The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-07-22
HEAVENS HOSTS.
Or. Talmage Describes the Multi
tude John Witnessed
The GIorfes of the New Jerusalem WILDLY
PIctured-The Heavenly Hosts With
Palms In Their Hands sing
ing Praises.

In continuing his sermons while
abroad Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, in {
recent discourse, took his text from Rev
vii. 9. 10: After this l beheld, and, 10
a great multitude which no man could
number. of all nations, and kindreds
and people, and tongues, stood before
the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes, and palms in their
hands: and cried with loud voice, say.
ing. Salvation to our God which sit
teth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb" DIR. Talmage said:
It is impossible to come in contact
with anything grand or beautiful in
art. nature or religion without being
Profted and elevated We go into the
art gallery and our soul meets the soul
OF the painter. and we hear the hum of
his forests and the clash of his con-
ficts. and see the cloud poisoning of
the sky and the foam blossOming of the
ocean, and we come out from the gal
Ierv better men than when we went in.
We 90 into the concert of music and are
lifted into enchantment; for days after
our soul seems to rock with q very tu-
mutt of JOY, as the sea, after a long
stress of weather, rolls and rocks and
surges a great while before it comes
back to its ordinary calm.
On the same principle it is profitable
to think of Heaven, and look of upon
that landscape Of JOY and light which
St John depicts; the rivers of Cladness,
the trees of life. the thrones OF power,
the comrainglings OF everlasting love.
/ wish this morning I could bring
Heaven from the list of intangibles and
make it seem u you as it really is-the
great fact in all history. the depot of
ali ages the parior OF Gods universe.
This account in my text gives 4 pict-
U-e Of Heaven rs ii is on holiday
Now Il man came to New York for
the first time on the day that Kossuth
arrived from Hungary, and saw the
arches lifted, and the flowers flung in
The streets, and he heard the guns
booming. ne would have been very fool
ish TO suppose that that was the ordi-
nary appearance of the city. While
Heaven is always grand and always
beautiful, think my text speaks of a
gala Gay in Heaven.
It is time OF great calebration-per-
haps of the birth or resurrection of
Jesus: perhaps of the downfall of some
.GespotiSm: perhaps because of the rush
irc il of the millennium. know not
what. bat it does seem 10 me in reading
this passage as if 1t were q holiday in
Heaven; after this l beheld. and, 10. a
great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations. and lSindreds,
ard people, and tongues, stood before
TIE throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes and palms in
their hands, and cried with q loud voice,
saying: Salvation 70 our God, which
stitch upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb
shall speak TO Won Of the glorified in
Ecaven-their number. their anteced-
-ents. their dress. their symbols and
their songs. But now shall l begin by
telling you Of the numbers of those in
Heaven? l have seen q curious esti-
mate by an ingenious man, who calcu-
Iatcs how long the world was going TO
last. and how many people there are in
each geucration.and then sums up the
whole matter and says he thinks there
will be twenty-scvcn millions of souls
IN glory. l have no faith in his estimate
! simply take the plain announcement
OF the tcXt-it Is "A great multitude,
which no man can number"
Every few years in this country we
take census Of the population, and it
is very easy to tell how many people
there are in city or nation. But who
shall give the census of the great nation
OF the saved? 1t is quite easy to tell
how many people there are in the diff
ferent denominations of Christians
how many Baptists, and Methodists,
and Episcopalians. and Presbyterians.
OF all the denominations of Christians
we could make an estimate. Suppose
they were gathered in one great audi
-cnce room; how overwhelming the spec
tacle. But it would give no idea of the
great audience room of Heaven-the
Tnultitudes that bow down and lift no
their hosannas Why, they come from
all the chapels. from all the cathedrals,
from all sects, from all ages; they who
prayed in splendid itu.gy, and those
who in broken sentences uttered the
wish of broken hearts-from Grace
church and Sailors bethel, from under
the sha neless rafters and from under
high sprung arch-''a great multitude
that no man can number"
One of the most impressive things l
have looked upon is an army Stand
ing upon hillside you see forty thous-
and or fifty thousand men pass along.
You can hardly imagine the impression
If you have not actually felt il. But
You may take all the armies that the
earth has ever seen-the legions under
Sennacherib and Cyrus and Caesar.
Nerxes and Alexander and Napoleon,
and all our modern forces and put them
in one great array, and then on some
swift steed You may ride along the line
and review the troops; and that accumu-
lated host from all ages seems like
half formed regiment compared with
the great array OF the redeemed
l stood one day at Williamsport and
saw on the opposite side of the Poto-
mac the forces coming down, regiment
after regiment and brigade after brig
ede. 1t seemed as though there was no
end to the procession But now let me
take the field glass of St John and look
of upon the hosts Of Heaven-thous-
ands upon thousands, 10000 times TO-
900, "a. 900 and thousands of thousands,
until put down the field glass and saw,
81 cannot estimate it-a great multi
tude that no man can number"
You may tax your imagination and
torture your ingenuity and break down
your powers of calculation in attempt
ing TO discuss the multitudes of the re-
leased from earth and the enrapt,,rad