The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-09

The Brooklyn Divine Relates a
Very Lurid Dream He Had.
Visited the Celestial City and Saw Many
Queer Things That Are Not Laid
Down in Revelations.
New York Recorder.

For his text yesterday morning the Rev.
I. De Witt Talmage took the opening verse
of Ezekiel, which says: Nov. 1t came 10
pass as / was among the captives by the
River OF Chebar that the heavens were
opened and L saw visions of God" Having
read his text, Mr.. Talmage said:
such a dream / had last Sabbath morn
ing and this morning. 1t Was about nan
past 3, and the day was breaking. Ii was
a dream of God; a dream of heaven. Ezekiel
had his dream on the banks of the Chebar;
1 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 IL will look centuries ahead Would
you not like To know how 1t looks now?
That is what 1 am going to tell you. 1 was
there this morning. / have just got back.
How 1 got into that city OF the sun / know
not. Which Of the twelve gates i 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 l knew not which
street to take, when an angel of God ac-
costed me and offered TO show me the OBJ
jects of greatest interest and 10 conduct
me from street to street and from mansion
to mansion, and from temple to temple. ana
wall TO 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 a Sc
cret about this angels name that was not
given to me, but from the tenderness and
sweetness, and affection, and interest taken
i'm my walk through heaven, and, more
than all, in the fact OF thirty-two years
residence, the number of years since she
assembled. j think, 1t was my notner- OIa
all gone, but L think IL was she. You see,
i was only on a visit to the city, ana h3d
not yet taken up residence, ana L couru
know only in part.
81 looked in for a few moments at the
great temple. Our brilliant ana iP bers
is no church in heaven, but he did not
| look for it on the right street. saint John
was right when in his tmo VISION, re-
corded 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. L
had never seen so many people togetaer;
All the audiences of all the churches of all
| the earth put together would make a poor
attendance compared with that assemblage.
There was a fashion i'm attire and head
| dress that Immediately took my attention.
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 Gar
dens and bound together with bands of
gold.
PRODIGAL SONS GALORE.
And l saw some young men with rings
on their fingers of the right hands, and said
to my accompanying angel, Why those
rings on the fingers of the right hands"
| And / was told that those who wore them
we're 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 L 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 loveiiest person
in all the place. His cheeks seemed to be
flushed with infinite beauty, and his fore
eloquence omnipotent. But His attire was
of deep colors. They suggested the carnage
through which He had passed, and / said TO
robe that He wears and l was told. They
are dyed garments from Bozrah.' and He
trod the wine-press alone
Then we passed along Song row, and
we met some OF the old gospel singers.
That is Isaac Watts said my attendant.
AS we came up to him he asked me if the
churches on earth were still singing tie
| hymns he composed at the house Of Lord
o of th hr h0? Years AND I told him that
many of the churches opened ,neir Sab
bath morning services with his Old hymn,
brated their gospel triumphs with his
hymn, Salvation, o the Joyful Song and
often reused their devotions by ms hymn,
Come We that Love the Lord,
"While we were talking he introduced me
This is Charles wesley. who belonged ON
earth to a different church from mine, but
We are ALL r n9w mem 9iSd and Of the the La sahe
And j told Charles Wesley that, almost
every Sabbath We sang one Of his old
Come, Let Us Join Our Friends Above or,
Love Divine. All Love EXceliing. ana
while We were t2lki ns, on that hat street ealIed
college student. now everlastingly well,
came w. and we talked over his old Christ
ly Plain And William Cowper came up,
now entirely recovered from his religious
eTer iG 1eme aha n n2s lTSeihs suicide lei and Va" va
talked over the wide earthly celebrity and
heavenly power of his old. hymns, When I
Can Read Ny Title Clear, and There is a
Fountain Filled with Blood
'And there we met George w. Bethune,
of wondrous Brooklyn pastorate, and / told
him how his comforting hymn had been
sung at obsequies all around the world
1t Is Not Death to Die And Toplady came
was still making use Of his old hymn, Rock
of Ages, Cleft for Me- And we met. also,
on Song Row, Newton, and Hastings. and
Montgomery, and Horatio Bonar. and We
heard floating from window TO window
snatches of the OLD hymns which they start
ed on earth, and started never to die.
CHILDREN IN HEAVEN.
But say some of my hearers, did you
see anything of our friends in heaven
oh. yes, l did. Did you see my children
there?' says someone, and are there any
marks of their last sickness still upon
them?' i did see them, but there was no
pallor, no cough, no fever. no languor about
them. They are all well, and rudy, and
songful, and Astounding with eternal. mirth.
They told me to give their love to you; that
they thought of you hour by hour. and
that, when they could be excused from the
heavenly Fairgrounds, they came down and
lowered over you and kissed your cheek
and filled your dreams with their glad faces
and that they would be at the gate to greet
YOU when you assembled TO be with them
forever.
Then 1 pointed to one of the most col
onnaded and grandly-dom@d residences an
all the city and said: Who lives there
and the answer was: The widow who
gave two mites And who lives thereg
and the answer was. The penitent thief,
be with me in Paradise.'.' 'And who lives
there | said. and the answer was: The
blind beggar who prayed, Lord, that my
eyes may be opened"
LAS / walked through those streets I APP
preciated for the first time what Paul said
TO Timothy: If we suffer, we shall also
reign with Him Ii surprised me beyond
description that ali the great of heaven
were erpat sufferers. Not ail2 Yes. all