clergyman took for his text III.
Samuel xii. %: L shall go to him." His
sermon was as follows:
There is a very sick child in the abode of
David the King. Disease, which stalks up
the dark lane of the poor and puts its
smothering hand upon lip and nostril of the
wan and wasted, also mounts the palace
stairs, and bending over the pillow blows
into the face of a young prince the frosts of
pain and DEATH Tears are wine to the King
of Terrors. Alas for David the King! He
can neither sleep nor eat, and lies PROSTATE
on his face, weeping and wailing until the
palace rings with the cutlery of woe.
What are courtly attendants or victorious
armies or conquered provinces under such
circumstances? What to any parent is all
splendid surrounding when his child is sick?
Seven days have passed on. There in that
great house two eyelids are gently closed,
two little hands folded, two little feet quiet,
one heart still. The servants come to bear
the tidings to the King. but they cannot
make up their minds to tell him, and they
stand at the door whispering about the
matter, and David hears them and he looks
up and says to them: Is the child dead?"
Yes, he is dead" David rouses himself
up, washes himself, puts on new apparel,
and sits down to food. What power hushed
that tempest? What strength was it that
lifted up that King whom grief had de-
throned? Oh, it was the thought that he
would come again into the possession Of
that darling child. No grave digger's spade
could hide him. The wintry blasts of
death could not put out the bright light
There would be forge somewhere that,
with silver hammer, would weld the broken
links. In the city where the hoofs of the
pale horse never strike the pavement he
would clasp his lost treasure. He wipes
away the tears from his eyes, and he clears
the choking grief from his throat and eX-
claims: II Shall go to him."
Was David right or wrong? If we part
on earth will we meet again in the next
world? We'll, says some one, that seems
to be an imposibility. Heaven is so large
place we never could find our kindred
there" Going into some city, without hav
ing appointed time and place for meeting,
you might wander around for weeks and for
months and perhaps for years, and never
see each other; and Heaven is yaster than
all earthly cities together, and how are you
going to find your departed friend in that
country? 1t is so vast a realm. John went
up on one mountain of inspiration, and he
looked off upon the multitude and he said,
Thousands of thousands" Then he came
upon greater altitude of inspiration, and
looked off upon it again and he said, Ten
thousand times ten thousand" And then
he came on higher mount of inspiration,
and looked off again and he said, "A hun
dred and forty and four thousand and thou
sands of thousands" And he came on a
still greater height of inspiration, end He
looked off again and exclaimed, "A great
multitude that no man can number"
Now | ask, how are you going to find your
friends in such q throng as that? Is not
this idea we have been entertaining after
all a fasity? Is this doctrine of future re-
cognition Of friends in Heaven a guess, a
myth, a Whim, or is it q granite foundation
upon which the soul pierced of all ages may
build a glorious hope? Intense question.
Every heart in this audience throbs right
into it. There is in every soul here the tomb
of at least one dead. Tremendous question
1t makes the lip culver, and the cheek flush,
and the entire nature thrill. Shall we know
each other there? [ get letters almost every
month asking me to discuss this subject [
get letter in q bold, scholarly hand, on
gilt-edge paper, asking me to discuss this
question, and [ say, All that is a curious
man, and he wants a curious question
solved" But l get another letter. 1t is
written with a trembling hand, on what
seems to be d torn out leaf OF book. and
here and there is the mark of a tear, and L
say, "Oh, that is Il broken heart and it
wants to be cOmfOrted."
The object of this sermon is to take this
theory out of the region of SurmiSe and
taintv. People say: 1T would be very
pleasant if that doctrine were true. hope
it may be true, Perhaps it is true. | wish
it We're true" But L believe that l can
bring an accumulation ofarguments to bear
upon this matter which will prove the doe
trine of future recognition as plainly as
that there is any heaven at ALL and that the
kiss of reunion at the celestial gate will be
as certain as the dying kiss at the door OF
the sepulcher,
Now, when you are going to build ship
YOU must get the right kind of timber. You
lay the keel and make the framework of the
very best materials, the keelson Stanch-
ions, plank shear, counter timber knee,
transoms all Of solid oak. You may build q
ship Of lighter material, but when the cy
clone comes on it will GO, down. Now we
may have a great many beautiful theories
about the future world built out of our own
fancy, and they may do very well as long
as we have smooth sailing in the world;
but when the storms Of sorrow come upon
us and the hurricane of death we will be
swamped-we will be foundered. We want
theory built out of solid oak of Gods eter
nal Word. The doctrine of future recogni-
ton is not so often positively stated in the
Word of God as implied, and you know.
my friends, that that is, after all, the
strongest mode of affirmation. Your friend
travel in foreign lands. He comes home.
He does not begin by arguing with you that
there are such places as London and Stock
holm and Paris and Dresden and Berlin.
but his conversation implies it. And so
this Bible does not SO positively state this
theory as. all up and down, it's chapters
take it for granted.
What does my my text imply? l shall
go to him." What consolation would it be
to David to go to his child if he would not
know him? Would David have been al
lowed to record this anticipation for the
inspection of all ages if it were a groundless
anticipation? We read in the first book of