The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-05-28
LIFT UP THE GATES.
Why Ascension Day Has Been
Celebrated For, Centuries.
ChrI.t's Uplifted Hand on Mt. olive
Dropped u Isenediction Upon the
Whole Earth-Dr. Talmages
Sermon,

4
sermon in the Academy of Music Sun
day morning from the words, Lift up
your heads, o We gates, and be We lifted
up, We everlasting doors; and the King
OF Glory shall come in" Psa. XIV. :.
In olden times when great conquerer
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 conquerer has got home. OF
from the hinges with the gates.' David,
who was the poet OF poets, forctells in
his own way the triumphal entrance OF
Christ into Heaven, after His victory
over sin and death and hell. 1t was as
If the celestial inhabitants had said:
"Here He comes! Make way for Him!
Push back the bolts OF diamond! Take
hold of the doors OF pearl and hoist them
from their hinges of gold! Lift up your
heads, o We gates and be We lifted up,
We everlasting doors; and the King OF
Glory shall come in"
Among the mountains Of Palestine no
one is more uplifting than Mt. Olivet.
1t was the peroration of our Lords min
istry. On the roof OF q house in Jerusa-
lem asked which is Olivet? and the
first glance transfxed me. But how
shall I describe my emotions, when.
near the close of q journey, in which we
had for two nights encamped amid the
shattered masonry of old Jericho, and
tasted of the acrid waters OF the Dead
Sea. that crystal sarcophagus of the
buried cities of the plain, and waded
down into the deep and swift Jordan to
baptize man, and visited the ruins of
the house of Mary and Martha and Lag
arus, we found ourselves in stirrups and
on horse, lathcred with the long and
difficult way, ascending Mt. Olivet. o,
that solemn and suggestive ridge! 1t is
a limestone hill. mile in length, and
800 feet high, and 2,7OO feet above the
level of the sea. Over it King David
fed with broken heart. Over 1t Pom
pey led his devastating hosts. Here the
famous Tenth Legion built their batter
les in besiegement. The Garden Of
Along the base of this hill flashed
the lanterns and torches of those
who came to arrest Jesus. From
the trees on this hill tho boughs were
torn off and thrown into the path
of Christs triumphal procession. Up
and down that road Jesus had walked
twice IL day from Bethany to Jerusalem,
and from Jerusalem to Bethany. There,
again and again, He had taught his dis
ciples. Half way up the mount lie ut
tered his lamentation. 80 Jerusalem!
Jerusalem!" From its heights Jesus
took His fight homeward when He
had finished His earthly mission.
There is nothing more for Him to
do. A sacrifice was needed to make
peace between the rccreant earth
and the outraged Heaven, and q He
had offered it. Death needed to be con-
quered, and he had put His resurrection
foot upon It, The thirty-three years of
voluntary exile had ended. The
grandest, tenderest. mightiest goodbye
ever heard was now to be uttered. On Mt.
Olivet Jesus stands in group of Cali
Ice fishermen. They had been together
in many scenes of sadness and persecu-
ton. and had been the more endeared
by that brotherhood Of suffering. They
had expected him to stay until the day
of coronation, when lie would take the
earthly throne and wave a scepter
mightier and rule u dominion wider
than any Pharaoh, than any David. than
any Caesar. But now all these anticipa-
tiOns collapse. Christ has given his last
advice, lie has offered his last sympathy
He has spoken His last word. His hands
are spread apart as one iSapt to do when
he pronounces bencdiction. when sud-
denly tho strongest and most stupen-
dous In Of all worlds is shattered. 1t
Is the law which. since the worlds were
created. holds them together. 1t is the
law which holds everything to the
earth, or, temporarily hurled from earth
returns to 1t: the law which keeps the
planets hirling around our sun, and
our solar system whirling around other
around the throne of God. The law
Of gravitation. The law is suspended.
or relaxed, or broken. to let the body OF
Jesus go. That law had laid hold of
Him thirty-thrce years before when He
descended. 1t had relaxed his grip OF
Him but once, and that when itdeclined
to sink Him from the top of the waves
OH Lake Galilee, on which lie walked
to the bottom of the lake. That law of
gravitation must now give way to
Him who made the law. 1t may hold
the other stars. but it can not longer
hold the Morning Star of Redemption.
1t may hold the MONDAY sun, but it can
not hold the Sun Of Righteousness. The
fingers of that law are about to open to
let go tho most illustrious Being the
world had ever seen, and whom it had
worst maltreated. The strongest law
of nature which philosophers ever
weighed or measured must at last give
way. 1t will break between the rock of
Oliyet and the heel of Christ's foot.
Watch 1t. all We disciples! Watch it. all
the earth. Watch it, all the heavens!
Christ about to leave this planet. How?
His friends will not consent to have Him
go.
His enemies catching Him would only
attempt by another Calvary to put Him
into some other tomb. | will tell YOU
how. The chain of the most trcmen-
dous natural law = unlinled. The
sacred foot of our Lord and the lime
stone rock part, and part forever.
Leasing back, and with pallid cheek