The Washington weekly post., 1899-11-08

Taking FOR his subject Many Rooms
In Heaven" text John. XivZ. In my
Fathers house are many rooms. Rev. i.
De witt Taimage said yesterday.
"Hc-e IN bottle OF medicine that Is a
curc-aIl The disciples were sad. and
Christ offered heaven as an Alternative, a
stimUlant ard tonic He shows them
that their sorrows are only dark back
ground 0f a bright picture OF coming fe-
Hcity. He lets them know that though
now they live on the IOwlands they shall
yet have house on the uplands. Nearly
all the Bible descriptions of heaven may
be fsuratiye. ] am not positive that IN
all heaven there IS a literal crown or
harp or pearly gate o. throne or chariot.
They may be only used 10 illustrate the
gloriss OF the place. but how well they do
81! The Eavorite symbol by which the
Bible presents celestial happiness is
house. Paul. who never owned a house,
although he hired one for TWO years in
Italy, speaks 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
heaven 10 a great homestead OF large ac-
commodations / propose 20 carry out. In
some healthy neighbOrhood a man builds
a very commOdIous habltation. He must
have room for all his children. The rooms
come 70 be called after the different mem
bers OF the family. That is mothers
room; tnat Is Georges room; that Is Hen
rvs room; that is Flora's room; that is
Mary's room. and the house is all occu-
pied But time goes by, and the sons go
out into the world, and build their own
homes; and the daughters are married,
or have talents enough singly TO 40 out
and do a good work In the world.
Parents Alone at Hsme.
after a while the father and mother
are almost alone in the big house, and
seated by the evening stand. they say:
We'll. our family is no larger now than
when we started together fcrty years
ago. But time goes still further by and
some of the children are unfortunate, and
return to the ola homestead 20 live, and
IN, grandchildren come with them, and
perhaps great-grandchildren, and again
the house is full
.Mlllenn'a ago God built on the hills of
heaven a great homestead for family
innumerable yet 10 be. At first he lived
alone in that great house. but after awhile
IL was occupied by very large family,
cherubic seraphic, angelic. The eterni-
ties passed on, end many of the inhabit-
ants became w9yward 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,
ana the day vii, 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 partlcu-
lars about the nany-rOomed homestead.
In my Fathers house are many rooms
You see, the place is 20 be appOruoheu
OF into apartments. We snail love all
who are in heaven, but thcre are some
very good people whom We would not
want 10 live with in the same room.
Tney may be better than we are, Dut tney
are OF a divergent temperament We
would like TO meet with them on tne
golden streets, and worship with them IN
the temple, and walk with them on the
river banks bat am glad to say that we
shall live in different apartments. IN
my Fathers house are many rooms. You
see, heaven will be 80 large that II one
wants an entire room to himself or her
self, il can be afforded
ARoom in Heaven for All.
"An ingenious statistician, taking the
statement made in Revelations, twenty
first chapter, that the heavenly Jerusalem
was measured and found TO be l2oVO fur
longs. and that the length and height and
breadth of 1t are equal, says that would
make heaven in size nine hundred ana
forty-eight sextillion, nine hundred and
eighty-eight quintillion cubic feet; and
then reserving certain portion ior
the court of heaven and the streets and
H., he
hundred thousand years, he ciphers out
that there are over five tril!ion rooms,
each room Il feet long, 10 feet wide, 10
feet high. But / have no faith in the ac-
curacy of that calculation. He makes the
rooms too small. From all / can read,
the rooms will be palatial, and those VINO
have not had enough room in TINS world
viii have plenty of room at the last. The
fact is that most people in this world
are crowded, and though out on vast
prairie or In a mountain district people
may have more room than they want, in
most cases il 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 lux
uries OF many people in getting out of this
world will be the gaining OF unhndered
and uncramped room. And l should not
wonder II, instead OF the room that the
statistieian ciphered out as only IL feet
by Is, II should be larger than any of the
rooms al Berlin. ST. James. or Winter
Palace. III MY Fathers house are many
rooms
Ascend The Golden steps.
Carrying out still further the symbol
ism OF the text. let US join hands and go
up TO this majestic homestead and see
for ourselveL As We ascend the golden
steps, an i-Visible guardsman swings
open the front door. and We are ushered
10 The right, into the recepJion-rOOm OF
the old homestead That is the place
where We hrst meet the welcome OF
heaven. There must be place where tbs
departed spirit enters and q place in
which it confronts the Inhabitants celes-
tiaL The reception-room of the newly
arrived from this world-what scenes IL
must have Witnessed since the first guest
arrived, the victim Of the first fratricide
pioCs Abel, In that room Christ lovingly
erssJs ali newcomers He redeemed
them, and he has the right 10 the first
embrace on arrival What a minute when
the ascended spirit first sees the Lord,
Better Than all We ever read about Him.
or talked about Him. or sang about Hin
I'm ali the churches and through all our
earthly lifetime viii II be just for one
idea We ever had OF Him on sacramento
days OF al the height OF some great re-
ViNui. or under The upii1ted baton OF an
oratoriO Is "a bankruptcy Of thought
compared with the first flash OF His dp-
ptaTaacc m that recepJlon-rOom. AZ that
moment when you confront each other,
Christ looking upon you, and you looking
upUa Christ, there will be an ecstatic
thrill and suTging OF emotion that beg
sars al description. Look, They need
no introduction. Long ago Christ chose
that repentant sinner and that repentan,
sinner chose Christ Mighticst moment
~ an immortal h.story-the first kiss Of
heaven. Jesus and the soul The soul
and Jesus.
Oar Missing Friends There.
Put now into that reception-room poui
the glOrifed kinsf0lk Enough Of earthi,
retention TO let you know them, but with
out their wounds or their slckncsses oi
their troubles See what heaven has dom