The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-02-09
/ VISION OF HEAVEN.
DR.. Talmage Describes a Dream
land Voyage.
"The Heavens Were Opened and I Saw
Visions of God"-There Il q Church
In Heaven, the Largest
Ever Seen.

In recent sermon preached at
Brooklyn, Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage
took for his subject: "a Vision of
Heaven" the text being: Ezekiel l. L:
''Now it came to pass as was among
the captives by the river of Chebar
that the heavens were opened and L
saw visions of God" DIR. Talmage
said:
Expatriated and in far exile on the
banks of the river Chebar, an aff1uent
of the Euphrates. sat Ezekiel 1t was
there that he had an immortal dream,
and it is given to us in the Holy Script
ures. 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 or 1 ever have had, or
ever will have, seated on the banks of
the Hudson, or Alabama, or Oregon, or
Thames, or Tiber, or Danube.
But we have all 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 dis
arranged as in slumber, or the imagin-
alton of faculties awake.
Such dream i had this morning. 1t
was about $50, and the day was break
ing 1t was a dream of God; a dream
of Heaven. l was there this morning.
1 have just got back. How got into
that City of the Sun / know not
Which of the twelve gates L en-
tered is to me uncertain. But
my first remembrance 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 l knew not which street to
take, and when EN- angel of God ac-
costed me and offered to show me the
objects of greatest interest, and to coz
duct me from street to street, and from
mansion to mansion, and from temple
to temple. and from wall to wall, l
said to the angel: "How long hast thou
been in Heaven" and the answer
came: "Thirty-two years according to
the earthly calendar" There was a
secret about this angels name that
was not given me. but f ON the tender
ness, and sweetness, and affection, and
interest taken in my walk through
Heaven, and more than all in the fact
of thirty two years residence, the num-
Der of years since she assembled l think
it was my mother. Old age, and
decrepitude, and the tired look were
all gone, but l think it was she
looked in for few moments at the
great temple. Our brilliant and lovely
Scotch essayest, Mr.. Drummond, says
there is no church in Heaven, but he
did not look for it on the right street
Saint John, in his Patmosic vision,
recorded in the third chapter of
Revelation speaks of 1.-THE Temple
of my God" l 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 multitude.
There was fashion in attire and head
dress that Immediately took my atten
ton. The fashion was white. All in
white, save one. And the head-dress
was a garland of rose, and lily, and
| mignonette, mingled with green leaves
culled from the royal gardens, and
bound together with bands of gold.
And / saw some young men with
ring on the finger of the right hand,
and said to my accompanying angel:
''Why those rings on the fingers of the
right hand?" 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:
s'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. 1t was the attire of the
One who presided in that immense
temple The chiefest, the mightiest,
the loveliest person in all the place.
His cheeks seemed to be flushed with
| infinite beauty, and His forehead was a
morning sky, and His lips were elo-
quence omnipotent-
/ Soon after entered this temple they
! began to chant the celestial litany. 1t
was unlike anything l had ever heard
! for sweetness or power, and l have
heard the most of the great organs and
the most of the great oratorios. | said
to my accompanying angel: "Who is
that standing yonder with the harp?"
and the answer was, "Davidr' and l
said: "Who is that sounding that trum-
pet?" and the answer was, Gabriel"
! And / said: who is that at the orgap?"
, and the answer was, "Handel!' And
the music rolled on till it came to
doxology extolling Christ Himself,
when all the worshipers, lower down
, and higher up, a thousand galleries of
them, suddenly dropped on their knees
and chanted, Worthy is the Lamb
/ that was slain"
| But / noticed as was about to turn
away that on the steps of the altar was
something like the lachrymal or tear
. bottle, as had seen it in the earthly
i museums, the lachrymals, or tear-bot-
. ties into which the orientals used to
weep their griefs and set them away as
sacred But this lachrymal. or tear
, bottle, instead of earthenware as those
! the orientals used, was lustrous and
! fiery with many splendors, and it was
, towering and of great capacity. And
1 said to my attending angel: what is
that great lachrymal, or tear-bottie.
standing on the steps of the altar"
and the angel said: why, do you not
! know? That is the bottle to which
David, the psalmist, referred in his
fifty-sixth psalm, when he said: Put
thou my tears into thy bottle 1t is
full of tears from earth, tears of repent
ance, tears of bereavement. tears OF
/ JOY, tears of many centuries And
| then / saw how sacred to the sympa-