The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-07-04
THE CELESTIAL METROPOLIS.
DR.. Talmage breaches Amidst the Beau
ties of the Thousand Islands.
The Celestial City and It's Twelve Gates Of Pearl
"A FOur-Square Redemption-Reality of
Heaven-Gatekeepe and Password.

Brooklyn Tabernacle made pilgrimage to Alex
andria bay, accompanied by the Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage. D. D., their pastor. Dr. Talmage
preached the following sermon. His subject
was Gan Island Vision" and his texts:
l. John, was in the isle that is called Patmos.-Rev-
| elasior, i, 8.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.-Reyela-
| tion xxi, Il.
The preacher said Sabbath morning finds us
among the Thousand Isles of the ST Lawrence.
Amid the enchantment of the scenery some of us
are like Paul when he said Whether ia the
body or out of the body, cannot tell"
| Our subject speaks of great metropolis, the
existence of which many have doubted. Stand
ing on the wharf and looking off upon the har-
| Dor, and seeing the merchantmen coming up the
| bay, the flags of foreign nations streaming from
| the topgallapts, you Immediately make up ) our
/ mind that those vessels came from foreign ports,
| and you say:
ssThat is from Hamburg, and that is from
/ Marseilles, and that is from Southampton ana
that is from Havana"
And your supposition is accurate But from
| the city of which am now speaking no weather
beaten merchantmen or frigates, with Scared
| bulwarks have come There has been q
vast immigration into that city, but no emf
| grafton from it-so far as our natural vision can
| descry.
/
tronomer. Il have stood in high towers with a
! mighty telescope and have swept the heavens
and have seen spots on the sun and caverns in
| the moon; but no towers have ever risen on my
/ vision, no palaces, no temples, shining streets
! no massive wall. There is no such city"
| Even very good people tell me that heaven is
not material organism, but grand spiritual
fact, and that the Bible descriptions OF it are in
all cases to be taken fguratively. bring, In
reply to this what Christ said, and He ought to
| know: II go to prepare"-not theory not a
| principle not sentiment, but II go to prepare
q place FOR you.' The resurrected body implies
/ this. If my foot is to be reformed from the dust
| it must have something to tread on If my hand
is to be reconstructed it must have something to
handle. If my eye. having gone out Ill death. is
| to be rekindled must have something to gaze
on. Your adverse theory seems to imply
that the resurrected body is be hung on
nothing, to walk in air. or to float amid
| the intangibles You may say Ii there be ma
| terial organism, then soul in heaven will be
cramped and hindered in its enjovmer but
4 answer: Did not Adam and Eve have p3enty of
| room IN the garden of Edenl Although only a
| few miles would have described the circumfer-
| ence of that place, they had ample room. And
/ do you not suppose that God In the immensltles
| can build place large enough to give the whole
race room, even though there be material or
1 ganismsl
| want you to count the number of those gates
| Imperial parks and lordly manors are apt to
have one expensive gateway. and the others are
/ ordinary; but look around at these entrances to
| heaven and count them. One, two, three, four,
| FIVE, six, seven, eight. nine, ten, eleven. twelve
| Hear it, all the earth and all the heavens!
| Twelve gates!
| admit this is rather hard on sharp sectarian-
| isms Ii PRESBYTERIAN is bigoted he brings his
| Westminster Assembly Catechism, and he makes
| gateway out of that, and he SAYS TO the world
| 'You go through there stay out"
| If Methodist is bigoted he plants two posts
| and he says:
''Now you crowd in b9tween these two posts
! or stay outn
Or perhaps an Episcopalian may say:
| Here is liturgy out of which | mean to
make gate; go through it or stay out"
! Or Baptist may say:
"Here is water gate; you go through that or
| you must stay out"
| And so in all our churches and in our denomi-
| nations there men who make one gate for
| themselves, and then demand that the whole
| world go through it. l abhor this contracted
ness in religious views. o smallsouled man,
! when did God give you the contract for making
| gates2 / tell you plainly | will not go In THAI
gate. will go in at one of the twelve gates
| choose. Here is man who says:
~ can more easily aud moro closely approach
| God through prayer book"
| Isay: my brother. then use the prayer
book"
| Here is man who says
| II believe there is only one mode of baptism,
and that is immersion"
| Then / say: "Let me plunge you.
| Anyhow. | say away with the gate of rough
| panel, and rotten posts. and rusted latch when
/ there are twelve gates and they are twelve
| pearls.
| The fact is that great many of the churches
in this day are being doctrined to death. They
! have been trying to find out all about Gods de-
/! crees, and they want to know who are elected to
be saved and who reprobated to be damned;
| and they are keeping on discussing that subject
when there millions of souls who need to
have the truth put straight at them. They sit
/ Il. ~ -
| with which Samson slew the Phlis-
tines. They sit on the beach and
| see a vessel going to pieces in
! the ofing, and, instead of getting into a boat
and pulling away from the wreck. they sit dis
| cussing the different STYLES of oarlocks God
]. intended US to know some things and intended us
I not to know some others | have heard scores
| of sermons explanatory of Gods DEGREES, but
| came away more perpexed than when went.
The only result of such discussion is greaS fog
| Here are two truths which are to conquer the
world Man, sinner; Christ, Savior. Any
| man who adopts these two theories in his re-
! ligious belief shall have my right hand in warm
/ grip of Christian brotherhood.
A man comes down to a river in time of fresh
! ct He wants to get across He has to swim.
| What does he dof The first thing he puts off
| his heavy apparel and drops everything he has
| in his hands He must 60 empty handed if he is
| going to the other bank. And tell you when
we have come down to the river of death and
! find it swift and raging, we will have to put off
| all our sectarianism and lay down our cumbrous
creed, and empty-handed put out for the other
| shore.
| what" say you, ''would you resolve all the
Christian church into one kind of church9
| Would you make all Christendom worship in the
| same way, by the same forms2
| o no! You might as well decide that all peo
| pie shall eat the same kind of food, without ref
| erence to appetite or wear the same kind of APP
| parel without reference to the shape Of their
| body. Your ancestry, your temperament, your
surroundings will decide whether you go to this
| or that church, and adopt this or that policy.
| One church will best get one man to heaven and
| another church another man. / do not care
! which one of the gates You go through, il you
only go through one of the twelve gates that
| Jesus lifted.
/ Looking out at the enc hundred and forty and
| four thousand and you cannot tell at what gate
L -. o. ~ a. L.l