Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-06-19
ATBUNCh of GRAPES.
THE THEME or DR.. rALMAee,s sea.
MON AT THE TABERNACLE.

The Dfvinely Nsbetiousd Idea Of Dratf
Mrs. sisourney's Besossfmi Lines :. u.
fore the fsssurrection.
BROOKLYN, Jtine f8. REV. DR.. Tai
mage In selecting q theme for TODAY
sermon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle 10 chos
one peculiarly suitable to the season o
fruits, the title being .Grapes From
Canaanr and thetext Members xiii. 90
And they came unto the brook of Es
choliand ont down from thence branci
with one cluster of grapes, and they
barrett between two upon staff"
The long trudge ofthe Israelites across
the wilderness was almost ended. They
had come tosthe borders Of the promised
land. OF the.6o9,000 adults who started
fromtEgypt for Canaan. how many do
you suppose got there? Five hundred
thousand? Oh, no. Not 200,000 not
100000. nor so, nor 20, nor 10. but only
men. Oh. 1t was 'ruinous marcL
that Gods people made. but their chill
dren were living. and they were on the
march, and now. that they had come ur
to the borders Of the promised land they
were very curious to know what kind Of
aplace 1t was and whether 1t would be
ssfeyte gorover. So scouting party Is
sent ont to reconnoiter. and they exam
inc the land. andAthey come back bring
ing specimens Of its growth.
Just as4you came back from Califor-
mia, bringing to your family basket Of
pears or plums or apples to show what
monstrous fruit they have there,so this
scouting party cut of the biggest bunch
of grapes they could find. It was SO
large that one man could not carry it,
and they thrust a pole through the clus-
ter, and therelwas one. man at'either end
of the pole. andsso the bunch of grapes
was transported. E
was some time ago in luxuriant
vineyard. The vine dresser had done his
work. The vine had clambered up and
spread its wealth all over the arbor. The
sun and shower had mixed cup which
the vine drank until with flushed cheek
1t 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 it seemed as If all
you had to do was to lift a chalice
toward the cluster and its lifeblood
would begin to drip away. But, my
friends. in these rigorous climes weknow
nothing about large grapes.
Starbo states that in Bible times and
in Bible lands there were grapevines so
large that it took two men with out.
stretched arms to reach round them, and
he says therewer clusters cubits in
length. or twice the length from the ell
bow to the tip Of the long finger. And
Achaicus. dwelling in those lands, tells
US that during the time he was smitten
with fever one grape would slake his
thirst for the whole day. No wonder,
then. in these Bible times two men
thought it'worth their while to put their
strength together to carry down one
cluster of grapes from the promised
land.
THE DIVINE IDEA.
But this morning bring you larger
cluster from the heavenly Eschol-acl clus-
ter of hopes, acluster of prospects, clus-
ter of Christian consultations, and am
expecting that one taste Of it will rouse
up your appetite for the heavenly Ca
lnaan. During the past winter some of
this congregation have gone away never
to return. The aged have put down
their staff and taken up the scepter.
Men in midlife came home from Office or
shop and did not go back again and
never will 60 back again. And the dear
children. some of them, have been gath
cred in Christ's arms. He found this
world too rough place for them, and
so he has gathered them in. And, oh.
how many wounded souls there are
wounds for which this world offers no
medicament-andu unless from the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ there shall
come a consolation there will be no con-
ISOLATION at all. Oh. that the God Of all
comfort would help me while l preach
and that the God Of all comfort would
help you whitley hearl
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 have
thio hiuu VI IOupio Cudt yOuA IiVhdo
are cut off from you and they are no
longer yours. but the desire to have all
our loved ones in the same lot in the
cemetery is natural desire. universal
desire and therefore God implanted
desire and is mighty suggestive of the
fact that death has no power to break
up the family relations.
II our loved ones go away from our
possession. why put a fence around
our lot in the cemetery? Why the
gathering Of four or FIVE names on
one family monument Why the plant
ing of one cypress vine so that it covers
all tho cluster Of graves? 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 plantedf Why not put our
departed friends in one common field and
gravef Oh, it is because they are ours.
That child, o stricken mother! is as
much yours this morning asin the solemn
hour when Ged put 1t against your