Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-11-09
THE HEAVENLY HOME
OR. TALMAGE ON THE GLORlES OF
THE FATHERS HOME.
There Arc In II Many Rooms, aud
There Is "a Place For All OF Gods
ChiIdren-The Family Room mud Its
Blessed Associations.
copyright. Louis Klopsch, ls9o.l

copyright. Louis Rlopsch, 1901
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5.-1n a unique
way the heavenly world is discoursed up
on by DR.. Talmage in this sermon under
the figure of n home; text, John xiv, =,
"In my Fathers house are many rooms"
Here is a bottle of medicine that is n
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 n dark back
ground of a bright picture of coming fe-
Lefty. He lets them know that, though
now they live on the lowlands, they shall
yet have n house on the uplands. Nearly
all the Bible descriptions of heaven may
be fgurativc. | am not positive that in
all heaven there is a literal crown or lsnrp
ar pearly gate or throne or chariot. They
may be only used to illustrate the glorios
of the place, but how well they do it!
The ~favorite symbol by which the Bible
presents celestial happiness is a house.
Paul. who never owned n house, although
he hired one for two years in Italy,
speaks Of heaven as n "house not made
with hands," and Christ in our text, the
translation of which is a little changed.
so as to give the more accurate meaning,
SAYS, "In my Fathers house are many
rooms
This divinely authorized comparison Of
heaven to a great homestead of large ac-
commodations | propose to carry out. In
some healthy neighborhood n man builds
a very commodious hahitation. lie must
have room for all his children. The rooms
come to he 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 oc-
cupied. But time goes by, and the sons
go out into the world and build their
own homes, and the daughters are mar
ricd or have talents enough singly to 90
out and do n good work in the world.
After awhile the father and mother are
almost alone in the big house. and, seat
ed by the evening stand, they say. "Ncll,
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 unfortunate and return
TO the old homestead to live, and the
grandchildren come with them and per-
haps REORGANIZATION, and again the
house is full.
Millennia ago God built on the hills of
heaven a great homestead for n family
innumerable, yet to he. At first he lived
alone in that great house, but after
awhile it was occupied by a very large
family, ~cherubic, seraphic, angelic. The
cternities passed on, and many Of the in
habitants became Maynard and left, new.
er to return, and many of the apartments
were vacated. | refer to the fallen an
gels. Now these apartments are filling mp
again. There are arrivals at the old
homestead Of Gods children every day,
and the day will come when there will be
no unoccupicd room i'll all the house.
As you and ] expect to enter it and
make there eternal residence, | thought
you would like to get some more particu-
lars about the many roomed homestead.
"In my Fathers house are many rooms
You see, the place is to be apportioned
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 are of a divergent temperament,
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 thai we
shall live in different apartments. in
my Fathers house are many rooms.
You see, heaven will be so large that il
one wants an entire room to himself oil
herself it can be afforded.
Its Extent Is B~oundIess.
An ingenious statistician, taking the
statement made in Revelation, twenty
first chapter, that the heavenly Jerusalem
was measured and found to be 1900
furlongs and that the length and heigh'
and breadth of it are equal, says thaI
would make heaven in size 94S seXtillioI
9SS quiutillion cubic feet, and then, re
serving a certain portion for the court o
heaven and the streets and cstimatin.
that the world may last a hundred thou
SAND years, he ciphers ont that there arr
over 5,0O0,O 600 600, q rooms, each room
II feet long, 1G feet wide, IL feet high
But ! have no faith in the accuracy o
that calculation He makes the room
too small. From all / can read, tn
rooms will be palatial, and those VIII
have not had enough room in this worl,
will have plenty Of room at the last. Tn
fact is that most people in this world ar
crowded, and, though out on Il vast prai
RE or in a mountain district people ma.
have more room than they want, in mos
cases it is house built close to house, an
the streets are crowded, and the cradle !
crowded by other cradles, and the grave
crowded in the cemetery by other graves
and one OF the richest luAurleS OF man
people in getting out OF this world will b
the gaining of unhindered and uncramT
ed room. And l should not wonder i
instead Of the room that the statistical
ciphered out as only II feet by lG,
should be larger than my Of the rooms q
Berlin, st. James or Winter palace. Il
my Fathers house are many rooms
Carrying out still further the symbo
ism of the text, let us join hands and =
up to this majestic homestead and see fC
ourselves. AS we ascend the golden steI
an Invisible guardsman swings open IL
front door, and we are uShered to ii
right into the reception room of the o.
homestead. That is the place where "
first meet the welcome of heaven. The
must be a place where the departed spir
enters and a place in which it c%onfron
the inhabitants celestial. The receptit
room OF the newly arrived from tn
world-what scenes it must have witncs
ed since the first guest arrived, the Vi
tim of the first fratricide, pious Abel!
that room Christ lovingly greets all ncN
corners. He redeemed them, and he hi
the right to the first embrace OH arrive
What a minute when the assembled SplI
first sees the Lord! Better than all Y
ever read about him or talked about hi
or sang about him in all the churches al
through all our earthly lifetime will it