The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-07-01
SERMON.
THE DOCTOR AND HIS PEOPLE on 4
SUMNER EXCURSION.

ed to the Scene of Observation-Disclosures
as Seen From the Isle of Pxtmo-.
Specially Reported for Tie Sentinel.
ALEXANDRIA BAY, N. Y, June27, 1886:
The congregation Of the Brooklyn Tab
ernacle this year have made pilgrimage
to this place, accompanied ty the Rev. /
T. Dewitt Talmage. DID,, their pas
tor. Many hundreds of them left |
Brooklyn on Saturday, June 26. arriving
here the evening of the same day, and
will remain until Tuesday. Special
trains OF cars were provided for them.
A multitude from the surrounding
villages joined them to-day, and DR..
Talmage preached the following SER
mon. His subject was, :" An Island
Vision;" and his texts, Revelation i, 8:
81, John, was in the isle that is called
Patmos;" and Revelation xxi, 81: " And
the twelve gates were twelve pearls"
The preacher said:
SabI ath morning finds US amid the
Thousand Isles of the st. Lawrence.
Amid the enchantment OF the scenery
some of us are like Paul when he said:
Whether in the body or out of the
body I cannot tell" Not having read
the biologists account of how this
region was formed I may surmise that
after the St. Lawrence began its males
tic roll, these islands were dropped into
it out of the heavenly landscape. ISL
ands above US, islands below us, islands
all around US. / am reminded how much
the islands of the world have had to do
with sacred and profane history. Elba,
from which Napoleon started for his
last struggle; and st. Helena, where he
ended it; island Of Guernsey, where the
great soul of Victor Hugo chafed in
exile until republicanism i'll France drove
back despotism; isle of Borneo, where
Adonram Judson stood, a flaming evan
gel; the island of Caprera, where
Garibaldi rested af er t. e emancipation
of Italy; island OF Cyprus, where Bar
nabas prea ched; island OF Melita, on
which Paul was shpwrecked; and last
of all but might than all and more
impressive than all the island Of
Patmos, of which my text speaks and
from which st. John, the exiled Ephesian
Gospelizer, saw the twelve pearline
gates IfGod will help us. we can from
these Thousand Isles, on this Sabbath
morning, see the same glitterinst portals.
Our subject speaks OF great metro
polls the existence of which many have
doubted. Standi e on the wharf and
looking off upon the harbor, and seeing
the merchantmen coming up the bay,
the naCS OF lOEtl4u HdLlOuS streaming
from the top gallan's, you Immediately
make up your mind that those vessels
came from foreign ports. But from the
city of which / am now speaking no
weather-beaten merchantmen or friSateS
with SCARED bulkhead, have ever come.
There has been vast immigration into
that city but no emigration from it-so
far as our natural vision can descry.
"There is no such city," says the
undevout astronomer. - have stood
! in high towers with a mighty telescope
and have swept the heavens, and have
| seen spots on the sun and caverns inthe
moon; but no towers have ever risen on
| my vision, no palaces, no temples, no
shining streets, no massive wall. There
| Is no such city" Even very good peo-
t pie tell me t at heaven is not a mater
! ial organism hut grand spiritual fact,
and that the Bible descriptions of 1t are
| in all cases to be taken tiguratively.
I bring in reply to this what Christ
said, and He ought to know: u go to
prepare not IA theory, not a principle
not sentiment; but, Il go to prepare a
implies this. If my foot is to be re
formed from the dust it must have
something to tread on. If my hand Is
to be reconstructed it must have some
thing to handln. If my eye. having gone
out in death, is to be rekindled, mus
nave something 10 gaze Oh. 1Oul az
verse theory seems to imply that thu
resurrected body is to be hung on nothing
or to walk in air or to float among Thu
intangibles. You may say: If there b
material Organisms, then a soul il
heaven will be cramped and hindered il
its enjoyments; but I answer: Did no
Adam and Eve have plenty of room il
the garden of Eden? Although only
few miles would have described tn
circumference of that place, they ha
ample room. And do you not SuppoS
that God in the immensities can build
place large enough to give the Who'll
; race room, even though there be ma
terial organisms?
Herschel lvoHed into the heavens. II
} planted his telescope between tn
worlds and glided from star to sta
until he could announce to us that "
live in a tart OF the universe but sparsel
strewn with worlds; and he peers OF
/ into immensely until he finds regio
1 no larger than our solar system,
which there are fifty Thousand world
moving. And Professor Lang says tn;
| by a philoSophic reasoning, there mus
1 ! be somewhere u world where there is II
darkness, but everlasting sunshine;
that do notknow but that it is simpl
because we have no telescope powerf
enough, that we cannot see into the lar
u where there is no darkness at all, al
q catch glim! Sc of the FURNISHED pinn
cles. AS conquering army marchir
j on to take city, comes at nightfall
D the crest IF mountain from which
! the midst of the landscape they see tt
g castles they are to capture, and rein
70 their war chargers and halt and take
Il good look before they pitch their tents f
: the night SO, now, coming as we do on tn
IS mountain top of prospect. I commal
this regiment of God to rein in the
t thoughts and halt, and before they pit
their tents for the night take one goo
: long look at the gates of the gre
city. ''And the twelve gates were twel
pearls" 4s
In the first place, / want you to {
anime the architecture of those gate
, Proprietors OF large estates are very a
II to have an ornamented gateway. Chr
d set his hand, to the work, and for t
to upper city swung gate Sucn as no e
ever gazed on, untouched of inscriptit
With the nail Of his o1rI, cross he &