Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-02-07
A VISION OF HEAVEN.
REV. DR.. TALMAeE's ELOQUENT SER
MON At THE TABERNACLE.

BROOKLYN, Feb. An the Brooklyn
Tabernacle this forenoon the hymns, the
Bcripture lesson and the prayers, as we'll
as the sermon, were about the future
world more than about this world.
Rev. DR.. Talmage took for his subject
"A Vision of Heaven" the text being
Ezekiel i, /, "Now it came to pass as
| was among the captives by the river
of Chebar that the heavens we're opened
and | saw visions of God.
Expatriated and in far exile on the
banks of the river Chebar, an affiuent
of the Euphrates, sat Ezekiel. 1t was
there he had an immortal dream, and it
is given to us in the Holy Scriptures.
He dreamed of Tyre and Egypt. He
dreamed of Christ and the coming
heaven. This exile seated by that river
Chebar had a more wonderful dream
than you OF / ever have had or ever will
have seated on the banks of the Hudson
or Alabama or Oregon or Thames or Ii
her or Danube.
But we all have had memorable
dreams, some of them when we were
half asleep and half awake, so that we
did not know whether they were born
of shadow or sunlight, whether they
were thoughts let loose and disarranged
as in slumber, or the imagination of
faculties awake.
Such dream had this morning. 1t
was about half past 5, and the day was
breaking. 1t was a dream of God, a
dream of heaven. Ezekiel had his dream
on the banks of the Chebar; / had my
dream not far from the banks of the
Hudson. The most of the stories of
heaven were written many centuries
ago, and they tell us how the place
looked then, or how it will look cen
turies ahead. Would you not like to
know how it looks now? That is what
am going to tell you. was there this
morning. have just got back. How
got into that city of the sun l know
not. Which of the 12 gates entered is
to me uncertain. But my first remem-
brance of the scene is that | stood on
one Of the main avenues, looking this
way and that, lost in raptures, and the
air so full of music and redolence and
laughter and light that 1 knew not
which street to take, when an angel of
God accosted me and offered to show
me the objects of greatest interest, and
TO conduct me from street to street, and
from mansion to mansion, and from tenn
pie to temple, and from wall to wall.
said to the angel, "How long hast thou
been in heaven?" and the answer came,
Thirtytwo years according to the
earthly calendar
There was a secret about this angel s
name that was not given me, but from
the tenderness and sweetness and affec-
tion and interest taken in my walk
through heaven, and more than all in
the fact of 80 years residence, the num-
Der of years since she ascended, think
it was my mother. Old age and decrep-
itude and the tired look were all gone,
but | think it was she. You see, was
only on visit to the city and had not
yet taken up residence, and could
know only in part.
THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN.
| looked in for few moments at the
great temple. Our brilliant and lovely
Scotch essayist, Mr.. Drummond, says
there is no church in heaven, but he did
not look for, it on the right street.
st. John was right when in his Patmos-
ic vision, recorded in the third chapter
of Revelation, he speaks of the temple
of my God" saw it this morning, the
largest church ever saw, as big as all
the churches and cathedrals of the earth
put together, and it was thronged. Oh,
what a multitude! had never seen so
many people together. All the audiences
of all the churches of all the earth put
together would make a poor attendance
compared with that assemblage. There
was fashion in attire and headdress
that Immediately took my attention.
The fashion was white. All in white,
save one. And the headdress was
garland of rose and lily and mignon-
ette, mingled with green leaves culled
from the royal gardens and bound to-
gether with bands of gold.
And saw some young men with a
ring on the finger of the right hand and
said to my accompanying angel, why
those rings on the fingers of the right
hands?" and / was told that those who
wore them were prodigal sons and once
fed swine in the wilderness and lived
on husks, but they came home, and the
rejoicing father said. Put a ring on
his hand.
But | said there was one exception to
this fashion of white pervading all the
auditorium and clear up through all the
galleries. II was the attire of the one
who presided in that immense temple
the chiefest, the mightiest. the loyeliest
person in all the place. His cheeks
seemed to be flushed with infinite beau
Iy' and his forehead was a morning sky,
and his lips were eloquence Omnipotent.
But his attire was of deep colors. They
suggested the carnage through which he
mad passed, and | said to my attending
angel, What is that crimson robe that
ne wearsf and | was told, They are
uyed garments from Bozrah, and 'He
uod the wine press alone.
Soon after | entered this temple they
began to chant the celestial litany. 1t
was unlike anything had ever heard
lot sweetness or power, and ! have heard