Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-11-01
Calmage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmace, d. ID.

httTacuonS are presented in new
aspect. and st. Johns description re-
ceives realistic and beautiful inter-
probation. The text Is Revelation xxi,
JIG. The length and the breadth and
the height OF it are equal"
A mans visions or idealisms or men,
tai similitudes inevitably take upon
themselves the forms and colorings
and characters of his physical sur
rOundings. When Pharaoh dreamed
his dreams he did not have rapturous
revelations OF the coming grandeurs
OF a Persian capital He caught no
glimpse of the future glories of Athens,
Rome. Berlin, London. St Petersburg
or New York. He saw a vision of his
own pasture lands and Of his own
river Nile. flowing past his palace
door. He saw his own cattle and his
own wheatfields. His dreams were OF
familiar scenes. The popularity was
In what these familiar objects did.
The seven lean cattle ate up the seven
fat cattle. the seven lean stalks ate
up the seven fat stalks. The seven
fat cattle represented seven years of
plenty; the seven lean REPRESENTED sew
Ell years OF want, but all were the
same kind of cattle which Pharaoh's
herdsmeD were then tending upon the
royal domains.
When Joseph. the shepherds son.
dreamed his dreams emblematic of
his future greatness the picture in his
vision did not show him the glorics of
IpTnflnn afA,.. I, T..
ability, living the simple herdsman's
life. he at that time had no concep-
ton of what a royal court was like.
No. Joseph did not dream of ermine
and coronets and thrones. He saw
the sun and the moon and the eleven
stars making obeisance to him. He
caw the sheaves of wheat which his
brethren were binding in the fields
bow down and worship his sheaf. He
saw these astronomical and agricul-
tural SMILES because as q shepherd
boy guarding his flock by night he
had often watched and studied the
stars. He saw the sheaves because as
n farmers boy he had often watched
the workmen gathering the harvests,
ana his own back and arms often had
been wearied with binding the sheayes.
for on the farm during the harvest
time all the men and boys who could
carry the scythe were pressed into
service. 1t is psychological law that
when we see visions they may be ridic-
ulous or grotesque, but they generally
relate to objects familiar to us i'm our
waking hours.
st. Johns Vision of Heaven.
When St John upon the island of
Patmos caught 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 his eyes had ever
seen? He certainly did not picture
heaven as any of the modern cities
you and / are accustomed to see. He
did not think OF the New Jerusalem as
built upon sand dunes by a beautiful
harbor, as San francisco is built be-
side the tapping waters OF the Golden
Gate OF the Pacific. He did not find 1t
among the waving palms and the beau
tifui flower gardens and the orange
groves under the shadow of the snow
capped mountains OF Grayback and
San Bernardino, as is Redlands. the
most beautiful city of all California.
He imagined the New Jerusalem de-
scending from heaven and alighting on
hill. as the Davidic capital was upon
a hill. Then St John imagines this
celestial city surrounded by a great
wall. Though this wall was glittering
with myriads OF precious stones. 1t
was the same kind Of a wall that en-
circled the capital of the Holy Land.
Let us try to imagine the exterior
or the celestial capital which we call
heaven as John saw it in vision. L am
going TO point out to you some of the
chief characteristics of those celestial
battlements. At other times we may
In 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 to limit
our travels and just study the outer
walls OF heaven. 1t is strange spec
tacie as the inspired artist pictures it.
1t surpasses In splendor every wall
and portal In the most magnificent OF
European or Asiatic cities. Sometimes
as tourists think we pass too quickly
the beautiful carved doors of the great
cathedrals OF Europe or ignore the
mighty walls of eastern capitals IN or
der to reach the centers of the cities.
Let us not make this mistake in ref
erence TO heaven Let us loiter at least
one Sabbath day TO study the walls
which encircle our future celestial hab-
itation- And the city lieth four
square. and the length is as large as
the breadth. and he measured the city
with the reed, twelve thousand fur
longs. The length and the breadth and
the height OF it are equal"
The Size of Heaven.
When St John saw the New Jerusa-
lem looming up in all its vast proper
lions, he was impressed with the in
anite size Of heaven. 1t was a place
so large that it took reed -, 600 fur
longs to measure its outside walls.
Now. when you remember that the
furlong is one-eighth OF mile you
will see that traveller must take a
journey OF 5000 miles to so around 1t.
In other words. IL the walls OF this
great city were stretched out in a
straight line they would reach nearly
twice across the American continent,
from San Francisco to New York.
They would be more than three times
the distance between London and ST.
Petersburg.
DR.. G. A. Goodhart tells us about
the vast size of the apocalyptic vision
or St John when he saws s.pabyioo