The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-05-17
MOUNT
DR.. Talmage Discourses on Christ's
Ascension.
A Notable Place In Sacred H~istory-The
Saviour on Mount OIIvet-His Ascent
Into demonstrating For All
True believers.


In a recent sermon at Brooklyn Rev.
L. Dewitt Talmage took his text from
Psalms xiv, Z: Lift up your heads,
ye gates; and be ye lifted up, we ever
lasting doors; and the King of Glory
shall come in" He said:
In olden times, when q great con-
queror returned from victorious war,
h people in wild transport would take
hold of the gates of the city and lift
them from their hinges, as much as II
say: "This city needs no more gates to
defend 1t since the c%onqueror has got
home. Of from the hinges with the
gatesF" David, who was the poet of
poets, foretells in his own way the
triumphal entrance of Christ into
Heaven, after His victory over sin and
death and hell. 1t was as IL the celes-
tial inhabitants had sad: 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.l Lift up your heads, o
We gates; and be ye lifted up, ye ever
lasting doors; and the King of Glory
shall come in"
Among the mountains of Palestine no
one is more uplifting than Mount Olivet.
It was the peroration of our Lords min
istry. On the roof of a house in Jerusalem
/ asked: (which is 0liyet?" and the
first glance transfixed me. But how
shall l describe my emotions, when
near b close of a 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
SEES, that crystal sarcophagus of the
buried cities Of the plain, and waded
down into the deep and swift Jordan to
baptize o man, and visited the ruins of
the house of Mary and Martha and Lag
arus, we found ourselves In stirrups and
on horse, lathered with the long and
difficult way, ascending Mount Olivet.
o, that solemn and suggestive ridge! 1t
is 4 limestone hill a mile in length, and
300 feet high, and 2, roo feet above the
level Of the sea Over it King David
fed with a broken heart. Over it Pom
pey led his devastating hosts. Here the
famous Tenth legion built their bat
teries in besiegement. The garden of
G~ethsemane 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 on this
hill the boughs were torn off and thrown
into the path of Christ's triumphal pro-
cession. Up and down that road Jesus
had walked twice a day from Bethany
10 Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to
Bethany. There, again and again, He
had fa,,ahk NE 1taotp1aa Hale ,rn.x 49,
this mount He uttered His lamentation,
80, Jerusalemi J~erusalem!" From its
heights Jesus took fight homeward
when He had finished His earthly mis-
sion. There Is nothing more for Him to
do. A sacrifice. was needed to make
peace between 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
IL. The thirty-three years of voluntary
exile had ended. The grandest, tender
est, mightiest goodbye ever heard was
now to be uttered.
On Mount Olivet Jesus stands in a
group Of Galilee fishermen. They had
been together in many scenes of sadness
and had been the more endeared by that
bEObuCILOO0 VI buhCEtnHs lhSy la CA
pected Him to stay until the day of coro-
nation, when He would take the earthly
throne and wave a scepter mightier, and
rule q dominion wider than any David,
than any Cesar. Butnow all these antici-
pations collapse. Christ has given His
last advice. He has offered His last
sympathy. He has spoken His last
word. His hands are spread apart as
n is apt TO do when he pronounces a
benediction, when suddenly the strong
est and most stupendous law of all
worlds is shattered. 1t is the law which,
since the worlds were created, holds
them together. IL Is the law which
holds every thing to the earth, or tenn
porarily hurled from earth, returns 1t;
the law which keeps the planets whirl-
ing around our sun and our solar system
whirling around the throne of God-the
law OF gravitation, That law is sus-
pended, or relaxed, or broken, to let the
body Of Jesus 60. The law had laid
hold Of Him thirty-three years before,
when He descended. 1t had relaxed its
grip Of Him but once and that when it
declined to sink Him from the top of
the waves on Galilee, on which He
walked, TO the bottom Of the lake.
That Law OF gravitation must now give
way TO HIN who made the law. 1t may
bold the other stars, but it can not
longer hold the Morning Star of Re-
demption. 1t may hold tbs monday
sun, but IL can not hold the son OF
Righteousness. The fingers of the law
are about to open TO let go the most
fllnstrous Being the world had ever
seen. and whom 1t had worst maltreated.
The strongest law of nature which
philosophers over weighed or measured
must at last give way. 1t will break be-
tween the rock OF Olivet and the heel of
Christ's foot. Watch IL. all ye disciples!
Watch Il, all the earth! Watch 1t, all
the heavens! Christ about TO leave this
planet. Howl His friends will not con,
cent 70 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 tremendous natural
law Is unlinked. The sacred foot Of our
Lord and the limestone rock part, and
part forever.
Leaning back. and with pallid cheek
and uplifted eyes, the disciples see their
Lord rising from the solid earth. Then,
rushing forward, they would grasp His
feet TO hold Him fast, but they are out
of reach, and 1t is too late to detain
Him. Higher than the tops OF the fig
trees from which they had plucked the
fruit. Higher than the olive trees that
shaded the mount Higher, until He Is
within sight of the Bethlehem where
He was born, and the Jordan where He
was baptized, and the Golgotha where
he was slain Higher, until on stairs
of fieecy cloud lie steps. Higher, until
into q sky bluer than the lake that
could not sink Him, He disappears into
q sea of glory whose billowing splendors
hide Him. The fishermen watch q
watch, wondering IL the law OF nature
will not rea sert itself, n He shall in
n few moments come back again, n
they shall see Him descending; first His
scared feet coming in sight, then the
SCARED side, then the SCARED brow, and
they may take again His SCARED hand.
No wonder that for at least /, 400 years
the churches have, forty days after
Easter, kept Ascension day; for the les
sons are most inspiring and glorious. 1t
takes much Of the uncertainty out of the.
idea OF Heaven when from Ohvet
ne see human nature ascending. The
body that rose from Joseph's tomb
ascended from Mount Olivet. Our hu-
nature is in Heaven to-day. just
as they had seen Christ for forty days,
He assembled, head. face. shoulders,
hands, feet and the entire human organ
49, Uamaoftv ascendedl An. how