The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-30
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BRooKLYN's DIVINE SUN
DAY SERMON.
"NIeeting Our Friends In Heaven"

| TEXT: II ShdH 90 10 MN. Ill Soin"eA
xii, 90.
There is q 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 on lip and nostrll OF the
wan and wasted, also mounts the palace
stairs, and bending over the pillow blows
into the face of a young Prince the 1ro5ts
| of pain and death. Tears are VINE 10 the
King of Terrors. Alas! for David the King.
He can neither sleep nor eat, and lies pros,
trate on his face weeping and Walling Until
the palace rings with the outcry OF woe.
| What are courtly attendants or victorious
armies or conquered provinces under sucn
circumstances? What, to any parent, is an
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 tidngs 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 ne LOOKS up
and saysto them: rs the child dead"
he is dead" David rouses himself
up. washes himself, puts on new ap.
parel, 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 gravedigger's spade
could hide him. The wintry blasts OF death
could not put out the bright light, Ihere
would be a forge somewhere that WIN silver
| hammer would weld the broken links. In a
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 MS
| throat and exclainls: II shall go to him."
Was David right or wrong? If we part
on earth will we meet again i'll the next
world? SWELL" says some one, that seems
! to be an impossibility. Heaven is SO large
O place We never could find Our KINDRED
there" Going into some city, wltnouI nay
ing appointed a time and place for meet
! ing, you might wander around torweeSs and
| for months, and perhaps for years, and never
see each other; and heaven is vaster than all
earthly cities together, and how are you
going to fnd your departed friend in that
country? 1t is 50 vast realm John went
up on one mountain OF inspiration. and he
looked Off upon the multitude, and he SAID:
Thousands Of thousands" Ihen he came
upon greater altitude Of inspiration and he
looked off upon it again. and he said; zen
thousand times fen thousand" And then he
came on higher mount of inspiration, and
! looked off again and he said: "a hundred AMI
forty and four thousand and thousands OF
| thousands And be came on still greater
height of inspiration, and he looked OIL 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 thlS
idea we have been entertaining after all
falsity? Is this doctrine Of future recogni-
ton of friends in heaven q guess, myth,
whim, or is it granite foundation upon
which the soul pierced of all ages may build
q 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 quiver, and the cheek flush,
and the entire nature thrill. Shall we know
each other there? 1 get letters almost every
month asking me to discuss this subject.
get letter in a bold, scholarly hand, on
git-edgcd paper, asking me to discuss this
question, and say; "Ah, that is a curious
man, and he wants curious question solved"
| But I get another letter. 1t is written with
| trembling hand and on what seems to be O
| torn out leaf of book, and here and there
| is the mark of tear. and l say: 'Oh, that
! is n broken heart, and 1t wants to be COM
forted..'
The object of this sermon is to take this
| theory out of the region of surnise and
speculation into the region OF positive GER
! tainty, People say: ut woull be very
! pleasant if that doctrine were true. nope
| it may be true. Perhaps it is true. wish
| it were true" But believe that can bring
al 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, AMI 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 ship
you must get the right kind of timber. You
| Law the keel and make the framework OF the
very best materials, the keelson, stanchions,
plank shear counter timber-knee, tr ransomS,
ali of solid oak. You may build ship Of
, lighter material, but when the cyclone comes
Oh it will go down. Now We may have
great many beautiful theories about the fu-
ture 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 tho
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 so often pos
itivey stated in the Word of God as implied,
and you know, my friends, that that s,after
all, the strongest mode of affirmation. Your
friend travels in foreign lands. He comes
home. He does not begin by arguing with
London and Stockholm and Paris and Dres-
den and Berlin, but his conversation lmpnes
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 imply? II shall go to
him." What consolation would it be to David
to 60 to his child if he would not know him:
Would David have been allowed TO record
this anticipation for the inspection Of all
n frr,11nIlnSS qnrirlnatlOnI
We read In the first book Of the Bible, Abra-
ham died and was gathered to his people.
Jacob died and was gathered to lis people.
Moses died and was gathered to his people.
What people? Why, their friends their co9l-
rades. their old companions. or course 1t
means that. 1t cannot mean anything
else. SO in the very beginning of the Bible
four times that is taken for granted. Ihe
whole New Testament is en- arbor, over
which this doctrine creeps like a luxuriant
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 Sorles OF
celestial. Christ's garments glow and His
face shines ike the sun. The door OF heaven
swings open Two spirits come down and
alisht on thut mountain. The disciples look
at them and recognZe them as Moses ana
Elias Now;, il tho:e disciples standing OH
the earth coul recognize these two spirits
who had been for years in heaven, do you
tell me that we, with our heavenly eyeSiSht,
will not be able to recognize those who have
gone out from among us only five, ten, twen-
ty, thirty years ago?
The Bible indicates over and over again
that the angels know each othor, and then
the Bible says that we are to be higher than
the angels; and if the angels have the power
of recognition shall not we, who are to be
higher than they in the next realm, have as
good eycsight and as COOL capacity? What
lid Christ mean in His conversation with
Mary and Martha when He said, ''Fhy
-. ,a,. Oh Ill ,.cu nnni inn II XnS q much rs