The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-06-30
GRAPES FROM CANAAN.
DR.. Telmage Discourses on Chris
tian Hopes.
Hopes, Prospects and Christian ConsoIs-
ton Which Give One an Appetite
for the Heavenly Eschol-The
Resurrectioa.

from NUN DerS XIII. -, And they came
unto the brook of Eschol. and cut down
from thence branch with one cluster
of grapes, and they bare it between
two upon staff" The preacher said:
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 there? Five hundred
thousand? Oh. no. Not two hundred
thousand. not one hundred thousand,
not fifty, nor twenty, nor ten. but only
two men. Oh, it was a ruinous march
that Gods people made; but their
children were living. and they were on
the march, and now that thay had
come up to the borders of the promised
land they were curious to know what
kind of place it was. and whether il
would be safe to go over. So a scout
ing party is sent out to reeonnoiter.
and they examinine 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 to
show what monstrous fruit they have
there. so this scouting party cut off the
biggest bunch of grapes they could find.
1t was so large that one man could not
carry it. and they thrust pole through
the cluster. and there was one man at
either end of the pole. and so the clus-
ter was carried.
Strabo 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 around 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 Achaicus, dwelling in those
lands. tells us that during the time he
was smitten with fever one grape would
Stake 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 prom
ised land.
But this morning bring You larger
cluster from the heavenly ESchol-a
cluster of hopes. cluster of prospects,
a cluster of Christian consultations: and
| am expecting that one taste of it will
rouse up your appetite for the heaven
" Canaan. During the past winter
some of the congregation have gone
away never to return The aged
have put down their staff and taken
Il. 4
home from office or shop. and did
not go back again, and never will
go back again. And the dear children.
some of them. have been gathered in
Christ's arms. He found this world too
rough a place for them. and so has
gathered them in. And oh. how many
wounded souls there are-wounds for
which this world offers no medicament:
and unless from the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ there shall come a consola-
ton. there will be no consolation at all.
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
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 n natural desire. and.
therefore. God-implanted de
sire. and is nightly suggestive
of the fact that death has
no power to break up the family rela-
.;o,- If o,,r IOraI opaS sro ayvav from
our possession. why put n fence around
our lot in the cemetery? Why the
gathering of four or five names on one
family monument? Why the planting
of one cypress vine so that it covers all
the cluster OF graves? Why put the
husband beside the wife, and the chill
dren at their feet? 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 departed friends in one common
field or grave? Oh, it is because they
are ours. That child. o! stricken
mother. is as much yours this morning
as in the solemn hour when God put it
against YOUR heart. and said. as of old:
Take this child and nurse it for me,
and will give thee thy wages" 1t is
no mere within. 1t is divinely planted
principle in the soul. and God GER
tainly would not plant a lie, and
He could not culture a lie: Abra-
ham would not allow Sarah to
be buried in a strangers grounds, al
though some very beautiful ground
was offered a free gift; but he pays
400 shekels for Machpelah, the cave,
and the trees overshadowing it The
grave has been well kept, and to-day
the Christian traveller stands in
thoughtful and admiring mood. gazing
upon Machpelah. where Abraham and
Sarah are taking their long sleep of
1000 wears. Your father may be SUM
boring under the tinkling of the bell of
the Scotch kirk. Your brother may
have gone in the ship that foundered
off 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 Never
theless. it is pleasant to think
that we will be buried together.
Obi is consolation to feel that when
men come, and with solemn tread
carry you out to your resting-place,
they will open the gate through which
some of your friends will follow.
Sleeping under the same root, at last
sleeping under the same sod The
autumnal leaves that drift across your
grave will drift across theirs; the bird
songs that drop on their mound will
drop on yours; and then, in starless win
ter nights, when the wind comes howl
ing through the gorge, you will be COM
many for each other. The child close