Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-16
SERMON.
Delivered Amid tho
Thousand Isles.

Thousand Isles.
.,, v;.ion"-The Celestial City and
.,y Gates-The Reality of Heav-
nescribed-The G"tekeeper and
the Final Password.
Dewitt Talmage, a large portion
%,ancregation and a multitude from
ling villages assembled at Alex.
], pay, among the Thousand Isles"
- lawrence, on a recent Sabbath.
.ha preacher addressed the congre.
no took for his subject San Island
nnhis texts being:
Am. was in the isle that Is called Pat
revelation, i.,a.
,ne twelve gates we're twelve pearls
L,stlon, xxi, 2l.
,rescber said: Sabbath morning
,s amid the Thousand Isles of the st.
ance. Amid the enchantment of the
Iry some of US are like Paul when he
.Whether in the body or out of the
can not tell" Not having read
[.ologist's account of how this region
armed, l may surmise that after the
avrence began its majestic roll these
Is we're dropped into it out Of the
on]v landscape. Islands above US,
as below us, islands all around US, I
minded how much the islands Of the
have had to do with sacred and pro-
history. Elba, from which Napoleon
ed for his last struggle, and St. Hele-,
where he ended it; the island of
nsev, where the great soul of Victor
/ chafed in exile until republication
kance drove back despotism; the isle
Borneo, where Adoniram Judson
a flaming evangel; the island of
EZRA, where Garibaldi rested after the
Ic~ipation of Italy; the island of Cy-
where Barnabas preached; the island
klita, on which Paul was shipwrecked;
asst of all, but mightier than all and
impressive than all, the island of
los. of which my textspeaks and from
b St. John, the exiled Ephesian gos-
e, saw the twelve pearline gates. If
will help us, we can from these Thou
Isles, on this Sabbath morning, see
bme glittering portals.
subject speaks of a greatmetropolis,
xistence of which many have doubt
Banding on the wharf and looking off
the harbor, and seeing the merchant
coming up the bay, the flags of for
nations streaming from the top gall
you Immediately make up your
that those vessels came from foreign
and you say:
bat is from Hamburg, and that is
Marseifles, and that is from South
on, and that is from Havana"
d your supposition is accurate. But
the city of which l am now speaking
Gather -beaten merchantmen or frig-
with Scared bulkheads have ever
There has been a vast immigration
That city, but no emigration from it
as our natural vision can descry.
here is no such city," says the unde-
astronomer. 81 have stood in high
IS with a mighty telescope, and have
the heavens, and l have seen spots
sun and caverns in the moon; but
Eers have ever risen on my vision,
faces, no temples, no shining streets,
Pssive wall. There is no such city,"
IN very good people tell me that
len is not a material organism, but a
spiritual fact, and that the Bible
iptions of it are in all cases to be
tguratively. I bring in reply to
that Christ said, and he ought to
to prepare
theory, not a principle, not a senti-
but
to prepare a place for you.
resurrected body implies this. II
ot is to be reformed from the dust it
have something to tread on. If my
Is to be reconstructed it must have
hing to handle. If my eye, having
put in death, is to be rekindled, I
have something to gaze on. Your
Sc theory seems to imply that the
fected body is to be hung on nothing,
walk in air. or to float amid the ma
organisms, then a soul in Heaven
e cramped and hindered in its en-
ents, but l answer: Did not Adam
We have plenty of room in the gar
Eden? Although only a few miles
nave described the circumference
! place, they had ample room. And
\ not suppose that God in the inn
Ties can build a place large enough
the whole race room, even though
pc material organisms?
The twelve gates were twelve pearls.
ne first place, l want you to examine
caltecture of those gates. Proprie-
large estates r very apt to have
|aMented gateway. Sometimes they
an arch of masonry; the posts of
lie hanked with lions in statuary;
Onze gate a representation of inter.
g foliage, bird -haunted, until the
VI architectural genius drops ex-
~ all its life frozen into the stone.
On had a hundred gates, SO had
Gates of wood and iron and
guarded nearly all the old cities.
,s nave inscribed upon their gate.
inscriptions from the Koran of the
imedan, There have been a great
Inc gateways, but Christ set his
. the work, and for the upper city
d gate such as no eye ever gazed
ouched of inscription. With the
us cross he cut into its won
'aceries stories of past suffering
gladness to come. There is no
stone or bronze in that gate, but
p TO base and from side to side it is
eafl. Not one piece picked up from
banks, and another from piece
u Persian Gulf, and another from
ma of Margarette; but one solid