The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-19
GRAPES FROM CANAAN.
Talmase Takes a Sermon From The
Trudge Of The ISraGlitCS,

tion Cluster From the Heavenly
Esohol-One Taste of 1t Enough TO
Arouse an Appetite for the Heav-
emily Canaan-Consolatio for Those
Who Mourn.
Brooklyn, June 1S-Rev. DR. Talmage,
in selecting theme for to-day's sermon
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, chose one
peculiarly suitable to the season of fruits,
the title being "Grapes from Canaann
and the text Numbers xiii, %, "And they
came unto the brook of Eschol and cut
down from thence a branch with one
cluster of grapes, and they bare it be-
tween two upon a staff"
The long trudge Of the Israelites across
the Wilderness was almost ended.
They had come to the borders Of the
promised land OF the six hundred
thousand adults who started from Egypt
for Canaan, how many do you suppose
got therel Five hundred thousandR O,
no Not two hundred thousands not one
hundred thousand, nor fifty, nor twenty,
nor ten; but ouly two men. O, it was q
ruinous march that Gods people made;
but their children were living and they
were on the march, ana now that they
had come up TO the borders of the
promised land, they were very
curious to know what kind Of d
place 1t was, and whether it would be
safe to go over. So scouting party is
sent out TO reconnoitre, and they examine
the land and they come back bringing
specimens of its growths Just as YOU
came back from California, bringing to
your family basket Of pears, or plums,
or apples, 10 show what nl0ustruus fruit
they have there, so this scouting party
cut off the biggest buHch of grapes they
could find. 1t was 50 large that one man
could not carry 1t, and they thrust pole
through the cluster and there was one
man at either end of the pole, and so the
bunch of grapes was transported was,
some time ago, in luxuriant vineyard.
The vine-oresser had done his work The
vine had clambered up and spread it's
wealth all over the arbor. The sun and
shower had mixed a cup which the vino
drank until with flushed cheek it lay
slumbering in the light, cluster against
the cheek Of cluster. The rinds Of the
grapes seemed almost bursting with the
juice In the warm lips Of the autumnal
day, and 1t seemed as If all you had 10 do
was to lift a chalice toward the cluster
and its life blood would begin to drip
away. But, my friends, in these rigorous
climes we know nothing about large
grapes Strabo states that in Bible times
and in Bible lands there were grape
vines 50 large that it took two men with
outstretched arms to reach round them,
and he says there were clusters two
cubits In length, or twice the length from
the elbow to the tip of the long finger.
And Aehaicus dwelling in those lands,
tells as that during the time he was smit-
ten with fever one grape would slake his
thirst for the whole day. No wonder,
then, in these Bible times two men
thought 1t worth their while to put their
strength together to carry down ons
cluster of grapes from the promised land.
But this morning | bring you q larger
cluster from the heavenly Eschoi--a elns-
ter of hopes, q cluster of prospects, q clus-
ter of Christian consolations and / am
expecting that one taste of it will rouse
up your appetite for the heavenly Canaan.
During the past winter some of this con-
gregation have gone away never to re-
turn. The aged have put down their
staff and taken up the seepter. Men III
mid-life came home from office or shop,
and did not go back again, and never viii
go back again. And the dear children,
some of them have been gathered in
Christs arms. He found this world too
rough q place for them, and so he has
gathered them fn. And oh, how many
wounded souls there are-wounds for
which this world offers no nedicament,
and unless from the gospel Of our Lord
Jesus Christ there shall come q consola-
tion, there will be no consolation at all.
O, that the God Of all comfort would help
me while preach, and that the God Of
all comfort would help you while you
hear.
First / console you with the divinely
sanctioned idea that your departed
friends are as much yours now as they
ever were. / know you sometimes get
the idea in your mind, when you havo
this kind of trouble, that your friends are
cut off from you, and they are no longer
yours but the desire TO, have oil our
loved ones IN the same lot in the eeme-
terry is a natural desire, universal de-
sire and, therefore. q God-implanted de-
SIRE and is nightly suggestive of the
fact that death has no power to break up
the family relations. If our loved ones
90 away from our possession, why put q
fence around our lot in the cemeteryf
Why the gathering of four or five names
on one family monuments Why the
planting of one cypress vine SO that it
covers all the cluster of graves2 Why
put the husband beside the wife, and the
children at their feetl Why the bolt on
the gate of our lot, and the charge TO the
keepers of the ground to see that the grass
is cut, and the vine attended to, and the
flowers planted Why not put our de-
parted friends in one common field or
grave o, it is because they arc ours.
That child, o, stricken motherl is as
much yours this morning as in the solemn
hour when God put it against your heart
and said as Of old: 'eTake this child and
nurse it for me- and / will give thee thy
wages" II is no mer9 whim. 10 is a
divinely-planted principle in the soul, and
God certainly would not plant
lie, and he would not culture o
liel Abraham would not allow Sarah to
be buried in a strangers grounds al
though some very beautiful ground was
offered him a free gift; but he pays four
hundred shelzels for Machpelah, the cave,
and the trees overshadowing it, Tho
grave has been well kept, and to-day the
Christian traveller stands ia thoughtful
and admiring mood. gazing upon Mach
pelah, whore Abraham and Sarah
are taking their long sleep of
four thousand years. Your father
may be slumbering under the tinkling of
the bell of the Scotch kirk Your brother
may have gone. down in the ship that
foundered of Cape Hatteras. Your little
child may be sleeping on the verge Of the
towering western prairie; yet God will
gather them all up, however widely the
dust may be scattered. Nevertheless, it
is pleasant to think that we win be buried
together When my father died. and we
took him out and buried him in the grave
yard of Somerville, it did not seem 50 sad
to leave him there, because right
beside him was my dear, good, old, beau