The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-12-08
HEAVEN ISHROWlNG.
Some Novel Ideas on the Future
Home of the Blest.
Rev. DR.. Taimage Declaree that Heaven 10
Constantly Being Enriched, and
Its Inhabitants Constantly
Progressing.


Witt Talmage sets forth some novel
ideas of the world to come The text
is: And | saw a new Heaven Key
elatiOns, xxi, l.
The sterotyped Heaven does not make
adequate impression upon us. We
need the old story told i'll new style in
order to arouse our appreciation.
do not suppose that we are compelled
to the old i'hraseology. King James
translators did not exhaust all the
good and graphic words in the English
dictionary. l suppose if we should
take the idea of Heaven, and translate
it into modern phrase, we would find
that its atmosphere is a combination
of early June and of the Indian sum-
mer in October, a place combining the
advantages of city and country, the
streets standing for the one, and the
twelve manner of fruits for the other;
a place of musical entertainments
harpe1s, pipers, trumpeters, doNolo-
gies; place of wonderful architecture
behold the temples! a place where
there may be the highest forms of ami
NAL life-the beasts which were on
earth beaten, lash-whipped and CALLED
and unblanketed, and worked to
death, turned out among the white
horses which the Book of Revelation
| describes as being in Heaven; place of
stupendous literature-theh books open; !;
a place of aristCsrat and democratic
| attractiveness-the kings standing for
| the one. all nations for the other; all
| botanical, pomological, ornithological,
arborescent, worshipful beauty and
grandeur.
But my idea now is to speak chiefly
of the improved Heaven. People
sometimes talk of Heaven as though it
| were an old city, finished centuries
| ago, when | have to tell you that no
| city on earth. during the last so years,
| is not the same place as when Job, and
| David, and Paul wrote of it. For hun
| dreds and hundreds of years it has
been going through peaceful revolu-
| ton, and year by year, and month by
month, and hour by hour, and mo-
ment by moment, it is changing, and
changing for something better. Away
back there was only one residence
in the universe-the residence of the
Almighty. Heaven had not yet been
started. immensely was the park all
around about this great residence; =;
but Gods sympathetic heart after
| awhile overf1owed in other creations,
| 4 ~
country of immensity, inhabited vii
| lagos, which grew and enlarged until
they joined each other, and became one
great central metropolis of the uni
verse, streeted, gated, tempted, Va
! tered, inhabited. One angel went forth
ured Heaven on the one side, and then
he went forth and measured Heaven
| on the other side; and then St. john
| tried to take the census of that city
| and he became so bewildered that he
gave it up.
| That brings me to the first thought
| of my theme-that Heaven is vastly
improved in numbers. Noting little
| under this head about the multitude
of adults who have gone into glory
during the last 100. or 500, or 1,OOC
years, | remember there are 1000, ,cOO,
600 of people in the world, and tha,
the vast majority of people die in in.
fancy. How many children must have
gone into Heaven during the last SOC
or 1000 years! If New York should
gather in one generation 100000 pop
ulation, if London should gather in
one generation 100000 population
| what a vast increase. But what q
mere nothing as compared with the
100000, the 100000, 900, the "mul
titude that no man can number" thai
have gone into that city! OF course
all this takes for granted that every
child that dies goes as straight into
Heaven as ever the light sped FROM {
star; and that is one reason why
Heaven will always be fresh and beau
tiful-the great multitude of children
in it. Put 50O,OOO,O00 children in ;
country, it will be blessed and livel,
country.
But add to this, if you will, tn.
great multitude of adults who have
gone into glory, and how the census o
Heaven must run up! Many year.
ago a clergyman stood in New Eng
land pulpit, and said that he believed
that the vast majority of the race
would finally be destroyed, and tha
not more than one out of 1000 per
sons would be finally saved Their,
happened to be about 1000 people il
the village where he preached. Mex
Sabbath two persons were heard dis
cussing the subject, and wondering
which one of the 1000 people in tn
village would finally reach Heaven
and one thought it would he the min
lister, and the other thought it woul,
be the old deacon. Now. | have no
much admiration for a lifeboat whicl
will go out to a ship sinking witt
1000 passengers, and get one off il
safety and let 1900 go to the bottom
Why Heaven must have been a yillag
when Abel, tae first soul from earth