The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-02-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Trip TO DreamIand with Visions
OF Heaven.
A Church IN Heaven, the Largest Ever
Seen mn Large ms All the Churches
and Cathedrals ON Earth
Put TogstheR.

Now g came 10 pass as 7 was among the
eaptires By the river OF Chebar that the Heav-
ems we're opened and saw visions OF Goa
Expatriated and far i'm exile on the
banks Of the River Chebar. an afiuent
of the EuphrateS, sat Ezekiel IL was
there that he had an immortal dream,
and il is given to us In the Holy Scrip
lures. 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 l ever have had, or
ever win have, seated on the banks of
the Hudson, or Alabama, or Oregon, or
| Thames, or 1iber, or Danube
But we all have had memora BILE
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 disar-
ranged as in slumber, or the imagina-
ton of faculties awake
Such dream had this morning. It
was about half past FIVE, and the day
was breaking. 1t was a dream of God;
a dream of Heaven. Exel1iel haa his
dream on the banks Of the Chebar; /
Ia my dream not far from the banks
of the Hudson. The most of the sto-
RIGS of Heaven were written many
centuries ago, and they tell us how the
place looked then, or how it will look
centuries 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 the city of the
sun l know not. Which of the twelve
gates entered is to me 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 knew not which street to
take. and when anangel of God accosted
me and offered to show me the objects
of greatest interest, and to conduct me
from street to street, and from man
sion 10 mansion, and from temple to
temple, and from wall 10 wall, / said
to the angel: "How long hast thou
been i'm Heaven" and the answer
came: "Thirty-two years according to
the earthly calendar" There was m
/ bGCIcI dbOub THIS CA lAdb was
not given me, but from the tenderness,
and sweetness, and affection, and in
tcrest taken i'm my walk through
Hea ven, and more than all in the fact
of thirty-two years residence, the num-
Der of years since she assembled, think
it was my mother. Old age, and de-
crepitude, and the tired look were all
gone, but think il was she. You see,
l was only on a visit to the city, and
had not yet taken up residence, and
could now only in part.
looked in for a few moments at the
great temple. Our brilliant and lovely
Scotch essayist, Mr.. Hammond, says
there is no church in Heaven, but he
did not look for it on the right street.
st. John, when in his Patmosic vision,
recorded in the third chapter of Reve-
| latiOns he speaks of 1.-THE temple of my
Cod saw it this morning: the largest
church i ever saw; as big as all the
churches and cathedrals or the earth
put together. and it was thronged.
Oh, what a multitude 7 had never
seen so many people together. All the
audiences Of all the churches of all the
earth put together would make poor
attendance compared with that as
semblagc. There was a fashion in at
tire and head-dress that Immediately
took my attention. The fashion was
white. All in white, save one. And
the head-dress was garland of rose,
and lily, and mignOuette, mingled
with green leaves culled from the
royal gardens, and bound together
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?n and was told that those
who wore them were prodigal sons,
and once fed swine IN the wilderness,
and lived on huslxs, but they came
home. and the rejoicing father said:
Put ring on his hand ~
Bot said there was one exception
to this fashion of white pervadinR 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
morning sky. and His lips were elo-
quence omnipotent. They suggested
the carnage through which He had
passed, and l said to my attending
angel, What is that crimson robe that
He wears?" and ] was told, They are
dyed garments from Bozrah,n aHd
ssHe trOd the yvine-press alone
Soon after entered this temple they
began TO chant the celestial litany
1t was unlike anything ] had ever
heard for sweetness or power, and ]
have heard the most of the great or
gans and the most of the great ora
torios ] said to- my accompanying
angel: "Who is that standing yonder
with the harp?r and the answer was
'sDavidr' And I said: who is that
sounding that trumpet?' and the an
swer was 'Gabriel!'' And I said:
Who il that mt the organ?" and the
answer was Handel.' And the music
rolled on till il came to a doxology ex-
tolling Christ himself, when al the
worshipers,s lower down and higher
up. thousand galleries of them, sad-
denly dropped ON their knees and
chanted: Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain Under the overpoweri1g
harmony fell back. said. Let MS
go This Is too much for mortal ears.
I can not bear the overwhelming sym
phony."
But l noticed as ! was about to turn
away that on the steps of the altar was