The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-11-08

Ain this sermon under the figure of
home; text, John xiv, 2, In my Faith
er's house are many rooms"
Here is bottle of medicine that is
cure ALL The disciples were sad, and
Christ offered heaven as an alternative
a stimulant and tonic. lie shows them
that their sorrows are only dark back
ground Of a bright picture of coming re-
licity. He lets them know that, though
now they live on the lowlands, they snail
vet have house on the upiands. Nean!
ali the Bible descriptions Of heaven may
be figurative. / am not positive that III
all heaven there is a literal crown or harp
or nearly gate or throne or chariot. They
NAV be only used to illustrate the glorles
of tbe nlacc. bat how we'll they do It.
The fayorite symbol by which the Rihle
presents celestial happiness is house.
Paul. who never owned Il house, although
he hired one for two years IN lta.E,
sneaks of heaven as a ''house not made
with hands, and Christ in our text. the
translation of which is little changed,
so as to give the more accurate meaning,
says, ''In my Fathers house are many
rooms
This diyineiy authorized comparison OF
heaven to a great homestead of large &C
commodations I propose to carry out. In
some healthy neighbolhood man builds
a very commodious habitation. He must
have room for all his children. The rooms
come to be called after the different mem
bers 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
60 out into the world and build their
own homes, and the daughters are mar
ried or have talents enough singly to 30
out and do a 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, We'll.
our family is no larger now than when
we started together forty years ago." But
time goes still farther by, and some OF
the children ere unfortunate and return
to the old homestead to live, and the
grandchildren come with them and per-
haps great-grandchildren and again the
house is full.
MiIlennia ago God built ON the hills of
heaven great homestead for family
innumera BILE, yet to be. At first he lived
alone in that great house, but after
awhile it was occupied by very large
family, cherubic, seraphic, angelic. The
eternities passed on, and many Of the in
habitants became hayward and left, new
er to return, and many of the apartments
were vacated. / refer to the fallen an
gels. Now these apartments are filling
up again. There are arrivals at the I'D
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 | expect to enter it and
make there eternal residence, | thought
you would like to get some more particu-
lars about the many roonled homestead.
I'm my Fathers house are many rooms.
You see, the place is to be apportloned
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 that we
shall live in different apartments. I'm
my Fathers house are many rooms"
You see, heaven will be so large that IL
one wants an entire room to himself Or
herself it can be afforded.
Its Extent Is Bound1css.
An ingenious statistician, taking the
statement made in Revelation, twenty
first chapter, that the heavenly Jerusa-
lem was measured and found to be II, 900
furlongs and that the length and height
and breadth Of it are equal, says that
would make heaven in size 94S sextillion
9S8 quintillion cubic feet, and then, re-
serving a certain portion for the court of
heaven and the streets and estimating
that the world may last hundred thou
sand years, he ciphers out that there are
over 5000, 900 600, 900 rooms, each room
IL 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 / can read, the
rooms will be palatial, 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 q vast prai-
RE or In a 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 luxuries Of many
people in getting out Of this world will be
the gaining of unhindered and uncramp-
ed room. And l should not wonder if.
iastead 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. SIN
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 guardsrnan swings open
the front door, and we are ushered to the
right into the reception room Of the old
homestead. That is the place where we
first meet the welcome Of heaven. There
must be place where the departed spirit
enters and place in which it confronts
the inhabitants celestial. The reception
room Of the newly arrived from this
world-what scenes it must have witness
ed since the first guest arrived, the vic
tim of the first fratricide, pious Abel! In
that room Christ lovingly greets all new