The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-07-13
A GALA DAY IN HEAVEN.
Or. Talruage breaches to Vast
London Audience
About Great Celebration Spoken OF In
the Bible - An Eloquent Appeal to
Those who Have Not Consecrated
Themselves to the Lord.

lallnuIt llOlh bhS SN-N'I ANS''
vii, 0-lO: After this beheld, and 10,
n great multitude which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds,
and people, and tongue, stood before
the throne and before the Lamb,
clothes with white robes, and palms in
their hands; and cried with loud voice.
saying: Salvation to our God, when
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
Lamb" The eloquent divine spoke as
follows:
1t 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
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 60 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 n
long stress of weather, rolls and rocks
and surges 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 landscape of JOY and light which
st. John depicts; the rivers of gladness,
the trees Of light, the thrones of power,
the comminglings of everlasting love.
I wish this morning that could bring
Heaven from the list of intangibles, and
make it seem TO you as it really is-the
great fact in all history, the depot OF
all ages, the parlor of Gods universe.
This account in my text gives pict-
are OF heaven as it is on holiday.
Now If a man came to New Horkfor
the first time on the day that Kossuth
arrived from Hungary, and he saw the
arches lifted, and the flowers flung in
the streets, and he heard the guns
booming, he 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 q
gala day in Heaven.
II is time of great celebration-per-
haps 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 it does seem to me in
reading this passage as II 1t were holi-
day in Heaven; after this beheld, and,
10, great multitude, which no man
could number OF all nations, and kim
dreds, and people, and tongues, stood
before the tn rome, and before the Lamb.
clothed in white robes, and palms in
their hands, and cried with loud
voice, saying, salvation TO our God
which sitteth upon the throne and unto
the Lamb"
/ shall speak to you of the glorified in
Heaven-their number, their antece-
dents, their dress, their symbols, and
their song But how shall begin by
telling you of the numbers Of those in
Heaven? have seen a curious estimate
by an ingenious man who calculates
now long the world was going to last,
lnd how many people there are in each
generation, and then sums up the whole
natter, and says he thinks there will
be twenty-seven thllions Of souls in
glory. have no faith in his estimate.
simply take the plain announcement
of the text-it is "a great multitude
which no man can number"
Every few years in this country we
take census of the population, and IL
is very easy TO tell how many people
there are in city or in II 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 diff
terent 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 audience
room; how overwhelming the spectacle!
But II would give no idea Of the great
audience room of IIeaven-thc multi
tudes that bow down and that lift up
their hosannas. Why, they come from
all the chapels, from all the cathedrals,
from all sects, from all ages; they who
prayed in splendid liturgy, and those
who in broken sentences uttered the
wish of broken hearts-from Grace
church and Sailors bethel, from under
the shapeless rafters, and from under
high-sprung arch-"a great multitude
that no man can number"
One Of the most impressive things I
have looked upon is an army. Standing
upon a hillside you see forty thousand
or ffth thousand men pass along. You
can hardly imagine the impression II
YOU have not actually felt IL. But you
may take all the armies that the earth
has ever seen-the legions under SIENNA.
cherib and Cyrus and Caesar, Xerxes and
Alexander and Napoleon, and all other
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
lost from all ages seems like half
brmed regiment compared with the
ireat array of the redeemed.
stood one day at Williamsport, anG
aw on tn opposite sidebf the Potomac
he forces coming down, regiment after
regiment, and brigade after brigade. II
seemed as though there was no end Il
che procession. But now let me take
che feld-glass Of st. John and look of
upon the hosts Of Heaven-thousandi
upon thousands, ten thousand times ter
thousand, one hundred and forty anc
four thousand, and thousands OF thou