The evening call. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1891-1893, 1893-07-05
At the Tabernacle.

|
l. Rev DR.. Talmage in selecting a them
for last Sundays sermon in the Brookly
Q Tabernacle chose one peculiarly suitabl
+ to the season of fruits. the title bein
n Grapes From Canaan" and the tex
Numbers xiii, 80. and they came unit
yhe brook of Eschol and cut down iron
, thence a branch with one cluster o
: grapes, and they bare it between tw
upon a staff"
The long trudge Of the Israelites acros
the wilderness was almost ended. The,
! had come to the borders of the promised
land. Of the 600, 900 adults who started
; from Egypt for Canaan, how many d.
) you suppose got there? Five hundred
! thousand? Oh. no Not 200, 900, no
t 100, 900, nor so. nor 20, nor 10, but only
? men. Oh, it was ruinous march tina
Gods people made, but their children
were living, and they were On the march
and now they had come up to the borders
Of the promised land they were very
curious to know what kind of place il
was, and whether it would be safe to &c
over So a scouting party is sent out tC
reconnoiter, and they examine the land,
and they come back bringing specimens
Of its growth.
|
bringing to your family basket of pears
Or plums or apples to show what mon
strous fruit they have there, so this scout
ing 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 it's wealth all over the arbor.
The sun and shower had mixed a cup
which the vine drank until with flushed
cheek it lay slumbering in the light,
cluster against the cheek OF cluster. The
rinds Of the grapes seemed almost burst
Ing 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 to-
ward the cluster and its lifeblood 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 grapevines so
large that it took two men with out
he says there were clusters two cnbits
in length or twice the length from the
elbow to the tip of the long finger. And
Achatcus. 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 1t worth their while to put their
strength together to carry down one
cluster of grapes from the promised
land.
A Cluster of Hopes and Consultations.
But this morning bring you larger
cluster from the heavenly Eschol-a
cluster Of hopes a cluster of prospects,
cluster Of Christian consultations, and I
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 scep-
ter. Men in midllfe cane home from
office or shop and did not 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 He 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 consolation there will be no |
consolation 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 while you hear!
First, console you with the divinely
sanctioned idea that your departed
friends are as much yours now as they
ever we're 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 no
longer yours, but the desire to have all
our loved ones in tho same lot In the
cemetery Is natural desire, universal
desire and therefore God implanted de-
sire and Is nightly suggestive OF the fact
mat death has no power to break up the
family relations.
III our loved ones go away from our
possession, why put fence around our
lot In the cemetery? Why tie gathering of
TOUR or hVe names on the family monu-
ment? Why the planting of one cypress
vine so that it covers all the cluster of
graves? Why put the husband beside
'ne Wl4e ana the cnlIdren at their feet? |
Why the bolt on the gate of our lot. and
The charge TO the keepers Of the ground
to see that tie grass is cut, and the vine
attended to- aud the flowers planted?
Why not put our departed friends in
one common field or graveP Oh, it is be-
,ause they are ours
That child. o stricken mother! is as
much yours this morning as 10 the solemn
lour when God put l. against your heart
Ind said as of old, Take this child and
Nurse 1t for me, and will give thee thy
wages" 1t is no mere within. 1t Is a
iivineIy planted principle in the soul.
ma God certainly would not plant a lie, :
md he would not culture a lie! Abra-
lam would not allow Sarah TO be buried |
u strangers grounds, although some
cry beautiful ground was offered him
rec GIT, but he pays 400 sheckels for
dacbpelah, the cave, and the trees over
hadowing IL. The grave has been we'll
,ept and to-day the Christian traveller
lands In thoughtful and admiring mood.
'azing upon Machpelah, where Abraham !
no Sarah are taking their long sleep OF
!, 900 years.
Your father may be slumbering under
ne ttrkitng OF the bell Of the-Scotch :
,irk. Your brother may have gone
own In the ship that foundered of Cape ,