The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-07-08
AN ISLAND VISION.
The Twelve Gates of Pearl as Dis
cussed Among the Thousand
Islands.
Talmage and a Large Portion of His
Congregation Take an Outing.

ALEXANDRIA BAY, N. Y, June 27.-
Especial. The congregation of the Brook
lyn Tabernacle this year has made a pill
grimage to this place, accompanied by Rev.
T, De Witt Talmage, D. D., their pastor.
Many hundreds of them left Brooklyn yes
terday arriving here last evening, and will
remain until Tuesday. Special trains Of
cars were provided for them. A multitude
from the surrounding villages joined them
to-day. DR.. Talm ge's subject was "An
Island Vision" and his text Revelation l.,
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
Sabbath 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 OF out Of the body
/ cannot tell" Not having read the geol-
ogists account of how this region was
formed, may surmise that after the st.
Lawrence began its majestic roll, these
islands were dropped into it out of the
heavenly landscapes Islands above us,
islands below US, islands all around us, I
am reminded how much the islands of the
world have had TO do with sacred and pro.
fame history. Elba, from which Napoleon
started for his last strugg'e e, and st. Helena,
where he ended it; island Of Guernsey,
where the great soul of Victor Hugo chafed
in exile until republicanism in France
drove back despotism; isle OF Borneo,
where Adoniram Judson stood, flaming
evangel; the island of Caprera, where
Garibaldi rested after the emancipation of
Italy; island of Cyprus, where Barnabas
preached; island of Melita on which Paul
was shipwrecked; and last of all, but
mightier 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
pearly gates, If God will help us, we can
from these Thousand Isles, on this Sab
bath morning, see the same glittering
portals.
Our subject speaks of great metropolis,
the existence of which many have doubted.
Standing on the wharf and looking off upon
the harbor, and seeing the merchantmen
coming up the bay, the flags Of foreign
nations streaming from the top gallants,
you Immediately make up your mind that
those vessels come from foreign ports, and
you say: "That is from Hamburg, and
that is from Marseilles, and that is from
Southampton, and that is from Havana"
and your supposition is accurate. But
from the city of which l am now speaking
no weather-b aten merchantmen or frigates
with Scared bulkhead have ever come.
There has been a 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 unde-
vout astronomer 81 have stood in high
towers with Il mighty telescope and have
swept the heavens, and have seen spots
Oh the sun and caverns in the 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 people tell me that heaven
is not a material organism, but a grand
spiritual fact, and that the Bible descrip-
tions of it are in all cases to be taken
fguratively. | bring in reply to this what
Christ said, and He ought to know: "I go
to prepare" not theory, not principle,
not sentiment but 81 so to prepare a
place for you" The resurrected body inn
plies this. If my foot is to be reformed
from the dust it must have something to
treadoon. If my hand is TO be reconstructed
it must have something to handle. If my
eye, having gone out in death, is to be re-
kindled, | must have something to gaze on.
Your adverse theory seems to imply that
the resurrected body is 10 be hung on moth
ing, or to walk in air, or TO float amid the in-
tangibles. You may say: If there be ma
terial organisms, then a soul in heaven will
be cramped and hindered in its enioyments;
but | answer: Did not Adam and Eve
have plenty of room in the garden Of Eden2
Although only few miles would have de-
scribed the circumference of that place,
they lad ample room. And do you not
suppose thai God in the immensities can
build place arge enough 10 give the whole
race room, even though there be material
organisms?
Herschel looked into the heavens. AS a
Swiss guide puts his alpenstcck between
the glaciers and crosses over from crag to
crag so Herschel planted his telescope be-
tween the worlds and glided from star to
star until he could announce to us that we
live in a part of the universe but sparsely
strewn with worlds; and he peers out into
immensely until he finds region no larger
than our solar system, in which there are
fifty thousand worlds moving. And Prof.
Lang says that by phiosophic reasoning
there must be somewhere a world where
there is no darkness, but everlasting sun
shine; SO that do not know but that it is
simply because we have no telescope pow-
erful enough that we cannot see into the
land where there is no darkness at all, and
catch glimpse of the FURNISHED pinnacles.
AS conquering army marching on TO take
. city comes at nightfali to the crest Of
mountain from which in the midst of thu
Ganoacape they see the castles they are 70
capture, and rein in their war chargers and
halt and take good look before they pitch
their tents for the night; so, now, coming
as we do on this mountain top Of prospect,
l command this regiment of God to rein in
their thoughts and halt, and before they
pitch their tents for the night take one
good, long look at the gates of the great
city. "And the twelve gates we're twelve
pearls"
In the first place want you to examine
the architecture Of those gates. Proprietors
OF large estates are very apt to have an Or
namented gateway. Sometimes they spring
an arch of masonry; the posts of the gate
fanked with lions in statuary; the bronze
gate representation of INTERVENING foli-
age, bird haunted, until the hand of archi-
tectural genius drops exhausted, all the
life frozen into the stone. Babylon
had a hundred gates; so had Thebes.
Gates of wood and iron and stone
guarded nearly all the old cities. Mos
lens have inscribed upon their gateways
inscriptions from the Koran of the Mo-
hammedan. There have been a great
many fine gateways, but Christ set his
hand to the work, and for the upper city
swung gate such as no eye ever gazed on,
untouched of inscription. With the nail
OF his own cross he cut into its wonderful
traceries stories of past suffering and Of
gladness to come. There is no wood or
stone in that gate, but from the top to the
base and from side to side it is all of pearl.
Not one piece picked up from Ceylon
banks, and another piece from the
ID n..14 4 II. r. A. 4.
of Margaretta; but one solid pearl picked
up from the beach Of everlasting lipht hy