The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-06-21
GRAPES FROM CANAAN"
The Subject Of Rev. DR.. Talmage's
Sunday Sermon.
The Season of FruIts-A Cluster of Hopes
of Prospects and Christian Consola-
tion from the Heavenly EschOl-
The Glories and Mysteries
OF the Resurrection.


sermon in the Brooklyn tabernacle,
Rev. DR.. Talmage chose one peculiarly
suitable to the season of fruits, the
title being "Grapes from Canaan" and
the text: Numbers xiii; 23:
"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 o
stan"
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 thereP Five hundred thou
sand? o, no. Not two hundred thou
sand, not one hundred thousand, nor
fifty, nor twenty, nor ten; but only
two men. o, it was ruinous march
that Gods people made; but their chill
dren were living and they were on the
march, and now that they had come up
TO the borders of the promised land
they were very curious to know what
kind of place it was, and whether it
would be safe to 60 over. So a scout
ing party is sent out to reconnoiter,
and they examine the, laud, and they
come back bringing specimens OF its
growths. Just as you come back from
California, bringing to your family a
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 bunch of grapes was transported. l
was, some time ago, in a 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 mixed a 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 II all
you had to do was to lift chalice to-
wards 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 so
large that it took two men with out
stretched 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 Achaicus, dwelling in
those lands, tells us that during the
time he was smitten with fever one
grape would slack his thirst for the
whole day. No wonder, then, in these
Bible times two men thought it worth
their while to put their strength to-
gether to carry down one cluster OF
grapes from the promised 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
l am expecting that one taste of it will
rouse up your appetite for the heavenly
Canaan. 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 go back again.
N And the dear children, some of them,
%have been gathered in Christ's arms.
lie 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 and unless
from the gospel Of our Lord Jesus
Christ there shall come a consolation,
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
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
this kind of trouble, that your friends
are cut off from you, and they are nc
longer yours; but the desire TO have ali
our loved one in the same lot in the
cemetery is a natural desire, n univer
sal desire, and, therefore, God-im
planted desire, and is nightly sugges
tive Of the fact that death has no power
TO break up the family relations. II four
loved ones go away from our posses
sion, why put fence around our lot in
the cemetery Why the gathering oi
four or five names on one family monu
ment? Why the planting Of one cy
press vine so that IL covers all the clus
ter Of graves? Why put the husband
beside the wife, and the children al
their feetP Why the bolt on the gate
OF our lot, and the charge to the keep
ers Of the ground TO see that the grass
Is cut, and the vine attended TO, and
the flowers planted2 Why not put our
departed friends in one common field OF
grave9 o, IL is because they are ours
That child, stricken motherl is as
much yours this morning as In the sol
emn hour when God put II
against your heart, and said as
OF old: "Take this child and
nurse IL for me, and will give thee thy
wages" II is no mere whim. 1t is q
diyinely- planted principle In the soul
Z and God certainly would not plant a
lie, and he would not culture q lie
Abraham would not allow Sarah to be
buried in a strangers grounds al