Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-07-25
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN'S DIVINE sun
DAY SERMON.
"Meeting Our Friends in Heaven


the dark lane of the poor and puts its
smothering hand on lip and nostrl of the
wan and wasted, also mounts the palace
stairs, and bending over the pillow blows
into the face Of young Prince the frOsts
OF pain and death. Tears wine TO the
King of Terrors Alas, for David the King.
he can neither sleep nor eat and lies pros
trate on his face, weeping and wailing until
the palace rings with the Outcry 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 eyeilds 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 mat
ter, and David hears them and he looks up
and says to them: is the child dead" " es;
he is dead" David rouses himself
up, washes himself puts new APP
parel, and sits down to food. What
power hushed that tempest2 What
strength was it that lifted up that King whom
grief he'd dethroned? Oh, it was the thought
that he would come again into the possession
of that darling child. No gravedigger's spade
could hide him. The wintry blasts of death
could not put out the bright light. There
would be a forge somewhere that with silver
hammer would weld the broken links. In
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 exclaims: Il shall go to him"
Was David right or wrong? II we part
on earth will we meet again in the next
world? 'Well, says some one, that seems
to be an impossibility. Heaven is so large
a place we never could find our kindred
there" Going into some city, without hav-
ing appointed time and place for meet
ing, you might wander around for weeks and
for months ana perhaps for years, and never
see each other; and heaven is vaSter than all
earthly cities together, and how are you
going to find your departed friend in that
country? It is so vast realm. john went
up 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 he
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 hundred and
forty and four thousand and thousands of
thousands" And he came on a still greater
height of inspiration, and he looked off again
and exclaimed: IA great multitude that no
man can number"
Now ask, how are you going to find your
friends In such throng as thats Is not this
idea we have been entertaining after all q
falsity? Is this doctrine of future recogni-
sion of friends in heaven guess, myth, a
whim, or is 1t a granite foundation upon
WHICH Uu0 soul OIL A1A ages may OuuQ
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 bold, scholarly hand, ON
giltedged paper, asking me to discuss this
question. and l say: "Ah, that is a curious
But get another letter. It is written with a
trembling hand and on what seems to be a
torn out leaf of book, and here and there
Is the mark of tear, and say: Lob, that
is broken heart and it wants to be COM
forted"
The object of this sermon is to take this
theory out of the region of surmise and
speculation into the region of positive GER
tainty. People say: at would be very
pleasant if that doctrine were true. [ hope
it may be true. Perhaps it is true. [ wish
it were true" But believe that [ can bring
an accumulation of argument to bear upon
this matter which will prove the doctrine of
future recognition as plainly as that there is
any heaven at all, and that the kiss of re-
union at the celestial gate will be as certain
as the dying kiss at the door of the sepul-
cher
Now, when you are going to build a 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 counter imber-kuee t. ansoms,
ali of solid oak. You may build a ship of
lighter material, but when the cyclone comes
on it will go down. Now we may have a
great many beautiful theories about the fu-
lure world, built out of our own fancy, and
they may do very we'll long as we have
smooth sailing in the world, but when the
storms of sorrow come upon us, and the hur-
riCane of death, we will be swamped-we will
be foundered. We want theory built out of
the solid oak of Gods eternal Word. The doc
trine of future recognition is not 50 often pos
stively 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 travels in foreign lands. He comes
home. He does not begin by arguing with
you to prove that there are such places as
London and Stockholm and Paris and Ores
den and Berlin, but his conversation lmpleS
it. And so this Bible does not so positively
state this theory as, all up and down, its
chapters take it for granted.
What does my text imply2 Il 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 allowed to record
this anticipation for the inspection of all
ages if it were a grOundleSS anticipation?
We read in the first book of the Bible Abra-
ham died and was gathered to his people.
Jacob died and was gathered to his people.
Moses died and was gathered to his people.
What people? Why, their friends, their COM
radeS. their old companions. OF course it
means that 1t cannot mean anything
else. So in the very beginning of the Bible
four times that is taken for granted. The
whole New Testament is an arbor, over
vine full of the purple clusters Of consolation.
James, John and Peter followed Christ into
the mountain. A light falls from heaven on
that mountain and lifts 1t into the glories of