Sharp County record., 1890-06-19
THE ASCENSION.
The Final Scene in the Earthly
Mission of Christ.
The Opening OF the Everlasting Doors
for the Admission of the King OF
Glory; Doors that Stand Open
for All who VIII Enter.

Music, from the text:
Lift up your heads, o ye gates; and be ye
lifted up, ye everlasting doors and the King
OF Glory shall come in.-Psalm xxiv., l.
In olden times when a great con-
qucror returned from victorious war the
people in wild transport would take
hold Of the gates of the city and lift
them from their hinges, as much as to
say: "This city needs no more gates
to defend it since this conqucTor has
got home. of from the hinges the
gates!" David, who was the poet OF
poets, toretells in his own way the tri-
umphal entrance Of Christ into Heaven
after His victory over sin and death
and hell 1t was as if the celestial in
habitants had said: "llere He cOmcS!
Make way for Him! Push back the
bolts of diamond! Take hold of the
doors of pearl and hois tthem from their
hinges of gold! Lift up your heads, Q
ye gates; and be ye lifted up Ye ever
lasting doors; and the King of Glory
shall come in"
Among the moIntains of Palestine no
one is more uplifting than Mount Olivot.
1t was the peroration Of our Lords
ministry. On the roof of house in
Jerusalem asked, (Which is Olivet|
and the first glance transliXed me. But
how shall describe my emotions when,
near the close Of journey, in which we
had for two nights encamped amid the
shattered masonry of old Jericho, and
tasted the acrid waters of the Dead Sea,
that crystal sarcophagus of the buried
cities of the plain, and waded dCwn into
the deep and swift Jordan to bapti2c a
man, and visited the ruins of the house
Of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, we
found ourselves in stirrups and on
horse, lathered with the long and diff
ficult way, ascending Mount Olivet?
Oh, that solemn and suggestive ridge
1t is limestone hill mile in length,
and three hundred feet high, and twen-
ty-seven hundred feet above the level of
the sea. Over it King David fled with a
broken heart. Over it Pompey led his
devastating hosts. Hero the famous
Tenth Legion built their batteries in
besiegement. The Garden of Gethsem-
ane weeps at the foot of it. Along the
base of this hill flashed the lanterns
and torches of those who came to arrest
Jesus. From the trees of this hill tho
boughs were torn off and thrown into
the path Of Christ's triumphal process
sion. Up and down that road Jesus had
walked twice day, from Bethany to
Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Beth
ar There, again and again, He had
tbs hit His disciples, Half way up ito
!, s5ITnutut ito had uttered His lamenta-
Il 80 Jerusalem, Jerusalem"
FiVm its heights Jesus took flight home
ward when lie had finished His earthly
mission. There is nothing moro for
Him to do. A sacrifice was needed to
make peace between the recreant earth
and the outraged Heaven, and lie had
offered it, Death needed to be con-
quered, and He had put His resurec-
tion foot upon it, The thirty three
years of voluntary exile had ended.
The grandest, tendorest, mightiest
goodbye ever heard was now to be ut
tered.
On Mount Olivet Jesus stands in
group of Galilee fishermen. They had
been together in many scenes of sadness
and persecution, and had been the moro
ondearod by that brotherhood of suffer-
ing, They had expected Him to stay until
the day of coronation when He would
take tho earthly throne and wave q
scepter mighter, and rule dominion
wider than any Pharaoh, than any
David, than any Caesar But now all
these anticipations collapse, Christ
has given His last advice. He has Of
fored His last sympathy. He has spoken
His last word. Ills hands are spread
apart rs one is apt to do when he pro-
nounces u benediction, when suddenly
the strongest and most stupondous law
of all worlds is shattered. 1t is the law
which, since tho worlds wcro created,
holds thom together, 1t is the law
which holds every thing to tho earth
or, temporarily hurled from earth ro.
turns IL; tho law which keeps the plan.
cts whirling around our sun, and our
solar system whirling around other sys-
toms, and all tho systems whirlng
around the throne OF God-tho law Of
gravltNtion, That law is suspended, or
relaxed, or broken, to lot the body Of
jesus 80, That law had laid hold of
Him thirty.thrco years before, when llo
descended 1t had relaxed its grip of
Him but once, and that whom It declined
to sink Him from the top of tho waves
on Lake Galiloo, on which lie walked,
TO tho bottom Of the Lake.
That law of grayitatlon must now
give way TO Him who made the law II
may hold the other stars, but II can not
longer hold the Morning Star Of the
Redemption, II may hold the MONDAY
sun, but II can not hold tho Sun OF
Righteousness Tho fingers of that law
are about to open to let 70 the most
illustrious boing the world had over
soon, and whom " had worst mOWcot-
cd, The strongest law OF nature which
philosophers ever weighed or measured
must ut last give way ltwlll break
between the rock of Ol,yotOn the heel
of Christs foot Watch IT, all yo
disciplosl Watch It, az the carthl