Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 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 q Place for Every
One Of Gods Chill
dren.
Copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch-)
Washington, Nov. s.

text, John 1872: ''In my fathers
house are many rooms.
Here is bottle of medicine that is u
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 bright picture of COM
ing felicity. He let's them know that,
though they live on the lowlands, they
shall yet have a house on the upiands.
Nearly all the Bible descriptions of
Heaven may be fgurative. l am not
positive that 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 ia
vorite symbol by which the Bible pre-
sents celestial happiness is house.
Paul, who never owned a 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: I'm my Fathers
house are many rooms"
This Divineiy authorized comparison
of Heaven to great homestead of large
accommodations propose to carry out.
In some healthy neighborhood a man
builds a very commodious habitatiou.
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 8
room, that is Mary's room, and the
house is all occupied. But time goes by,
and the sons 60 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-
tnnate. 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 a 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 Maynard 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
nj ho NJ 5 Il
every day, and the day will come whe n
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
stead. ''In my Fathers house are many
rooms" You see the place is to be APP
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 are of 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 i 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-
$4,000 furlongs and that the length and
height and breadth of it are equal, says
that would make Heaven in size GAS
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 q
hundred thousand years, he ciphers out
that there are over 100000 ,000. COG
rooms, each room II feet long, 10 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 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 a
mountain district people may have
more room than they want, in most
cases it is q 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 uneramped room. And
should not wonder if. instead of the
room that the statistician ciphered out
rs 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 furt her the symbol
ism OF the text. let US join hands. and go