Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-07-15
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn DivinSs Sun
day Sermon
Subject; "Heaven's Redeemed Multitude
preached in London.)


and before The Lamb clothed NTH uht
robes, and palms in their hands, mud erie,
ir'fh loud roice, saying, Salvation TO ou
God uhich sitteth upon the throne. diu
unto he Lamb ."-Revelation vii. ., 10.
IL is impossible to come in contact with
anything grand or beautiful in art nature
or religion without being prOhted and ele-
waited. We go into the art gallery and our
soul meets the soul OF the painter, anl we
hear the hum of his forests and the clash OF
his conflicts and see the cloud blossoming of
the sky and the foam blossoming of the
ocean, and we come out from the gallery
better men than when we went in. We go
into the concert OF music and are lifted into
enchantment; for days after our soul seems
to rock with very tumult of JOY, as the sea,
after long stress OF weather. rolls and
rocks ami 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 off upon that land
scape OF JOY AMI light which st. John de-
picts-ihe rivers of gladness. the trees OF
lille, the thrones OF power. the cOmminglings
OF everlasting love. l wish this morning
that could bring heaven from the list of in
taDgibles and make it seem TO you as il
really is-the great fact in all history. the
depot OF all ages, the plrlor of Gods uni.
verse.
This account in my text gives picture of
heaven as 1t is on q holiday. Now. it a man
came to New York for the first time on the
day that Kossuth arrived from Hungary,
and he saw the arches lifted, and the flow
ers flung in the streets and he heard the
guns booming, he would have been very
foolish TO suppose that that was the ordinary
appearance of the city. While heaven is
always grand and always beautiful, think
my text speaks Of gala day in heaven.
IL is time OF great celebratiOn-perhaps
of the birth or the resurrection of Jesus,
perhaps of the downfall of some despotism
perhaps because Of the rushing in
of the millennium. know not
what, but 1t does seem to me in reading this
passage as il 1t were a holiday i'm heaven:
"After this ] beheld and 10 a great multi
tude which no man could number, of all
nations and kindreds and people and tongues,
stood before the throne and before the
Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms
in their hands, and cried with a loui voice.
saying, Salvation TO our God which sittetl
upon the tbrone, and unto the Lamb"
| shall speak to you Of the glorified I'M
heaven-their number their antecedents,
their dress, their symbols and their song.
But how shall | begin by telling you OF tbs
numbers of those in heaven have seen a
tNuH tHiiilldlt " du ingenious Iilil NuU
calculates how long the world was going to
last. and how many people there are in each
generation. and then sums up the whole
matter, AMI says he thinks there will be
twenty.seven trilions Of sous in glory. |
have no faith in his estimate simply take
the plain announcement of the text-it is
"a great multitude. which TO man can
number
One Of the most impressive things | have
looked upon is an army. Standing upon \
hillside you see forty thousand or fifty thou,
sand men pass along. You can hardly
imagine the impression ifyou have not actu-
ally felt IT, But you may take all ths
armies that the earth has ever scer-the
legions OF Sernacherib aud Cyrus sni
Cesar, Xerxes and Alexander and Napoleon,
and all or 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 accumulated
host from all ages seems ike bali formed
regiment compared with the great array Of
the redeemed.
stood one day at Williamsport, and saw
on the opposite side of the Potomac the forces
coming down. regiment after regiment, AMI
brigade after brigade. 1t seemed as though
there was no cad to the proc sssion. BuS
now let me take the field glass Of S. John
and look off upon the hosts ~ heaven
thousands upon thousands. ten thousand
times ten thousand, one hundred and forty
and four thousand and thou 'anfs Of thou
sands. until put down the field glass and
cav II cannot estimate ita great multi
tude that no man can number.
You may tax your Imagination and tor
ture YOUR ingenuity and break down your
powers OF calculation in attempting TO OK
press the mutitu les Of the released from
earth and the enraptuTel of heaven, ant
talk Of hundreds Of hundreds Of hundreds,
OF thousands of thousands OF thousan Is, OF
millions of millions of millions. until your
head aches AMI your heart faints, and eX-
hausted and oyerburdcned you exclaim: -
cannot count them--a great multitude that
no man can number
But my subject advances, and tells you OF
their antecedents, "of all nations and XIII
dreds and tongues." Some OF them snoSe
Scotch Irish. German English, Italian,
Spanish Tamil Choctaw, Burmes'. After
men have been long in the land you can tel
bv their accentuation from what nationality
they came. and suppose in the great throns
around the throne it will not be difficult u
tell from what part Of the earth they cans
These reaped Sician wheat fields ant
those picked Gotten from the polls. ines
unier bllsterny skies gathered tamarinds
and ySmS. Those crossel the desert OF
CamelS. 9nd those glanced over the snow,
drawn 10y Siberian dogs. aIl these MIXED
the goats far up on the SWISS crags. These
fought the warus and white bear in re ,ions
of everlasting snow. and those heard thu
song of iery-wingei birds in African thic =
cts. They were white They were blacS.'
They were rel. They were copper color.
From all lands from all ages. They wer9
int. A,,- r,atr
passed through Spanish inquisitions They
were confinet in London Tower. They
fought with beasts in the amphitheater.
They were bloravians They were
Waldelses. They were Albigenses. They
vera Scotch Covenanters. They were
Sandwich Islander.
In this world men prefer different kinds Of
government The United States wants a
republic The British Government needs to
be a constitutional monarchy Austria
wants absolut,sm. But when they come u
from earth from different nltionalities they
will prefer one great monlrchy king Jesus
ruler over il. Anlif that monarchy were
disbanded and II were submitted to all the
hosts Of heaven who would rule, then By the
unanimous SURFACES Of all the REDEEMED
Christ would become thu presl lent OF the
whole universe. Magma ChartaS bills OF
right houses OF burgesses, triumvirates,
congresses parliam ants-nothing in the
presence OF Chri,rs scepter swaying over all
the people who have entered upon the great
glory. Oh! can you ina zine it, What
strange coamingling Of tastes of histories,
of Municipalities 'of all Nations an / kindreds
and people an ton5uss.
My subject advances AMI tells YOU OF
tie dress Of those in heaven. The object OF
dress IN this world is not only 20 veil the
body but to adorn it. The Col WAC dresses
up the spring morning with blue ribbon OF
sky around the brow and earrings OF dew.
drops hung from tree branch AMI mantle OF
crimson cloui flung over the shoulder and the
violetted slippr rs of the grass for her feet-l
know that Col does not despss beautiful
apparel Well. what shall we wear in
heaven Il saw great multitude clothed
in white robes 1t is white In this world
we had sometimes to have on working APP
parel Bright and lustrouS garments would
be ridculousy out OF place swelteriny amid
forces, or mixing paints, or plasiering cell
ings, or binding books
In this world we must have ths WORKING
lay apparel sometimes and We care noth1w
coarse it is. 1t is appropriate: but when all
the toll of earth is past anl there is no mora
lrudgery aud no more weariness. we shall
- - Il.