The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-02-21
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DTvINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: GA Vision OF Heaven"

4 TEXT: "No,o 1t came 10 pass as ,ods
among The captioes By the ,iuer of Caebar that
The hearens mere opened and I sa,c uisions OF
God Ezekiel j., l.
!; Expatriated and in far exile on the banks
OF the river Chebar, an afluent Of the Eu-
pirates. sat Ezekiel. It 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 COM
Ing heaven. This exile. seated by that river
Chebar. had a more wonderful dream than
you or ever have had or ever will have
seated on the banks Of the Hudson or Ala
bama or Oregon or Thames or Tfber or
Danube.
But we all have had memorable dreams,
some OF them when we were halt asleep aud
half awake, so thar 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 imagina-
tion OF faculties awake.
/ Such dream had this morning. II was
about half-past 5. and the day was breaking.
1T was dream of God. a dream Of heaven.
Ezekiel bad 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.
snd 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
ts what am going to tell you. I was there
this morning. have just got back. How
got into that city of the sun know not.
Which OF the twelve gates entered Is to me
uncertain But my first remembrance of the
Scene is that stood on one OF tho main ave-
nues, looking this way and that. lost In rap
tures, and the air 80 full! of music and redo
lence and laughter and light that knew not
which street to take. when an angel Of God
nccosted me and offered to show me the OBJ
5ects Of greatest interest, and conduct me
from street to street, and from mansion to
mansion. and from temple to temple, and
from wall to wall. I said to the angel. "How
long hast thou been in heaven?" and the an
Bwer, ''Thirty-two years according to the
earthly calendar"
:: There was secret about thle sagels name
that WIS not given me. but from the tender
ness and sweetness and affection and inter.
est taken in my walk through heaven, and
more than all In the fact Of thirty-two years
residence, the number of years since she
ascended. think 1t was my mother. Old
age and decrepitude and the tired look were
all gone, but I 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,
y looked In for few momeits u <ae great
temple. Our brilliant and lovely Scotch es-
sayist. Mr.. Drummond, says there is no
church in heaven, but he did not look for 1t
on the right street. st. John was right when
In his Patmosic 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
m ha1
pietogether. All the audiences of all the
churches Of all the earth put together would
make poor attendance compared with the
assemblage. There was fashion in attire
and headdress that immediately took my at
tention. The fashion was white. All In
white, save one. And the headdress was
garland OF rose and lily and mignonette,
mingled with green leaves culled from the
royal gardens and bound together with bands
Of gold,
Aud saw sorne 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 hands?" and was
told that those who worethe were prodigal
sons and once fed swine in the wilderness
and lived on husks, but they came home, and
the rejoicing father said, PUT . ring on his
hand"
Is But said there was one exception to this
fashion OF white pervading all the auditorium
and clear up through all the galleries. It
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 eloquence
omnipotent. But his attire was of deep
colors. They suggested the carnage through
which he had passed. and said to my at
tending angel, "What is that crimson robe
that he wearsw and was told. "They are
dyed garments from Bozrah," and "He trod
the wine press alone"
4 Soon after entered this temple they be-
gan to chant the celestial litany. It was un-
like anything had ever heard for sweetness
and power, and have heard the most sweet
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, 'sDavid
And said, "Who is that sounding that
trumpetY and the answer was "GabrielI'
And said, ssWho Is that at the orsan9" and
the answer was "Handei" And the music
rolled on till it.came to = doxology extolling
Christ Himself, when all the worshipers,
lower down and higher up, q thousand gal
leries OF them, suddenly dropped on their
knees and chsnted, "Worth is the Lamb that
was slain" Under the oyerpowering har-
mony fell back. sal, ''Let US 20. This
istoo much for mortal ears. cannot bear
the overwhelming symphony."
7 But noticed as I WAS about to turn away
that on the steps Of the altar was something
shke the lachYrmai, or tear bottle, as had
seen II In the earthly musems, the lachry-
mails, or tear bottles, into which the orien-
tails used to weep fheir griefs and set them
away as sacred. But this lachyrmal, or tear
bottle, In stead OF earthenware, as those the
Ortentals used. was lustrous and fiery with
many splendors, and 1t was towering and Of
great capacity. And I said to my attending
angel, "What is that great lachrymal. or
tear bottle. standing on the step OF the altar"
and the angel said; 'Why, don't you know?
That Is the bottle to which David, the psalm
said, Put thou my tears into thy bottle 1t
il full Of tears from esrth-tears OF repen-
tance, tears of bereavement, tears OF Joy,
tears OF many centurles." And then saw
how sacred tothe sympathetic God are earth
ly sorrows.
As was coming out Of the temple I saw
all along the pictured walls there were
shelves, and golden vlals were being set up
on all those shelves. And I said sWhy the
setting up Of all these vials at this time?
They seem Just now to have been filed"
and the attending angel said. :'The week of
prayer all around the earth has just closed,
and more supplications have been made than
have been made for long while, and these
new vials. newly set up, are what the Bible
speaks OF SO ''golden viais full of odors,
which are the prayers ofsaints." And said
to the accompanying angel, Scan it be posi-
BILE that the prayers or earth are worthy Of
being kept in such heavenly shape" "Why,'
said the angel "there is nothing that so
moves heaven as the prayers of earth, and
they are set up in sight Of these infinite
multitudes, and, more than all, In the sight
of Christ, and He cannot forget them, and
they are before Him world without end.
Then we came out, and as the temple Is al