The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-05-28
REY. DR.. TALMAGE.
TIE BROOKLYN DIVINES sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Ascension OF Christ" ;"

i
TEXT: "Lif up your heads, o Vs gates;
,nd he ne lifted a.D, ne everlasting doors;
and the King Of Glory shall come m."-fs.
xiv, z.
In olden times when a great conquerer re-
turned 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 conqueror has
got home. Off from the hinges with the gates"
David, who was the poet of poets. fortells 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 dla-
mond! Take hold of the doors OF pearl ana
hoist them from their hiuges of gold! Lift
up your heads, o ye gates; and be ye lifted
up, ye everlasting doors; and the King OF
Glory shall come in"
Among the mountains of Palestine no one
is more uplifting than Mount Ollvet: Ii was
the peroration of our Lords ministry. On
the roof of a house in Jerusalem l asked
(which is Olivet5' and the first glance trans
fixed me. But how shall describe
my emotions, when near the close OF
journey, III WHICH We nau AOA wv"
nights encamped amid the shattered
masonry Of old Jericho, and tasted of
the acrid waters of the Dead Sea, that crys-
tai sarcophagus Of the buried cities of the
plain, aud waded down into the deep and
swift Jordan to baptize man, and visited
the ruins of the house Of Mary and Martha
and Lazarus, we found ourselves IN stlrrup;s
and on horse, lathered with the long and
difficult way, ascending Mount Ollvet? "a,
that solemn and suggestive ridge! 1t IS
limestone hill a mile in length, and 3Oo feet
sea. Over il King David fed with broken
heart. Over it Pompey led his deyastat-
ing hosts. Here the famous Tenth Legion
built their batteries in basiegement. The
Garden of Gethsemane 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 bill
the boughs were torn of and thrown into
the path of Christ's triunphalprocession. Up
and down that road Jesus had walked twlce
a day from Bethany to Jerusalem, and from
Jerusalem to Bethany. There, again and
again, He had taught His disciples. Half
way UP this mount He uttered His lamenta-
ton: 20 Jerusalem, Jerusalem" From its
height Jesus took flight honewari when He
had finished His earthly mission. 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 it. Death nee1e1 to be con-
uuered, and He had put His resurrection foot
upon it. The thirty-three years OF voluntary
exile had ended. The grandeSt, tenderest,
mightiest good-sy ever heard was now to be
uttered.
On Mount Oivet Jesus stands in group
of Galilee fishermen. They had been to-
gether in many scenes OF sadness and perse-
cution and had been the more endeared by
that brotherhood of suffering. They had
expected Him to stay until the day of coro"
nation when He would take the earthly
throne and wave a scepter mghtier, and
rule dominion wider than any Pharoah,
than any David, than any Cesar. But now
all these anticpations collapse. Christ has
given His last advice. He has offered His
last sympathy. Hehas spoken His last word
His hands are spread apart as one is apt to
do when he pronouces benediction, when
suddenly tho strongest and most stupendouS
law of all worlds is shattered. 1t IS
the law which, since the worlds were created,
hold them together. 1t is the law which
holds everything to the earth, or
temporarily hurled from earth, returns
it; the law which keeps the planets whirling
around our sun, and our solar system whlri-
ing around other systems, and oil the sys-
TENS 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 20. That 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
ton of the waves on Lake Galilee, on which
He 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 cannot longer hold tbs
Morning 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 letgo the most illus.
trious Being the world has ever seen, and
whom it had worst maltreated: The strong
est law of nature which philosophers ever
weighed or measured must at last give way.
1t will break between the rock of Olivet and
the heel of Christ's foot. Watch it, all ye
disciples! Watch it, all the earth! Watch
it, ali the heavens! Christ about to leave
this planet. How? His friends will not con-
sent 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 trenen-
dous 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 ris-
ing from the solid earth. Then, rushing for
ward, they would grasp His feet to hold Him
fast, but they are out Of reach and it is
too late to detain Him. Higher than the
tops Of the fic 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
leecy cloud He steps. Higher, until into a
sky bluer than the lake that could not sink
Him, He disappears into a sea of glory
whose billowing splendors hide Him. The
fishermen watch and watch, wondering If
the law of nature will not reassert itself
and He shall in a few moments come back
again, and they shall seq Him descending,
first His Scared feet coming in sight, then
the Scared side, then the SCARED brow, anu
they may take again His Scared hand. But
the moments pass by and the hours, ana r.
temperance. Gone out of sight OF earth,
but come within sight of heaven. And rising
still, not welcomed by one an gelic choir INK,
those who one Christmas night escorted Him
down, but all heaven turns out to greet Him
home. and the temples have especial anthem,
and the palaces especial banquet ana the
streets especial throngs; anil all along the
line to the foot of the throne, for years va
Gated but now again to be taken, there ara
arches lifted, and banners waved, and trun,
pets sounded, ani doxolosies chantsd, and
coronets cast down.
The angels throng'd His chariot wheels.
And bore Him ID HIS throne;
Then swept their golden hlrp5 and sung
.'Th. gloriols work is done"
Itwas the greatest day in heaven! As Hs
goes ~ the steps of tho throne that thirty
:aree years before He ab licatel for our al.
yantate. thar> rises from all ths hosts OF