Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-11-27
[PUBLIsHED BY REoUEsT.]
Closing Remarks Of q Discourse Deliv-
cred by Rev. Henry Buel, In the Hall

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.J
Closing Remarks Of a Discourse Deliv.
cred by Rev. Henry Buel, In the Hall
OF Excelsior College, from the words:
"B hold, stand at the door and knock: IL any man
hear my voice, and open the door, will come in to
him. and will sup with him and he with me.'-Reo. III
ch. 20c
MY FRIENDS Permit me to ask. by way
of personal application of the words of the
text, have any of those who hear me to day,
opened the door of their heartsy Have YOU
hearkened to that voice which SO often YOU
have heard, and which even this Sabbath
morning you hear once again. | think hear
the trembling believer exclaim, yes, that hand
which was nailed to the tree has opened the
door of my heart, the Great Master of the
Feast hath come in, and supped with me and
nv soul with him. Day after day and night
after night, l cried, "Return, return, o Shul-
amite; return, return that | may look upon
Thee. And the world asked-what will YOU
see in the Shulamite? Yet, like blind Bart-
meus, cried louder and louder, and even |
was aware, my soul made me like the chariots
of Amminidib. Once looked for the ecEOing
voice of God in mid heaven to cheer my faint
ing and sinking spirits then away to the
burning bush to light my path to Ills secret
chamber. l went to Jerusalem again and
again, but returned disconsolate, hanging my
harp upon the willow. made long pilgrim
age across the dreary desert, but returned
weary and heavy laden. For long time |
intrenched myself behind the tower of skep-
ticism, but found nothing upon which sweetly
to repose. Through my whole lIe have
lived in the Babel of confusion and unbehcf
and all was dark and uncertain. was Wed
ded to the world in thought and feeling. The
Trump of heaven hath spoken in the ear o;
the sleeping millions around me, and raised
the dry bones of the valley, clothed them with
flesh, and caused them " stand upon their
feet, as living men. lie hath rolled the bill
lows of his wrath over me and cntombed me
in the gulf Of unutterable despair. Yet |
| flew from the burning chariot of the Almighty.
Now | am at home. The snare hath been
broken-the captive soul is lire. Ye>, the
door of my heart hath been opened, and the
Master hath come in. lie came in as to
high and joyful festival, He sat at the head
of the table and all of his guests were ON an
equal footing. What a glorious manifesto
ton, the soul hath advanced to the joyful
meeting of her God. OH All glory to the
Lamb that was slain ! The diadein of victory,
the trophies of honor and the garlands Of til
| umph, all, all lay at the foot of the Cross.
How cold the affections, how dead tn,
heart to refuse to open the door. During al.
the checkered scenes of our earthly pilgrim
age hath He been knocking at the door OF the
heart. His head is wet with the dewS OF
the night and his locks with the drops of the
morning." The spirit is the key which un-
locks the door of the heart Without its holy
influence the heart becomes harder than ada
| mant. The mind concludes that there is no
CoJ fh;pore, fIo x,orJ- Of cbon opC
Death is an everlasting sleep. L know of no
true peace, no pure joys, no safety for the fu-
ture save in tie revelation of God-His gloii-
! Gus and divine attributes, selfexistence anG
eternity, His law and Government, His HOli-
ness, Justice, Truth, Goodness and Mercy
1t is true our first parents were tempted, sin
! ned and fell from their high estate, but, bless
ed he God, for the bright promise of the COM
ing of the Restorer of the Race, as our sure
! ty, our substitute. That promise hath been
| fulfilled. The Saviour of mankind hath come
| into the world, he hath lived taught, suffered
and died. He hath offered himself upon the
altar of his own immaculate divinity. His
soul hath been pierced with all the keen an
| guish of second death. And now, my
| friends, the glorious scheme of human re-
demptiOn fOreshadowed in the types and sym
| bOls of the ancient time is complete Ihu
| Sun hid his face, and there was midnight
darkness, like pail, over the world Angels
of light from their bright thrones looked down
in wonder upon the scene. The earth quaked
| to it's centre The Resurrection morn broke
upon the world, and the Sun of Righteous
ness blessed it with His rays. The everlast-
ing gates were lifted up, and the King of Clio
ry ascended to the Father.
| All, my brethren, it was not the ingratitudc
OF guilty and dy,anS world, not the cOndem-
nation without law and without testimony
| not the desertion of friends, not the CARRYING
Of his own Cross no it was not the cold lla-
des, not the mailing of his hands, not the
piercing of his side that caused the deel
groans of Gethsemane, the bloody sweat Oh
the Garden, and the loud and unearthly cries
Of Calvary. No, it was something more
His Infinite mind surveyed the torments Of
| Gehennah the Saviour was damned as our
substitute. He bore the fiery sufferings and
the penalty of the sins and guilt of the human
| race.
| | say then, know of no sure anchorage
ground only on Christ with an unfa!tering be
lief-that He died as our bondsman, that He
rose dragging death and hell at the chario
wheels of his victorious car of salvation, lead
ing captivity captive. 1t is this which glves
the bright rays of Tabor and the joyful hole,
from Pisgahs top. o! how little we feel thi
inspiration which has sustained the believe,
amidst the temptations of this life, and the
shocks of the great Adversary in all time. 1t
Is this which lends its glow to the description
| and tints the future of the Child of God with
| prophetic ray 1t is this that creates in the
| heart of the Christian that burning sensation
of which the world can never know-lifts the
| intervening curtain, and disclOscs the piano.
rama of mans earthly and eternal existence
| for the spirit takes the things of Christ and
shews them unto the SOUL History has no
| prouder page in all her annals than that which
records the triumphs of the faithful. Faith
| in God has guided the ark of civilization over
the dark waters, and landed it safely in the
noon tide light of the nineteenth century. 1t
ncrved the arm and strengthened the heart of
the great Apostle to the Gcntiles when h,
stood upon Mars Hill amid the dying glorie
of ancient Athens and pointed the benighteG
Athenians to that altar erected to the Livin,
God. 1t gave more than human strength anc
courage to the Daughters of Zion, in the Bap-
tist connection, when driven, like beasts of
the forest, by all the blood hounds of hell to
the mountain fastnesses of Piedmont and Sa-
voy. 1t kindled up the fires of the Reforma-
WIN eeiA~A GU uiC vi
and Calvin, of MassillOn and Bossuet to travel
up to the very gates ofHeaven by faith and pray
er, and call for aid on the Almighty who, an
unbelieving world thought had left the Shek-
iriah and gone to sleep in the outer porch OF
the temple. 1t aroused the energies of John
Knox, and fired the hearts of Wesley and
Whitefield who like angels of Mercy, fled
from cline to cline, sowing broadcast the seed
of everlasting life. This is no Shiboleth of
party, or the dogma of sect-no delusion Of
the mind, nor the fanaticsm of an overheatcd
imagination. 1t is the interchangeable, and in
trovertable truth of Jehovah. Thank God.
the great serpent of unbelief coiled around
the wheels of salvation with his remorselcss
and deathless grasp to crush out the hopes OF
man, has been compelled to let go his hold by
the power of the spirit of God.
What need say more? | know we shall