The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-11-10
OUR HOME In HEAVEN
DR.. Talmage breaches on the Glories
of Our Fathers House.
There Are in 1t Many Rooms, and
There Is a Place for Every
One of Gods Chill
dren.
copyright, 1899, by Louis klopsch)
Washington

Copyright, 1899, by Louis Klopsch)
Washington,
In a unique way the Heavenly world
is discoursed upon by DR.. Talmage in
this sermon under the figure of home;
text, John 1872: I'm my fathers
house are many rooms"
Here is a bottle of medicine that is
cure all. The disciples were sad, and
Christ offered Heaven as an alternative,
a stimulant and a tonic. He shows
them that their sorrows are only dark
background of a bright picture of COM
ing felicity. He let's them know that,
| though they live on the lowlands, they
shall yet have house on the uplands.
Nearly all the Bible descriptions of
Heaven may be figurative. l am not
positive that in all Heaven there is u
literal crown or harp or pearly gate or
throne or chariot. They may be only
used to illustrate the glories of the
place, but how we'll they do it! The ia
vorite symbol by which the Bible pre-
sents celestial happiness is a house.
Paul, who never owned house, al
though he hired one for two years in
Italy, speaks of Heaven as house not
made with hands," and Christ in our
| text, the translation of which is lit
tie changed, so as to give the more ac-
curate meaning, says: "In my Fathers
| house are many rooms"
This Divinely authorized comparison
| of Heaven to a great homestead of large
accommodations propose to carry out.
In some healthy neighborhood man
hob TO
| He must have room for all his children.
! The rooms come to be called after the
different members of the family. That
| is mothers room, that is Georges room,
| that is Henry's room, that is Flora's
room, that is Mary's room, and the
house is all occupied. But time goes by,
and the SONS go out into the world and
| build their own homes, and the daugh-
tiers are married or have talents enough
singly to go out and do good work in
the world. After awhile the father and
mother are almost alone in the house,
and, seated by the evening stand, they
| say: "Well, our family is no larger
now than when we started together 40
! years ago" But time goes still farther
| by, and some of the children are unfor-
| tunate, and return to the old homestead
| to live, and the grandchildren come
with them, and perhaps great-grand-
children, and again the house is full.
Millennia ago God built on the hills OF
Heaven great homestead for family
| innumerable, yet to be. At first He lived
| alone in that great house, but after
| awile it was occupied by a very large
| family, cherubic, seraphic, angelic.
The eternities passed on, and many of
| the inhabitants became wayward and
| left, never to return, and many of the
| apartments were vacated. refer to the
| fallen angels. Now these apartments
are filling up again. There are arrivals
at the old homestead of Gods children
| every day, and the day will come when
| there will be no unoccupied room in all
| the house.
AS you and I expect to enter it and
make there eternal residence, / thought
| you would like to get some more par
| ticulars about the many roomed home I.
stead. ''In my Fathers house are many
rooms" You see the place is to be ap-
portioned off into apartments. We shall
love all who are in Heaven, but there
are some very good people whom we
would not want to live with in the same
room. They may be better than we are,
| but they arc of a divergent tempera-
ment. We would like to meet with
! them on the golden streets and worship
with them in the temple and walk with
them on the river banks, but / am glad
| to say that we shall live in different
| apartments. I'm my Fathers house
are many rooms" You see, Heaven will
be so large that if one wants an entire
room to himself or herself it can be af-
| forded.
An ingenious statistician, taking the
| statement made in Revelation, twenty
! first chapter, that the Heavenly Jeru-
| salem was measured and found to be
| $4,000 furlongs and that the length and
height and breadth of it are equal, says
that would make Heaven in size 946
| sextillion 998 quintillion cubic feet, and
then, reserving a certain portion for
| the court of Heaven and the streets and
estimating that the world may last
| hundred thousand years, he ciphers out
| that there are over 5000, 1000, ,000, ,00O
rooms, each room II feet long, 16 feet
wide, Is feet high. But have no faith
| in the accuracy of that calculation.
| He makes the rooms too small. From
all l can read, the rooms will be pala-
| tial, and those who have not had enough
room in this world will have plenty of
room at the last. The fact is that most
people in this world are crowded, and,
| though out on a vast prairie or in u
| mountain district people may have
more room than they want, in most
| cases it is house built close to house,
| and the streets are crowded, and the
cradle is crowded by other cradles, and
| the graves crowded in the cemetery by
other graves, and one of the richest
Iuxuries of many people in getting out
of this world will be the gaining of un-
| hindered and uncramped room. And
should not wonder if, instead of the
room that the statistician ciphered out
as only II feet by 16, it should be
larger than any of the rooms at Berlin,
st. James or Winter palace. ''In my
Fathers house are many rooms"
Carrying out still further the symbol
ism of the text, let US join hands, and go
up to this majestic homestead and see
| for ourselves. As we ascend the golden
steps an invisible guardsman swings
open the front door, and we are ushered
to the right into the reception room of
| the old homestead. That is the first
place where we first meet the welcome