The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-07-26
THE OPEN DOOR.
Dr. Talmage Discourses on the In
~vftations to Heaven.
The Wonderful Vision on the Isle of Pat
mos-Tho Lord Watchful of Earthly
Things-Hesyen Ever Open to
tho Christians Appeal

The subject of a late sermon at brook
THE Wide Open Door," and his text
Revelations iv. 1: Sand, behold, q door
was opened in Heaven" Following Ia
his sermon:
John had been the pastor Of q church
In Ephesus. He had been driven from
his position in that city by an indignant
populace. The preaching OF q pure and
earnest Gospel had made an excitement
dangerous 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 blind man
makes an outcry Of pain when the sur
geon removes the cataract from his eye.
It 10 . good sign when you see men un-
easy In the church pew and exhibiting
impotence at some plain utterance of
truth which smites a pet sin they are
hugging to their hearts. After the pa
tisnt has been 30 low that for weeks he
said nothing and noticed nothing 1t is
thought TO be q good sign when he be-
gins to be n little cross. And so I notice
that spiritual invalids are in . fair way
for recovery when they become some
what irascible and choleric under the
treatment OF the truth. But John had
% nightly inculpated public iniquity
that he had been banished from his
church and sent TO Patmos, O desolats
Island, only q mile in breadth, against
z whose rocky coasts the sea rose and
mingled Its voice with the prayers and
hymnings OF the heroic exile.
You can not but contrast the condi-
tion Of this banished apostle with that
Of another famous exile. Look ct the
apostle IN Patmos and the great French
man on st. Helena Both were suffer-
Ing among desolation and barrenness
because OF offenses committed. 10th
had passed through lives eventful and
thrilling. Both bad been honored and
aespised. Both were Imperial natures.
Both had been turned of TO die. Yet
mark the infinite differences: one had
fought for the perishable crown OF
worldly authority, the other for one
stssnaily lustrous. The one had marked
he path with tho bleached skulls Of his
t9ifDvefs, the other had introduced
.peaee and good will among men. The
one had lived chiefly for self-aggrandize-
mont and the other for the glory Of
Christ The Of the one were
achieved amid the breaking of thou
annds Of hearts and the acute. heaven
&e1ding cry OF erphanage and widow
hood, while the triumphs of the other
made Joy in Heaven among the angels
o. God.
The heart of one exile was filled with
Femorse and despair, while the other
was lighted with Thanksgiving and In
extinguishsble hope. Over st. Helena
gathered the blackness of darkness,
clouds lighted up by no sunrising. but
Sent and fringed and heaying with the
iightnings OF o wrathful God, and the
spray fiung over the rocks seemed to
hiss with the condemnation: THE way
OF the ungodly shall perish" But over
Patmos the heavens were opened, and
the stormy sea beneath was forgotten in
abe roll and CLEAN Of waters from under
the throne like crystal, and the barren
mesa of the ground under the apostle
was forgotten as above him he saw the
trees of life all bending under the rich
glow Of heavenly fruitage, while the
hosrse blast Of contending elements
around his suffering body was drowned
In the trumpeting of trumpets and the
harping Of the harps. the victorious cry
Of multitudes like the voice of many
waters and the hosanna of hosts in num-
heY like the stars.
? What Q dull spot upon which to stand
ena have such a glorious vision. Had
Pstmos been some tropical island, ar
bored with the luxuriance Of perpetual
summer and drowsy with breath Of Gin
nanon and ~cassia, and t~esselated with
long aisles Of geranium and cactus, we
would not have been surprised at the
splendor of the vision. But the last
place you would go to II you wanted to
ind beautiful visions would be the ISL
and of Patmos. Yet it is around such
gloomy spots that God makes the most
wonderful revelation. 1t was looking
through the awful shadows OF q prison
Diet John Bunyap sew the gate Of the