Telegram-herald., 1890-07-21
SERMON BY DIX TALMAGE
~THe VIDE OPEN DOOR" THE TlTlE
or AZ EXCELLENT DISCOURSE.


Ths Msnor1sls words ef RsveIztioz.
-Aaa Behold = Door Was oPsAea Ia
asa.sn,s eks TeEt-Esers oAs Nay
Eater late tas Kingdom IL lie WIn
BRooxLYN. July ee-Ths title q Dr.
TAlmGze's sermon today was The Wide
Opea Door, ana Ia text Is fouaa ia Rev.
~, I: and. bsh0ld. deer w-s opened Ia
hs4ven."
John had been tie pastor Of church IN
Ephasas. lie had been driven from his
position In that city by al indignant pop
uisee. The preaching Of pure aud
earnest gospel had made an excitement
dangerous u every form 0f iaiquity This
will often be the result Of pointed preach
iog. Men viii dineA under the sword
strokes OF truth. You ought not to be
surprised that the blind nan makes an
outcry Of pain when the surgeon removes
the cataract from his eye. IL is a good
sign when yoa see men uneasy an the
cAurch pew, and exhibiting impasience az
some plain utterancs Of truth ~ .n1h snltes
pet sin that they are hug ~ % their
hearts After the patient ha5Ssen 20 low
that for weeks he said nothing and noticed
nothing, 10 i thought 70 be a good sign
when he begins 70 be a little cross And
80 notice that spiritual inyalids are in "A
fair way for recovery when they become
I somewhat irs.scible aud choleric under the
treatment OF the truth. But John had so
nightly incuipated public iniquity that
be had been banished from his church and
sent 10 Patmos, a desolste island only "A
mile in breadth, against whose rocky
coasts the sea rose and mingled its voice
with tho prayers and hymnings Of the
heroic exile.
TWO ExILEs coSTRAsTRD.
You cannot but contrast the condition Of
this banished apostle with that Of another
famous exile. Look at the apostle on Pat
mos and the great Frenchman on St He
/ lena. Both were suffering among dasola-
/ ton and barrenness because Of offenses
I committed. Both had passed through
J lives eyentful and thrilling. Both had
\ been honored and despised. Both were
/ imperial natures. Both had been turned
I of 70 die. Yet mark the infinite differ
ence-one had fought for the perishable
crown of worldly authority, the other for
( one eternally lustrous. The one had
/ marked his path with the blcached skulls
OF his followers, the other had introduced
{ peace and good will among men. The one
I had lived chiefly for self aggrandizement
+ 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, heaven rending cry OF orphan
age and widowhood, while the triumphs Of
the other made Joy in heaven among the
angels of God
The heart OF one exile was filed with re-
morse and despair, while the other was
lighted up with thanksgiving and mex
tinguishable hope. Over St Helena gath
cred the blacsKnesS of darkness, clouds
lighted up by no sunrising, but rent and
fringed and heaying with the lightnings
OF q wrathful God, and the spray flung
over the rocks seemed 10 hiss with the cor,-
demnation, "The way of the ungodly shall
perish" But over Patmos the beavers
were opened, and the stormy sea beneath
was forgotten in the roll and CLEAN OF
waters from under the throne like crystal;
and the barrenness 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
hoarse blast of contending elements around
his suffering body was drowned in the
trumPoting OF trumpets aud the harping
OF harps, the victorious cry Of multitudes
like the voice of nscny waters and the ho-
sanna Of hosts ia number like the stars.
a DULL SPOT FOR A GLORIOUS VISION.
What dull spot upon which to stand
and have such a glorious yisionI Had
Patmos been some tropical island, arbo-ed
with the luxuriance Of perpetual summer,
and drowsy with breath of cinnamon and
cassia, and tesselated with long aislcs OF
geranium 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 20 find beautiful visions would be
the island OF Patmos. Yet it is around
such gloomy spots that God makes the
most wonderful revelation. It was look
ing through the awful shadows Of prison
that John Bunyan saw the gate Of the
celestial city. God there divided the light
from the darkness. In that gloomy abode,
on scraps Ok old paper picked up about his
room, the great dream was written.
It was while John Calvin was o refugee
from bloody persecution, and was hid in a
house at Angouleme. that he conceived the
idea OF writing his immortal "Institutes "
Jacob had many p time seen the sun break
ing through the mists, and kinGling them
into shafts and pillars Of fiery splendor
that might we'll have been ladder for the
angels . tread on, but the famous ladder
which he saw scared through a gloomy
night over tho wilderness Tho night Of
trial and dcsolation is the scene Of the
grandest heavenly revelations. From the
barren, surf beaten rock OF Patmos John
looked up and saw that door was opened
in heaven.
Again, the announcement OF such m
opened entrance suggests the truth that
God Is looking down upon the earth and
ohservaat OF all occurrences. II we would
gain a wide prospect We climb Up into a
tower or mountain. The higher up we are
the broader the landscape w. behold. Yet
our most comprehensive view is limited 70
only q few lsagues-aere a river and there
lake aud yondeT a mountain peak Bu;
what must Be the glory OF the earth Ia the
ere * him who from the door Of heaven
bchol3s ~ one glance all mountains and
lakes and prAries and oceans. lands be
spangled with tropical gorgeousuess and
Arctic regions white with everlasting
SHOWS. Lebanon majestic With oedsrs and
American wilds solemn with unbroke1
forests ~ pine. African deserts of giisten
ing sand snd Wilderness of water IN
. broken By shin's keel. continents covered
with harvests n wheat and rice and maize
the glory of every zone, she whole world ol
Countains end seas and forests sad Islands
taken in "a 4 single glance q their great
Creator.
NOTHING EsCAFEs Gor's VISION.
As We take cur stand upon sor,e hizt
point single OBJECTS dwirdis into such in
significance that We cease % see chem ir
the MINUTES. and We behold oniy she grand
points q the scanerT Ba1 aot 50 WITH
tfst- Alchoush standing fsr up ia th'
vsrT tower 81 lcsven, nothing ~ reason q
rs suallless escsres his vision ErerI
hlv of taa sid e-err violet under ftt