Morning journal and courier., 1883-05-21
Center Church.

Sermon by Rev. DIR. W0Iker-The EAO-
quent Devfne's Discourse ON Heaven
and the Light Thereof
Yesterday morning and afternoon the pul-
pit of the Center church was occupied Oy
Rev. DIR. Walker, a former pastor OF the
church and now pastor of the Center church
in Hartford In the morning DIR. Walker
selected as the basis of his remarks the last
part of the twenty-third verse of the twenty
first chapter of Revelations: eAnd the lamb
is the light thereof" In his opening remarks
the preacher said: It is useless for US to
read this chapter with the eye of map-mak-
ing geographer. No one need try to read it
who tries to take a surveyors chain along
with him, as it bears US into realms no mortal
eye has ever seen; it takes us beyond time,
beyond the resurrection, beyond the judg-
ment. There is new heaven and new
earth, but they must be marvelously differ
emit from this, for there is no
night there. There is no sickness, no
pain there. The costly jewels that we
prize so much are of that city's walls; the
gates are of pearls and the streets are of
gold We are utterly lost in what we call
reality and unhealthy in the contemplation OF
it. To say that its chapter is symbol and
metaphor only may be incorrect neverthe-
less. I had rather take my chances to eat
from literal tree of life than to depend
upon the spiritualized vaperings SO many
talk about. But that there is a distinctive
glory in that world do not doubt, and that
in that New Jerusalem the invisible presence
will outshine everything else is no doubt
true. "And the lamb is the light thereof. :"
That is true whatever may. be said. The
light of our childhood and the light of our
homes was it not the face of our mother or
our wife that shone like a sunbeam on our
paths :? Putting the light of revelation
on the very lowest plane of consideration, yet
| Christ is the light Of that heaven. In that
/ city to which we go the lamb must be the
light thereof, or the light thereof is the lamb.
What a history has been that of the Chris
/ tian church. It was once composed of
| twelve men sitting around table in an up
per chamber. Once the church worshipped
l in caves and dens of the earth, but for cen
| tury after century it has worshipped in the
most costly edifices that could be built. It
I has visited the sick and buried the dead.
! But what has been its light thereof in all the
ages The light of it is the lamb, the real
! lied presence of the Christ of human re-
demption. Take out the lamb, which is Christ,
| and the church is gone, 1t falls in pieces.
What makes it an object of love and loyalty
is Christ. This Christ also appears as the
and this may be called the hospital period or
the orphan asylum period, and the figure of
him, who walked the waves of Galilee, heal
ed the sick and opened the eyes of the blind
is the light thereof.
Christ is the light of whatever is best in
our human experience. [ would not depreci-
ate all the joys of home, but in recognition OF
the reality of them all, to what depths OF
deepest emotion do they lead us all What
man who has not had the love of O kind
father, mother, or wife. Yet nothing is SO
dear MS the experience of Christ's forgiving
| love; the peace harrassed by burdened
memory at rest at last in saviour's embrace.
| The realization of Christ is that light in the
| soul by which all others grow dim. The
t presence of Christ can dispense with a great
| many of the needs of life if the light in
| which the soul sits and waits is the light OF
| the lamb. If these things are true of this
| realm of shadows where we dwell, how
| much truer of that heaven where there is nc
| need of the sun or the moon to lighter
| them. Whatever else there may be there
| there is the realized presence and friendship
| of Christ and the light thereof is the lamb
| We speak of heaven as an object of forecast
and desire. Very well, if we cultivate thai
desire we cannot merely go to heaven, but
we can bring heaven to us. The
most distinctive thing about HEAVIER
may become very distinctive feature Of
earth. We may make it simply impossible
to land anywhere else except in that HEAVIER
we are seeking for. There is nothing in the
scope of all this universe that will SO right
the wrongs of an injured one as by bringing
Christ in contact with him. We shall be
better fitted for work with our fellow men a.
we are more and more filed with the light Of
the master. Let US see to it that we are
filled with the light of the lamb.
The discourse, of which we give only
brief abstract, was listened to with deep at
tention by the large audience in attendance