The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-07-31
THE DOOR OPENED.
TIE iilYiThIIeH To .rnE BETTER
WORLD ABOVE.


CaiVin's Inspiration. ...
Dr. Talmage's sermon Sunday was
on "The Wide Open Door," and his
text, Revelations iy, l.; "And, behold,
door was opened in Heaven Fol
lowing IS his sermon:
John had been the pastor of u
church in Ephesus. He had been
driven from his position in that city
by an indignant populace. The
preaching Of q pure and earnest COS
pei had made an excitement danger
Gus to every form Of iniquity. This
will often be the result of pointed
preaching. Men will finch under
the sword strokes Of truth. You
ought not to be surprised that the
bind man makes an Outcry of pain
when the surgeon removes the cata-
ract from his eye 1t is n good sign
when you see men uneasy in the
church pew and exhibiting impatienco
at some plain utterance of truth which
smites a pet sin that they are hugging
to their hearts. After the patient has
been SO low that for two weeks he
said nothing and noticed nothing, it
IS thought to be Il good sign when he
beglus to be little CROSS. And SO |
notice that spiritual invalids are in n
falr way for recovery when they be.
come somewhat irascible and choleric
under the treatment Of the truth.
But John had SO nightly inculpated
public iniquity that he had been ban
ished from his chuch and sent to
PatmOs, u disolate island, only mile
in breadth, against whose rocky coast
the sea rose and mingled it's voice
with the prayers and hymns of the
heroic exile. NJ
You cannot but contrast the con-
dltiOn OF this banished apostle with
that OF another famous exile. Look
at the apostle on Patmos and the
great Freuchman on ST. Helena.
Both were suffering among desola-
ton and barrCnncss because of often
scS committed. Both had passed
through lives cventtul and thrilling.
Both mad been honored and dispised.
B0tb were imperial natures. Both
had been turned off to die Yet mark
the infinite difference: one had fought
for the periSnablc 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 goodwill among men. Tho
one had lived chiefly for self-aggrand-
isement and the other for the glory
OF Christ. The successes Of the one
were achieved amid the breaking of
thousands OF hearts and the acute,
Heavemrcnding cry of oIphanage and
WldOWhOOd, while the Sl'iumDhs of
the other made JOY in heaven among
the angels OF God.
The heart Of one exile was filled
with rcmorso and despair, while the
other was lighted up with thanksgiv
ing and ineXtmguishable hope. Over
st. Helena gathered the blaclness of
darkness, clouds lighted up by no
sunrlslng, but rent and iringcd and
having with Che lightniuos of IL wrath
full God and the spray flung over the
rocks seemed to hiSS with the con
demuHtiOn: 'Yhc way Of the ungodly
shall perish. But over PatmOs the
Heavens wcre opened, and the stormy
sea beneath WAS forgotten in the roll
and gleam Of waters from under the
throne like crystal, and the barren
ness OF The ground under the apostle
was forgotten rs above him he saw
the trcCs Of life, all bending under the
rich glow Of Heavenly fIuitage. while
the hOarse blast of contcnding ele-
ments around his suffering body was
drowned in the trumpoting Of trum-
pets, and the halping of harps, the
victorious cry Of multitudes like the
voice OF many waters, and the
hosanna Of hosts in number like the
stars.
What dull spot upon which to
stand and have such glorious vision!
Had PatmoS been some tropical
island, nrbored with the luyurinnce
Of perpetual summer and drowsy
with breath Of cinnamon and cassia,
and tcSsclated with long aisles of
gCramumS and cactus, we would not
have been surprised at the splendor
OF the vision. But the last place you
would go to if you wanted to find
beautiful visions would be the island
Of Patmos. Yet it is around such
gloomy spots that God makes the
Hlool NOutlCIlul IcNclaI1On. 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 the dark
ness. In that gloomy abode, on
scraps OF old paper picked up about
hlsroom, the great dream was written.
1t was while John Calvin was q refu-
gee from bloody persecution and was
hid in house at Angouleme, that he
conceived the idea Of writing his i'm
mortal Institutes. Jacob had MANY
q time seen the sun breaking through
the miSts and kindIing them into
shafts and pillars Of fiery sDlendor
that might we'll have been a ladder for
the angels to tread on, but the
famous ladder which he saw scared
through q gloomy night over the
wilderness. The night of trial and
desolatlon is the scene of the grand
est Heavenly revelations. From the
barren, srTf-bcaten rocks of Patmos,
John looked up and saw that q door
was opened in Heaven.
e., AS we take om stand upon some
hIOlO TnI1Ot CI1Crl< -,