The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-11-01
WALLS OF HEAVEN.
Rev. Or. Talmage's Sermon on
the New Jerusalem.
The Vision Of ST. John and the Mean
ing Of His Description OF inc
Proportions and Beauty Of
Gods Own City,


aspect. and ST. johns description TO-
celves a realistic ANA beautiful infer.
pretation The text IS Revelation AAl
10 "The length and the breadth a"d
tbe height OF it are equal"
A mans visions or idealisms OF men-
fal slmlitudes inevitably take upon
themselves the forms ana co.o,u-'
and characters Of his physical suf.
rourdlnes. When Pharaoh dreamed
his dreams he did not have rap'nFo's
revelations of the coming gran-cuts
Of a Persian capital lie cau-At ODD
glimpse of Che future glor'es of Athens
Rome. Berlin. London. ST. IeieIeua.-
or New York. lie saw vision OK DDS
own pasture lands ana OF DIS Own
river Nile. flowing past bis palace
door. He saw his own cattle ana DOS
own wheatfelds. His dreams We're OF
familiar scenes. The peculiarly WIS
FIN what these familiar objects oll.
The seven lean cattle ate up the seven
fat cattle. the seven lean stalks aie
uD the seven Fat stalks. The seven
fat cattle represented seven years OF
plenty; the seven lean represented sew
en- wears OF want. but all were the
same kind Of cattle which Pharaoh s.
nerdsmen were then tending upon the
royal domains.
when Joseph. the shepherds SON.
dreamed his dreams emD.emauc OF
his future greatness the picture in his
vision did not show him The g.ories OF
an Egyptian premiership. ln a.l PROB.
ability. living the simple herIsman 81
life. he at that time had DO concei'
ton Of what q royal court was lAe.
No. Joseph did not dream OF ermlne
uri coronets and thrones. He saw
tie sun and the moon and the eleven
stars making oheisance u him. He
saw the shcaves of wheat which his
brethren were binding in The fields
bow down and worship DIS sAeaf. He
saw these Astronomical and agricui-
tural SMILES because as a shepherd
boy guarding bis flock ly night De
had often watched and studied The
stars. He saw the shelves because as
farmers boy he had often watched
the workmen gathering the harNests
and his own back and arms often had
been wearled with binding the sheaves
for on the farm during the harvest
time an the men and boys who could
carry the scythe were pressed into
service. 10 IS psychological law That
when we see visions they may Doe riiic-
ulous or crotes0uo hut they generally
relate to objects familiar 90 us iu our
waking hours.
When So. John upon the island OF
Patmos caught q glorious vision of the
celestial capital. The New jerusalem
what was more natural for him than
10 pattern It after the greatest and the
most wonderful city bis eyes had ever
seen? He certainly did not picture
heaven as any OF the modern cities
you and / are accustomed 90 see. lie
did not think Of the New Jerusalem as
built upon sand dunes by a beautiful
harbor. as san Frencisc0 is built be-
side the tapping waters of the Golden
Gate of the Pacific. lie did not inl &c
among the waving palms and the laau-
uful flower gardens and the orange
groves under the shadow of the snow
capped mountains of GrghaOk ana
san Bernardmo as is EodIands. Tie
most beautiful city of all California
Tie imagined the New Jerusalem de-
scendlng from heaven and alightiug 900
hil as the Davidic capital was upon
hill. Then st. John imagincs this
celestial city surrounded by O. groa.
wall. Though this wail was eIitlerlng
with myriads of precious stones. i,
was the same kind of wall that en-
circled the capital of She Holy Land.
Let us try 10 imagine the exterior
OF the celestial capital which we call
heaven as John saw it I'm vision. 7 ann
going to point ont to you some Of the
chief characteristics Of those celestial
battlements. At other times we may
On fancy under the apostles guidance
try TO enter those gates and roam over
the golden boulevards and examine The
architecture Of the mansions in the
skies. but today we are going 90 limit
our travels and just study the outer
walls Of heaven. 1t IS strange spec
tacle as the inspired artist pictures &c.
It surpasses in spIendor every wall
and portal i'm the most magnificent of
European or Asiatic cities. Sometimes
as tourists l think we pass too quickly
The beautiful carved doors of the great
cathcdrals Of Europe or ignore the
mighty walls Of eastern capitals in or
der 10 reach the centers of the cities
Let us not make this mistake in ref
eronce TO heaven. Let as l0iter at least
one Sabbath day 10 study the walls
which encircle our future celestial hab
itation. "And the city heth foui
square. and the length is as large as
the breadth, and he measured the cit'
with the reed, twelve thousand fur
longs. The length and the breadth nn.
the height of it are equal"
when st. John saw the New lerusa
lem looming up i'm an fits vast proper
u0ns, he was impressed with the in
finite size OF heaven. 10 was % llaf'
40 large that it took a reed 10000 fur
longs 10 measure ifs outside walls
Now. when you remember that Tho
furlong IS onc-eighth of mile yol
will see that q traveller must take
Journey of 5000 miles to go around it
In other words. If the walls of thi
great city were stretched ont I'm
straight line they would reach nearly
twice across the American continent
from san Francisco to Sew York
They would De more than three time
the distance between London and $
Petersburg
Or. c. A. Goodhart tells MS abo,
the vast size Of the apocalyptic visio
Of st. John when he says, "Babylo
was a great city. about three times tl
100, 7 .rr.a comma