The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-05-22
THE ASCENSION
AS TREATED IN THE TABERNACLE
PULPIT.

POGPil.
Tho Rev. DIR. Il. Dewitt Tnlmago Preaches
on the tpcension OF Our Lord From the
Moun. ~ Olives.
After reading appropriate passages
Of Scripture, and the usual prayers
and musical exercises, Dr.. Talmage
preached the following sermon, in
the Academy Of Music, Sunday morn
ing, from the words, Lift up your
heads, 0 ye gates; and be ye lifted up
ye everlasting doors; and the King Of
Glory shall come in" Psa. 24:7.
In olden times when n great con-
queror 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
aus to say: "This city needs no more
gates to defend it since this conquer
or has got home. Off from the Inn
ges with the gates" David, who
was the poet of poets, foretells in his
own way the tliumphal entrance of
Christ INTO heaven, after His victory
over sin and death and hell. It was
ns il tho celestial inhabitants had
said: ''.Hcre He comcs Make way
for him! Push back the bolts of di-
nmond! Take hold Of the doors of
pearl and hoist them from their him
gc& Of gold Lift up your heads, .
We gates and be We lifted up, yc ever
lasting doors; and the King of Glory
shall come ill.,"
Among the mountains Of Palestine
no one is more uplifting than Noun
Olivct. II was the pcroration of our
Lords ministry. On the roof of q
house i'll Jerusalem [ asked, (Which
is Olivct!" and the first glance trans
fixed me. But how shall l describe
my emotions, when, near the close of
II journey, in which we had for two
nights encampcd amid the shattered
masonry of old Jericho, and tasted of
ihe acrid waters of the Dcnd sen. that
crystal sarcophngus of the plain, and
wadcd down into the deep and swift
Jordan to baptZc man, and visited
the ruins Of the house Of Mary and
Martha anG lazarus, we found our
selves i'll stirl Ips and on horse,
lathored with the long and difficult
way, ascending Mount Ohvct Oh,
that solemn and suggestive ridge! 1t
is q limestone hill, II milo in length
and three hundred feet high, and
twenty seven hundred feet above the
level Of the sea- Over it King David
fled with broken heart. Over it
POmpny led his devastating hosts
Here the famous Zenith Legion built
their batteries i'll bcsicgcmcnt. The
garden of Gethscmano wecps at the
fost Of it. Along tho base of this
hill flashed the lanterns and torches
Of those who came to arrest Jesus.
From the trees on this hill tho bOughs
we're torn off and thrown into tho
path OF Christ's triumphal procession.
Up and down that road jesus had
walked twice day from Bethany to
JcrusA Alom, and from JoIusalom TO
Bethany. There, again and again,
He had taught His disciples. Half
way up this mount He uttered His
lnmentation, 80 Jerusalem, Jcrlisa-
lem!" From it's heights Jesus took
flight homcward when He had finish
Cd His earthly mission. There is
nothing moro for him to do. A sac
rifice was needed to make peace be-
tween the recreant earth and the
outraged heaven, and He had offered
il. Death needed to be conquered,
and He had put his resurrection foot
upon it. The thirty-thrcc years of
voluntary exile had ended. The
grandest, tenderest, mightiest good
bye ever heard was now to be utter
ed.
On Mount OliVct Jesus stands in u
group of Galilee fishermen. They
had been together in many scenes Of
sadness and persecution and had
. been the moro endearod by that
brotherhood Of suffering. They had
expected Him to stay until tho day
of coronation when He would take
the earthly throne and wave n scep-
tre mightier, and rule dominion
wider, than any Pharaoh, than any
Caesar. But now all these anticipa-
tiOns collapse. Christ has given His
last advice. He has offered his last
sympathy. He has spoken His last
word His hands are spread apart rs
one is apt to doWbcn he prOnoumccs
q bcncdiction, whcn suddenly tho
strongest and most stupcndOus law
Of all the 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 OF, temporarily hurled
from earth, returns it; the law which
keeps the planets whirling around
other systems, and all the systems
whirling around the throne of God
the law is suspended, or relaxed, or
broken, to let the body Of Jesus 60
That law had laid hold of HIM thir-
ty-thrco years before, when He de-
seepdcd. it had relaxed it's grip OF
Him but once, and that when it de-
clined to sink Him from the top OF
the waves Oh Lake Galilec, on which
He walked, TO tho bottom of the
lake. That law Of grnvitation must
now give way to Him who made the
law. 1t may hold the other stars
but it cannot longer hold the Morn
ing Star Of the Redemption. 1t may
hold the MONDAY sun, but it cannot
hold the Sun of Righteousness. The
fingers of that law are about to open
to let go the most illustriou8 Bong
the world had ever seen and whom
it had worst maltreated The st, ong
est law of nature which philosophers
ever weighed or measured must at