The Red Cloud chief., 1894-02-16
A VISION OF HEAVEN.
REV. Or. TAlMAGE's ELOQUENT sER-
MON At THE TABERNACLE.

Hs Dreams n Marvellous Dream Of Heaven
and Describes what He Saw Thsre-The
Saints who Arc Great In Heaven-Namcs
Not In the Directory.
BROOKLYN, Feb. An the BROOKLYN
Tabernacle this forenoon the hymns, the
Scripture lesson and the prayers, as well
as the sermon, were about the future
world more than about this world.
Rev. DR.. Talmage took for his subject
Ezekiel /, I, Now it came to pass as
| was among the captives by the river
Of Chebar that the heavens were opened
and | saw visions of God"
Expatriated and in far exile on the
banks Of tho river Chebar, an afiluent
of the Eupbrates, sat Ezekiel. II was
there he had an immortal dream, and 1t
is given to us in the Holy Scriptures.
He dreamed of Tyre and Egypt. He
dreamed of Christ and tho coming
heaven. This exile seated by that river
Chebar had u more wonderful dream
than you or I over have had or ever will
have seated on tho banks Of the Hudson
or Alabama or Oregon or Thames or Ii
Der or Danube.
But wo 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 d%isarranged
as in slumber, or the imagination Of
faculties awake.
Such a dream | had this morning. It
was about half past s., and the day was
breaking. 1t was a dream Of God, a
dream of heaven. Ezekiel had his dream
on the banks of tho Chebar; I had my
dream not far from the banks Of the
Hudson. Tho most of the stories Of
heaven were written many centuries
ago, and they tell us how the place
looked then, or how 1t will look cen
turtles ahead. Would you not like to
know how 1t 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 IL gates | entered is
to me uncertain. But my first remem-
brance of the scene is that I stood on
n OF tho 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
mo the objects of greatest interest, and
to conduct mo from street to street, and
from mansion to mansion, and from tenn
pie to temple, and from wall to wall. l
said to tho 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 from
the tenderness and sweetness and aifec-
ton 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 assembled, / think
1t was my mother. Old age and decrcp-
itude and the tired look were all gone,
but think it was she. You see, 1 was
only on a visit to the city and had not
yet taken up residence, and / could
know only in part.
II CHURCH IN HEAVEN.
| looked in for u 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 l ever saw, as big as all
tho churches and cathedrals of the earth
put together, and it was thronged. Oh,
what a multitude! l had never seen so
many people together. All the audiences
OF all tho churches Of all the earth put
together would make a poor attendance
compared with that assemblage. There
was a fashion in attire and headdress
that Immediately took my attention.
The fashion was white. All in white,
save one. And the headdress was a
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 l 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
handsI' and l was told that those who
wore them were ~prodigal sons and once
fed swine in tho 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 p~ervading all the
auditorium and clear up through all the
galleries. 1t was the attire of the one
who presided in that immense temple
tho chiefest, tho mightiest, the loveliest
person in all tho place. His cheeks
seemed to be flushed with infinite beau
ty. and his forehead was n morning sky,
and his lips were eloquence omnipotent.
But his attire was of deep colors. They
suggested tho carnage through which he
had passed, and l said to my attending
angel, What is that crimson robe that
ha uvaorop'' opI xno tn1l s.Tl,, ,,n