The times., 1897-05-17
VISION OF HEAVENLY BLISS
DR.. Talmage's Dream Of Meeting
Mother in the Skies.
HEARS GABRIEL WIND A HORN
Familiar Faces in the City Of Gold
and Glad Messages From De-
parted Friends Heavens Climate
and Glorious Society Women Of
the Washtub There.

Rev t Dewitt Talmage preached yes
terday morning on the subject, "a Vision
OF Heaven" His text was Ezekiel l, /:
.sNow il came to pass as l was among
the captives by the River OF Chebar, that
the heavens were opened and l saw
vision OF Cod He said:
Expatriated, and in far exile on the
| banks of the River Chebar, an affluent
| OF the Euphrates, sat Ezekiel. 1t was there
| he had an immortal dream, and it is
given TO US in the Holy Scriptures. He
| dreamed of Type and Egypt He dreamed
| of Christ and the coming heaven. This
| exile, seated by that River Chebar. had
| O more wonderful dream than you or /
| ever have had, or ever will have, seated
| on the banks of the Potomac, or HUDSON,
| or Alabama, or Oregon. or Thames, or
| Tiber, 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
| whetter,they were born Of shadow or sun
! light; " hether they were thoughts let loose
and disarranged, as in slunlber, or the
! imagination OF faculties awake.
| Such a dream | had this morning 1t
| was about O'Clock, and the day w;rs
| breaking 1t was a dream Of God;
| dream of heaven Ezekiel had his dream
| on the banks of the Chebar; l had my
| dream not far from the banks of the
| Potomac The most of the stories If
| heaven were written many centuries ago,
and they tell us how the place looked
| then or how it VIII look Centuries aiiead
Would you not like to know how it looks
now? That is what | am going TO tell
| YOU | was there this morning. l have
| Just got back. How l got into that city
| of the sun / know not Which OF the
| twelve gates I entered is TO me uncertain.
| But my first remembrance Of the scene is
| that | stood on one of the ruain avenues,
| looking this way and that, lost in raptur.s,
! and the air so full OF music and redolencr,
| and laughter and light, that ! knew not
| which street 60 take, when au angel ssf God
| accosted me and offered TO show me the
| objects or greatest interest, and to 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 answer came, Thirty
| five years according to the earthly calcn-
! dar." There was secret about this
! angels name that was not given me, but
| from the tenderness, and sweetness, and
| affection, and interest taken in my walk
| through heaven. and more than ali in the
| fact OF thirty-five years residence. the
| number of years since she ascended, l think
| 1t was my mother. Old age, and decrcpi-
! tude. aud the tired look were all gone, hut
| / think it was she.
| And saw some young men with ring
on tie finger of the right hand, and said TO
NY accompan wing angel, Why those rings
/ on the fingers OF the right hands?" and
\ was told that those who wore them were
| protiigaI sons and once fed swine in the
! wilderness and lived on husks; but they
| came home and the rejoicing Father said,
| .'Put Ting on his hand. "
Soon after / entered a temple they be-
gan To chant the celestial litany. IL
was unlike anything / had ever heard for
| sweetness Of power, and have heard the
| most of the great organs and the most OF
she great oratories / said 10 my ac-
| companying angel, "Who is that standing
/, yonder with the harp" and the answer
| was "Davidi" And / said, 'fWho is
| that sounding the trumpet?' and the eanswer
was. "Gabrielr' And / said, Who is that
at the organ?'' and the answer was, Han
] dpip' And the music rolled on till it
lcaIne to a doxolegy extolling Christ Him
| self when all tie worshipers, lower down
and higher up, a thousand galleries of
| them, suddenly dropped on their knees
| and chanted worthy is the lamb that
! was slain" Under the overpowering har-
| mony l fell back. l said, Let US go.
This is too much for mortal ears i cannot
bear the overwhelming SYMPHONY
As was coming out of the temple /
saw all along the pictured walls there
| were shelves and golden vials were being
set up on all those shelves. And / said,
''why the setting-up of those vials at this
time They seem just now to have been
| filled" and the attending angel said:
Recently more supplications have been
made than have been made for long
while, and these new Walls, newly set up,
are what the Bible speaks of as golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of saints" And said to the accompany
ing angel: "Can it be that the prayers of
earth are worthy to be kept in such beagen-
ly sfape?" 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 ell, in the sight OF Christ, and
He cannot forget them, and they are before
Him world without end"
Then we came out and passed along
through narrow street called Martyr
place, and we met there, or saw sitting
at the windows, the souls of those who on
earth went through fire and flood. and
under sword and rack We saw John
Wickliffe, whose ashes were by the de-
cree of the Council of Constance thrown
into the river; and Rogers. who bathed
his hands in the fire as though il had been
water: and Bishop Hooper, and Mckail. and
J LaGimer, and Ridley, and Polycarp, whom
the flames refused to destroy as they bent
outward till a spear did the work; and
some OF the Aibigenses, and Huguenots
| and consecrated Quakers, who We're slain
for their religion. They had on them
many scars, but their scars iIlurnined
and they had on their faces a look oi
especial triumph.
And there we met George W. Bethune
of wondrous Brooklyn pastorate, and told
him of his comforting hymn that hat
been sung at obsequies all around the
world-.It Is Not Death to Die" And
Toplady came up and asked about whether
the church 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 anC
| Horatio Bonar, and we heard floating from
window to window snatches of the ole
| hymps which they started on earth, and