Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-05-05
BISHOP Kee1er.

Blsnop j. y. keener, who presto
ed over the Methodist Conference
recently in session here, preache
several very excellent sermons dul
ing his stay in GAINESVILLE. Sunda,
morning he attracted a large cor
gregation, the church being crowd
ed almost to overflow. His tex
was from Genesis XXVIII-12.
"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder sc
| up on the earth, and the top of it reache
TO heaven: and behold the angels of Go
ascending and descending on it."
The sermon was of some length
but was attentively listened t,
throughout. Ifspace would permi
we would attempt to reproduce {
full synopsis, but as it is, we car
only speak of its outlines. He be
gan by saying that over all the
great dreams of men this dream o
Jacobs was pre-eminent. It was
dream of empire. The dreams o
Joseph, Nebuchadnezar, Pharot
and Daniel were all turning points
in history. This was the earliest
dream recorded in the sacred writ.
ings and no passage in the old OF
new Testament maintained a
brighter hold over the mind and
memory of man than this. Many
people know of this dream of ia
cob's who know nothing else of the
scriptures. 1t was the beginning OF
dispensatiOn. Over this bright
arch which Jacob had seen in his
vision Christ has thrown a yet
higher arch, and as it typified the
assertion and triumph of the Savior
this incident has the deepest force
apd meaning of any pointin history.
The Bishop then proceeded to con-
slider the dream in its structure, and
its fulfillment as prophesy. ia
cob's life was very eventful one.
He had come to be refugee by his
own evil conduct. All day long he
had been in flight, and falling weary
and agitated by the way, he sought
rest on his pillow of stone and COM
mitted himself to God. He then
reflected that he had practiced
on his father and attempted to
deceive God, and by this reflection
he discovered the inherent baseness
of his own nature, which every man
must discover before he can be con-
verted. After the heavy physical
and mental strain to which he had
been subjected he slept soundly and
it was then he witnessed the grand
est vision God ever vouchsafed to
man.
The Bishop then drew a very
eloquent picture of the ladder. He
followed Jacob in his wanderings,
spoke of the VOW God had extracted
from him, and of his life when he
came to be powerful and convert
ed man. He spoke of the greatness
of the Isrealites as a people and
said we were indebted to them for
Christ and the Bible. He quoted
from the new Testament a passage
in which Christ refers to Jacobs
dream. The remainder of the SER
mon was devoted to the considera-
ton of Christ as the great ladder ON
which angels ascend and descend
into heaven. All the simmer and
glory Of Jacobs ladder may have
been nebulus and halo which was
tempered down to the human form
in the body of Christ. Men are very
little capable of abstraction. Moth
ing concrete can long remain in the
human mind. Therefore God gave
us Christ in the body. What idea
could we have of the law if Christ
had not taken the place of crimi-
nal? Barabus was pardOned, but
Christ suffered and thus paid the
debt of sin. Angels may not have
an apprehension of the atonement.
Conversion is the art of knowing that
Christ died for us. He then spoke
of the resurrection and the ascentiOn.
AS lightnings play behind clouds
so the blessed spirit of our Lord
played behind the incemdescent
body of Christ. This glOrified body
presented to the disciple at the as
censiOn was the body angels were
accustomed to look on. In the realm
of angels this body appeared as his
earthly body did to mortals. 1t
grew brighter and more radiant as
He assembled higher. Astronomers
say that beyond stars Of the twelfth
magnitude there can Sc seen moth
ing, no planets and not even any
star dust. So beyond God there is
nothing. AS grand as the vision of
Jacob was it did not express the
greatness of the movement that is
going on now. In every plain and
wilderness there is ladder COM
pared to which the ladder of Jacob
was a very small matter.
The above is a very imperfect
sketch of the sermon and can con-
vey only an idea of it's general out
line. The Bishop speaks in good
voice with clear enunciation, and is
a very forcible preacher.