Connecticut western news., 1894-02-08
A VISION OF HEAVEN.
REV. DR. TALMAGE'S ELOQUENT sER- MON AT THE TABERNACLE.

He Dreams . Marvellous Dream of Heaven and Describes What He Saw There-The Saints Who Are Great In Heaven-Names Not In the Directory.
 BROOKLYN, Feb. 4.-In the Brooklyn Tabernacle this forenoon the hymns, the Scripture lesson and the prayers, as we'll as the sermon, were about the future world more than about this world. Rev. Dr. Talmage took for his subject "A Vision of Heaven," the text being Ezekiel i, 1, "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 the river Chebar, an aff1uent of the Euphrates, sat Ezekiel. It 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 the coming heaven. This exile seated by that river Chebar had 8 more wonderful dream than you or I ever have had or ever will have seated on the banks of the Hudson or Alabama or Oregon or Thames or Ti- Der or Danube.
 But we 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 disarranged as In slumber, or the imagination of faculties awake.
 Such dream I had this morning. It was about half past 5, and the day was breaking. It was 8 dream of God, a dream of heaven Ezekiel had 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, and they tell us how the place looked then, or how it will look cen turies ahead. Would you not like to know how it looks now2 That is what am going to tell you. was there this morning. have just got back. How l got into that city of the sun know not. Which of the 12 gates entered is to me uncertain. But my first remem-
 
 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 I knew not which street to take, when an angel of God accosted me and offered to show me the objects of greatest interest, and to conduct me from street to street, and from mansion to mansion, and from tenn pie to temple, and from wall to wall. 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 secret about this angels name that was not given me, but from the tenderness and sweetness and affec ton and interest taken in my walk through heaven, and more than all in the fact of 82 years residence, the num- Der of years since she ascended, think it was my mother. Old age and decrep- itude and the tired look were all gone, but think it was she. You see, was only on a visit to the city and had not yet taken up residence, and I could know only in part.
 THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN.
 I looked in for a few moments at the great temple. Our brilliant and lovely Scotch essayist, MT. 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 >Av { 1f sv,rx largest church ever saw, as big as all the churches and cathedrals of the earth put together, and 1t was thronged. Oh, what multitudei had never seen 30 many people together. All the audiences of all the churches of all the earth put together would make poor attendance compared with that assemblage. There was 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- cite, mingled with green leaves culled from the royal gardens and bound to- gether with bands of gold.
 And I 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?" 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, Put ring on his hand"
 Butf 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 beau ty, and his forehead was morning sky, and hisips were eloquence omnipotent. But his attire was of deep colors. They suggested the carnage through which he had passed, and said to my attending angel, What is that crimson robe that he wearsY' and was told, "They are dyed garments from Bozrah, " and "He trod the wine press alone
 Soon after I entered this temple they began to chant the celestial litany. It was unlike anything had ever heard for sweetness or power, and 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, "Davidl" And I said, "Who is that sounding that trumpetp" and the answer was, "Gabriell' And l said, .'Who is that at the organ?" and the answer was, "Handel!' And the music rolled on till it came to doxol- ogy extolling Christ himself, when all the worshipers, lower down and higher up, thousand galleries of them, sud- denly dropped on their knees and chant cd, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" Under the overpowering har- Inony fell back. said: Let us go. This is too much for mortal ears. l can not bear the overwhelming symphony. "
 But noticed as I was about to turn away that on the steps of the altar was