Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-08-01
TALMAGES SERMON.
Weekly Discourse Of the Great
Brook1yn Preacher.

1ohu had been the pastor OF church IN
Ephesus He had been driven from hi
position In that city by an indignant pop
ulace, The preaching OF a pure and earnest
gospel had made an excitement danger,
Gus to every form Of iniquity. This win
otten be the result Of pointed preach
Ing. Men will finch under the sword
strokes Of truth. You ought not 10 bs
surprised that the blind man makes an
outcry OF pain when the surgeon removes
the cataract from his eye. 1t Is good sign
when you see men uneasy in the church pew,
and exhihiting impatience at some plain ut
terance OF Truth which snites pet sin that
they are hugging to their hearts. After the
patient has been SO low that for weeks he
said nothing and noticed nothing, 1t 10
tnought TO be good sign when he begins TO
% little cross. And so | notice that spir.
ltuai invalids are In fair way for recovery
when they become somewhat irascible and
ehoieric under the treatment OF the truth.
Bnt John had 80 nightly inculpatcd public
inlquity that he had been banished from hii
church and sent TO Potmas, desoiate island,
only mile in breadth, against whose rocky
coasts the sea rose and mingled It's voice With
the prayers and hymnings Of the heroic exile.
1ou cannot but contrast the condition of
this banished apostle with that of another
famous exile. Look at the apostle on Pat
mos and the great Frenchman on st. Helena
Both were suffering among desolation and
barrenness because Of offenses committed.
Both had passed through lives eveutful and
thrilling. Both hnd been honored and do
sipised. Both were imperial natures. Both
had been turned of TO die. Yet mark the
Infinite diherence-one had fought for the
perishable crown Of worldly authority, the
other for one eternally lustrous. The one
had marked his path with the bleached skulls
OF his followers the other had introduced
peace and good will among men. The one
had lived chiefly for lf-aggrandisemen
and the other for the glory Of Christ. The
successes OF the ono were achieved amid the
breaking OF thousands of hearts and the
acute, heaven-rending cry Of orphanage aud
widowhood, while the triumphs OF the other
made JOY in heaven among the angels Of
God.
The heart OF one exile was filled with rc-
morse and despair. while tho other was
lighted up with thanksgiving and mex
hnguishable hope. Over st. Helena gath
cred the blnckness and darkness, clouds,
lighted up by no sunrising. but rent and
fringed and heaving with tho lightnings Of
wrathful God, and the spray flung over
the rocks seemed 10 hiss with the condemnn-
ton, Tho way Of the ungodly shall perish"
But over Patmos the heavens were opened.
and the stormy sea beneath was forgotten
In the roll and gleam Of waters from under
tho throne like crystal; and the barrenness
Of the ground under the apostle was forgot
ten as above him he saw the trees OF life all
bending under the rich glow OF heavenly
fruitage, while the hoarse blast Of contend
Ing elements around his suffering body was
drowno1 in the trumpeting OF trumpets and
The harpin9 OF hnrps the victorious cry Of
multitudes like the voice of many waters
aud the hosanna Of hosts in number like the
stars.
What dull spot upon which to stand and
have such a glor ious vlsion Hnd Patmos
been some tropical island. arbored with the
iuxuriance OF perpetual summer, aud drowsy
with breath OF cinnamon and cassia, and tes-
selated with long aisles OF geranium and cac-
trs, We would not have been surprised at the
splendor OF the vision. But the last place
you would 60 to III you wanted to find beau.
tful visions would be the island of Patmos.
Yet 1t Is around such gloomy spots that God
makes the most wonderful revelation 1t was
looking through the awful shadows of
prison that John Bunyan saw the gate Of the
celestial city. God there divided the light
from tho darkness, In that gloomy abode,
on scraps Of old paper picked up about his
room, the great dream was written.
II was while John Calvin was a refugee
from bloody persecution, and was hid in q
house at Angouleme that he conceived the
Idea OF writing his immortal Inst itutes"
Jacob had many time seen the sun break.
Ing through the mists, and kindling them
into shafts and pillars Of fiery splendor that
might well have been ladder for the angels
to tread on, but the famous ladder which he
saw scared through gloomy night over the
wilderness. The night OF trial and desola.
ton is tho scene of the grandest heavenly
revelations From the barren, surf beaten
rock Of Patmos John looked up and saw that
a door was opened in heaven.
Again, the announcement Of such an
opened entrance suggests the truth that God
Is slooking down upon the earth and observ.
ant OF all occurrences. IL we would gain
wide prospect we climb up into tower or
mountain The higher up we are the broad.
er the landscape we behold. Yet our most
comprehensive view Is limited to only few
leagues-here river and there a lake and
yonder mountain peak. But what must
must DO tho glory of tho earth In the eve OF
him who from the door OF heaven beholds at
one glance all mountains and lakes and prai-
ries and oceans, lands bespangled with trop-
ical gorgeousness and Arctic regions white
with everlasting SHOWS Lebanon majestic
with cednrs and American wilds solemn with
unbroken forests Of pine. African deserts OF
glistenng sand and wildernesses Of water
unbrokcn by ships keel, continents covered
with harvests OF wheat and rice aud maize
the glory OF every zone, the whole world OF
mountains and seas and forests and islands
taken In In . single glance Of their great
Creator.
As we take our stapd upon some high point
single objects dwindle into such insgnifcence
that we cease to see them In the minutln, and
we behold only the grand points of the
scenery. But not so with God. Although
standing far up In the very tower of heaven,
nothing by reason Of its smallness escapes His
vision. Every lily Of the field, every violet
under the grass. the tiniest heliotrope, aster
and gentian are as plainly seen by Him as
the proudest magnolia, and not one vein OF
color In their leaf deepens or fades wlthout
dls notice. From this door in heaven Col
sees all human conduct and the worlds
moral changes. Not one tear OF sorrow falls
IN hospital or workshop or dungeon but He
sees 1T and In high heaven makes record Of
It's fall
The worlds iniquities In oil their ghastli.
ness glover under His vision. Wars AMI
tumults, and the desolations OF famine and
earthquake, whirlwind and shipwreck
spread out before Him. If there we're no
being In all the universe but God He could
be happy with such an outlook as the door
OF heaven. But there He stands, no more
disturbed by the fall of a kingdom than the
dropping OF q leaf, no more excited by the
rising Of a throne than the bursting of bud.
the falling of deluge than the trickling OF
araindrop. Earthly royalty clutches ner-
vously Its scepter and waits in suspense the
will Of infamed subjects and the crown Is
tossed from one family to another. But
above all earthly vicissitudes and the as
nult Of human passions in unshaken security
itauds the King OF Kings watching all the
Affairs Of His empire from the introduction
OF an era TO the counting Of the hairs Of your
Mead.
Apain. learn from the fact that n door
Ia heaven Is opened that there Is a way of
entrance for our prayers and of egress for
divine blessings. 1t does not seem that our
weak voice has strength enough to climb up
TO Gods tcr. Shall not our prayer be lost
In the cloudst Have words wingsf The
truth Is plain: Heavens door Is wide open to
receive every prayer. Must IL not Le louds