The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-07-19
FRIENDS IN HEAVEN.
Dr. Talmage Says We Shall
Know Our Friends in
Heaven.
He Preached 3 Sermon at
Waseca, Mimi, toa Large
Audience.

8UEcdcHcO G1 Ill 6nOFIuOuS but-uO0 Wy 80
to-day. His subject was: Meeting our
friends IN heaven The eminent clergyman
took for his text III. Samuel xii, 23. u shall
60 to him" His sermon was as follows;
There is q very sick child in ths abode OF
David, the king. Disease, which stalks up
the dark lane. ofthe poor and puts it's smoth-
ering hand on the lip and nostril of the wan
and wasted, also mounts the palace stairs.
and bending over the pillow blows into the.
fnce Of a young prince the frosta Of pnin and
death. Tears are wine to the King { Ter
rors. AIasl for David the king. He can
neither sleep nor cat. and lies prostrate on
his face, weeping and wailing until the pal-
ace rings with the cutlery of woe.
What are courtlv attendants or victorious
armies, or conquered provinces under such
circumstances? Whatto any parentis all
splendid surroundings when his child is sick?
Seven days have passed on. Then 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 stand at the
door whispering about the matter. and
David hears them and he looks up and says
to them. els the child dead?" eyes, 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 dethroned? 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 blast Of death could not put out tho
bright light. There would be q forge some.
-ln-n A1.A -sAI r1-N- ~ - xS~0 So r~rp1A ~ vro1I
the broken links. In q city whore the hoo's
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. 81 shall go to him"
Wa David right or wrong? If We part on
earth will we meet again in the. next world?
"Well," says some one, chat seems to be nm
impossibility. Heavier is SO large q place We
never could find orr kindred there" Going
to some city, without having appointed
q time and place for meeting, o might
wander around for weeks and for months,
and never see each other: and heaven isvast-
ar than oil earthly cities together, and how
are you going to find your departed friend
in that country? 1t is SD vast a realm. John
went up on one mountain Transportation, and
be looked o~ffup0nthe multitude, and he said,
Thousands of thousands" Then he came
up to a greater altitude OF inspiration and
looked off upon it again and he said. "Ten
thousand times ten thousand And then he
came on a higher noun o. inspiration, mi
looked off again and he said, "a hundred
and forty and four thousands and thousands
of thousands" And he came to q still great
er height o inspiration, n he lOoked off
again, and exclaimed, "a great multitude
and 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
HI vn. hmm n ontor a in IN a oftorE aH n fn1ae.
ty? is this doctrine of future? Recogni-5
ton of friends in heaven y guess, q
myth, q within, or is it a granite founda-
tion upon which the soul pierced of all ages
may build n glorious hope? Intense ques-
toni Every heart in this audience throbs
right into it,. There is in every soul here tho
tomb of at least one dead.
Tremendous question! 1t makes the lip
culver, and the checks flush, and the entire
nature thrill: Shall we know each other
there? / get letters almost every month ask.
ing me to discuss this subject. get q let
ter in q bold scholarly hand, on gilt-edged
paper. asking me to discuss this question.
and l say, "Ahl that is a curious man, and
he wants a curious question solved. But |
get, another letter. 1t is written with q
trembling hand, and on what seems to be a
torn-out leaf ofa book, and here and there
is the mark Of q tear; anil / say, oh. that 10
a broken heart and it wants to be com:
forted."
The object ofthis sermon is to take this
theory out of the region Of surmise and
speculation into the region of positive GER
tninty. People say, sit would be very pleas
ant if thatdoctrine were true. Hope il may
be true. Perhaps it ia true. / wish it were
true" But | believe that / can bring an ac-
cumulation ofargument to bearon this mat.
ter which will prove the doctrine OF future
recognition as plainly ns that there iss amy
heaven Mt 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 q ship
you must get the right kind OF timber. You
lay the keel and make the framework of the
very best materials, the keelson, stanchions,
plank-shear. counterstimber.knee. transoms,
oil Of solid oak. You may build n ship ol
lighter material, hut when the cyclone comes
on, it will go down. Now We may nave a
great many beauti ul 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 ct sorrow come upon us, and the
hurricane of death, we will be swnmped-we
will be foundered. We want q theory built
cut of the solid oak OF Gods eternal Word.
The doctrine q future recognition il not
30 often positivel! stated in the word of God
as implied, and you know, my friends that
thntis, aftprail, the strongest mode of afiirma-
tion. Your friend travels in foreign lands.
He comes home. He docs not begin by
arguing with you to prove that there are
such places as London and Stockholm. and
Paris and Dresden and Berlin, but his con.
versation implies 1t. And 40 this Bible does
not so positively state this theory 90, all up
and down its chapters, take il for granted
What does my text imply? 81 shall 20 to
him. What consolation would il be- to
David to 60 TO his children il they Wouldnot
know him? Would David ave been allowed
t#L-%--AA~1 tIscsSN- - rS>~A
tion Of all ages If it were q groundless antici-
patton? We read in the frst book OF the
Bible, Abraham died and was gathered To
his people. jacob died and was gathered to
his people. Moses died and was gathered to
his people. Whatpeople2 Why, their friends,
their comrades, their old companions. q
course it means that. 1T cannot mean any.
thing else. So In the very beginning Of the
Bible four times that 10 taken for granted.
The whole New Testamentis an arbor over
which this doctrine creeps like q luxurinnt
vine full OF the purple clusters ofco~nsoiatiOn.
James, John and Peter followed Christ into
the mountain. a light falls from heaven Oh
that mountain and lifts it into the glorleg OF
the celestial. Christ's garments glow and
His face shines like the sun. The door oi
heaven swings open. The spirits come down
and alight on the mountain. The diciples
look at them and recognize them as Moses
and Elias. Now, il those dicinles standing
on the earth could recognize these NO spirits
WHO had been for years in heaven. do yo
tell me that WI. with heavenly eyesight, will
not be able to recognize those who have
gone out from among us only five, ten,
twenty, thirty years ago?
The Bible indicates, over and over again,
that the angels know each other; and the
Bible says that we are to be higher than the
angels, and il the angels have the wi IL
recognition. shall not we, who are to be
/ higher than they in the nextrealm, have as
good eyeaight and az good capacfv9 What
did Christ mean in His conversation with