Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-05-17
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Divine breaches on
''The Ascension of Christ"
The Grandest, Tenderest, Mightiest Good
Bye Ever Heard.


In olden times when 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. of from the hinges with the gates !"
David, who was the poet of poets forteils 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 dia-
mond Take hold of the doors of pearl and
hoist them from their hinges of gold Lift
up your heads o We gates; and be ye lifted
up, We everlasting doors, and the King of
Glory shall come in. !"
Among the mountains of Palestine no one
is more uplifting than Mount Ohvet. 1t was
the peroration of our Lords ministry. On
the roof of house in Jerusalem | asked,
(which is Olvety' aud the first glance trans
fixed me But how shall l describe
my emotions, when near the close of
a Journey. in which we had for two
nights encanped 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, and 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 stIrrups
and on horse lathere1 with the long and
difficult way, ascending Mount Ohvet? Ol,
that solemn and suggestive ridgei 1t is a
limestone hill. mile in length, and 300 feet
high. and 200 feet above the level of the
sea Over it King David fed with broken
heart Over it Pompey led his devastat-
ing hosts. Here the famous Tenth Legion
built their batteries i'll besiegement- 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 hill
| the boughs were torn off and thrown into
the path of Chrst's triumphal procession. Up
! and down that road Jesus had walked twice
| a day from Bethany to Jerusalem, and from
! Jerusalem to Bethany There, again and
again, He had taught His disciples Half
wsy w this mount He uttered His lamenta-
ton: 50 Jerusalem, Jerusalem" From its
height Jesus took flight no newari when He
| nad 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, AMI
He had offered it. Death neele1 to be con-
quered and He mad put His resurrection foot
upon it, The thirty three years of voluntary
exile had ended The grandest, tenderest,
mghtiest good ~ ever heard was now to be
uttered.
I'm NOUN hliNeb Jesus SJdnuS III group
| of Galilee fish rmen. 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 mightier, and
rule dominion wider than any Pharoah,
than any David than any Cesar. But now
all these anticipations collapse. Christ ha;
] Ise Last I'D, I.a pu. nff
last sympathy He has spoken His last word.
His hands are spread apart as one is apt to
do when he pFonouces a bensdicLion. when
Z suddenly the strongest and most stupendous
law of all worlds is shattered. It is
the law which. since the worlds were created.
hold than together, 1t is tae law which
holds everything to the earth OF
temporarily hurled from earth, return.
it, the Law which keeps the planets whirling
around cur sun, and our solar system wniri-
ing around other systems, and all 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 go 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 tn:
top OF tho waves ON Lake Gaiiee, on wnich
He walked. to the bottom of the lake That
| law of gravltation must now give way K
Him who made the law. 1t may hold tbs
other stars, but it cannot longer hold tn;
Morning Star of the Redemption. 1t may
hold the MONDAY sun, but it cannot hold the
| Sun Of righteousness. The fingers OF thai
law are about to open to let 90 the most illus
trious Being the world has ever seen, anC
whom 1t had worst maltreated. The strong
EST law of nature which philosophers evel
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 "
disciples! Watch it, all the earth Watca
it, all the heavens, Christ about to leav,
this planet How? His friends will not con.
Him would only attempt by another Calvarl
to put Him into some other tomb. Twill tel
you how The CHAIN OF the most tremen
dous natural law is u1linked. The sacre,
foot of our Lord and the limestone rock part
and part forever.
Leaning back, and with pallid cheek an
uplitted ewes, the disciples sse their Lord ris
ing from the solid earth Then, rushing fol-
ward, they would grasp His feet to hold Hin
fast but they are out of reach and it
too late 10 detain Him. Higher than tn
tops of the fig trees from which they ha
plucked the fruit Higher than the div,
trees that shaded the mount Higher
until He is within sight of the Bethlehem
where He was born, and the jordan wher,
He was baptized. and the Golgotha wher,
| He was slain. Higher, until on stairs o
deecy cloud He steps. Higher, until into
sky bluer than the lake that could not sinl
Him, He disappears into sea of glor,
whose billowing splendors hide Him. Tn
fishermen watch and watch wondering i
the law of nature will not rea ssert itsel
aud He shall in q few moments come bacl
again, and they shall see Him descending
first His Scared feet coming in sight, ther
the SCARED side, then the Scared brow, ami
they may take again His SCARED hand. But
the moments pass by and the hours, AMI no
temperance. Gone out OF sight of earth,
but come within sigat of heaven. Aud rising
still not welcomed by one angelic choir like
those who one Christmas night escorted Hin
down, but all heaven turns out to greet Him
home and the temples have especial anthem,
and the palaces especial banquet, and tbs
streets especial throngs; aui all along the
line to the foot OF the throne, for years va
Gated but now again to be taken, there are
arches lifted, ami banners waved, and trum
pets sounded and doxologies chanted, anC
| coronets cast down.
The angels throng'd His chariot wheels.
And bore Him to His throne;
Then swept their golden harps and sung
The glOrioas work Is DONE
ltwas the greatest day in heavenl AS H
goes ~ the steps of the throne that thirty
three years before He alb licatel for our al
vantage, there rises FROM all the hosts OF
heaven q shout, sanity, cheruOIc. sefaphlc,
archangelic 'dallelujahl Amen"
q garden of olives, thoa dear honorei spot,
The fame of thy glory shall ue'er be forgot.
No wonder that for at least fourteen hun
bred years the churches have, forty days af-
ter Easter, kept Ascension Day; for the les
sons are most inspiring and glorious 1t
takes much Of the uncertainty out of tbs
! = g xtrha fllUpf
human nature ascending. The same bod,
that rose from Joseph's tomb ascendet
from Mount Olvet. Our human nature l
in heaven to-day just as they had sesl
Christ for forty days, He assembled, head
face. shoulders hands, feet and the entir
human organism. Humanity assembled
All how closely that keeps Christ in sym
pathy with those who are still in the strue
gle! Assembled scars, face scars, hand scar!
feet scars. shoulder sears That will kea
Him in accord with all the suffering, wit
all the weary. with all the imposed upon
No more is He spirit now than DO ", n
more OF heaven than earth Thosa OF tn
celestial inhabitants who never saw on
world now walk around Him aud learn fro
His physical contour something of what on
race will be when, in the resurrection
heaven will have uncountsd bodies as we
as uncouuted spirits. On Ascension Day II
lifted Himself through the atmosphere O
Palestine, until, amid the immensities, Il
disappeared. He was the only being tn
world ever saw who c } iii lift Him elf SURELY
if He could lift Himself He can do tae lessee
deed of lifting us.
No star goes down bat ciimbs another sky,
No sGn sets here excep- 10 rise On high.
Christ leads US all the way, through tn
birth hour, for He was born in Bethlehem
through ooyhoo1, for He passed it in Nazg
reth' through injustices for He endured tn,
9utrageS OF Pilates court room: throug!
death, for He suffered it on Calvary: tbrou9;
| the sepulchra for He lav tnraa d. ,,.i.I,39,