The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-17
Copyright, Louis Klopsch. 1892

this sermon under the figure of a home;
text, John xiv, 2, I'm my Fathers
house are many rooms"
Here is a bottle of medicine that is a
cure all. The disciples were sad, and
Christ offered heaven as an Alternative, a
stfmulant and a tonic. He shows them
that HEN SORROWS are only a dark
background of a bright picture of COM
ing felicity. He lets them know that,
though BOY they live on the low1ands,
they shall yet have a house on the up
lands. Nearly all the Bible descriptions
of heaven may be f~gurative. 1 ann not
positive hat in all heaven there is a
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 well they do it, The
favorite symbol by which the Bible
presents celestial happiness is a house.
Pau who never owned a house, al
though h hired one for two years in
Italy, spe of cav as a house not
made with hands," and Christ in our
text, the translation of which is a little
changed, so as to give the more accu-
rate meaning, says, I'm my Fathers
house are many rooms"
This divinely authorized companion
of heaven to a great homestead OF
large accommodations l propose to car
ny out. IN some healthy neighborhood
a man builds a very c~ommodious habi-
tation. He must have room for all his
children. The rooms come to be called
after the different members of the fam
lily. 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 the time goes by, and the sons go
out INTO the world and build their own
homes, and the daughters are married
or nave talents enough singly to go
out and do a good work in the world.
After awhile the father and mother are
almost clone in the big 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 unfortunate and re-
turn to the old homestead to live, and
the grandchildren come with them and
perhaps Observation-Disclosures, n again
the house is fupl.
MfNennia ago God built on the hills
of heaven a great homestead for a.
family innumerab1e, yet to be. At first
he lived alone in that great house, but
CLLlCl IL u a W " ~
large family, cherubic, %seraphic, angel
&c. The eteTnities passed on, and MANY
of the inhabitants became hayward
n left, never to return, and many OF
the apartments were vacated. / refer
to the fallen angels. Now these apart
ments are fiNling up again. There are
arrivals at the old homestead of Gods
children every day, n 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, I thought
you would like to get some more partlc-
ularS about the many rOOmed home
steads. ''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 HEAVIER
but there are some very good people
whom We would not want to live with
in the same room. They may be bet
ter than we are, but they are of a di-
vergent 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 I am glad to say that We shall live
in different apartments. In my Fa-
ter'S house are many rooms" You see,
heaven will be SO large that II one
wants an entire room to himself or her.
self it can be afforded.
ITS EXTENT IS BOUNDLESS.
An ingenious statisticaian, taking the
statement made in Revelation, twenty
first chapter, that the heavenly Jeru-
salem was measured and found to be
u, 900 furlongs and that the length and
height and breadth of it are equal, says
that would make heaven in size 94S
seXtillion 9SS Quintillion cubic feet, and
then, reserving a certain portion for
the court of heaven and the streets and
estimating that the world may last a
hundred Thousand years, he ciphers
out that there are over 5000, OO0, 00O, OOO
romms, each room II feet long, 16 feet
wide. Is feet high. But I AVE no faith
in the of hat 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 his 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 a mountain district peo-
Pile may have more room than they
want, i'm most cases it is house built
close to house, and the streets are
crowded by other cradles, and the
graves rowded in the cemetery by
other graves, and one of the richest
luxuries of many people in getting out
of this world will De the gaining OF un-
Kindred and uncramped room And l
should not wonder if, instead of the
room that the statistician ciphered out
as only II feet by 16. it should be larger
than amy of the rooms at Berlin, st.
James or Winter palace. I'm my Fa-
theirs ous are many rooms"
Carrying out still further the symbol
ism of the text, let us join hands and
go up to his 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 recep-
tion room of the old homestead. Tha
is the place where We first meet the
welcome of heaven. There must be a
place where tine departed spirit enters
and a place in which 1T confronts the
inhabitants celestial, The reception
room OF the newly arrived
from This world-what scenes 1T must
have witnessed since the first guest ar
rived, the victim of the first fratricide,
pfous Abel! In that room Christ low
fngly greets all newcomers. He re-
deemed them, and he has the rlgnt TO
the first embrace on arrival. What a
minute when the assembled spirit nrst