Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-21
HEAVENS OPEN DOOR.
The Apostles Vision on the Island
of PatmoS and It's Lesson.
FOR ALL REPEETANT BELIEVERS
The Portals Of Mercy and Salvation Are
Never Closed At ALI.
COMFORTING THOUGHTS OF DEATH

tsrHc1AL rKLBeRAM TO THE DIsPArcH.l
BROOKLYN, July 20-Dr. Talmsge's ser
mon to-day is on "The Wide Open Door, %
and his text Rev. iv;4-"And, behold, a
door was opened in he aven." Following is
his sermon:
John had been the pastor of q church In Eph-
esus He had been driven from his position in
that city by an indignant populace. The
preaching Of a 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 surgeon removes the cataract
from his eye. 1t is good sign when you see
men uneasy in the church pew and ex-
hibiting impatience at some plain utter
snce of truth which smites a pet sin
that they are hugging 60 their hearts. After
said nothing and noticed nothing, It is thought
to be good sign when be begins to be q little
cross. And so I notice that spiritual invslids
are in fair 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
bc-a banished from his church and sent to
PHtmos. a desolsre island, only mile In
breadth, against whose rocky coasts the sea
rose and mingled its voice with the prayers
You cannot but contrast the condition Of
this banished apostle with that of another ia
nous exile. Look at the apostle on Patmos
and the great Frenchmsn on ST. Helena. Both
were suffering among desolation and barren
ness because of offenses committed. Both had
passed through lives eventful and thrilling
Both had been honored and despised. Both
were imperial natures. Both had been turned
of to die
WIDELY DIFFERENT.
Yet mark the infinite difference: one had
fought for the perishable crown Of worldly au-
thority. the other for one eternally lustrous.
The one had marked his path with the bleached
skulls of his followers, the other had intro
duced peace and goodwill among men. The
one had lived chiefly for selt-aggrandizement
and the other tor the glory of Christ The sue
oesses OF the one were achieved amid the
breaking Of thousands of hearts and the acute,
heAven-rending cry. of orphanage and widow
hood, while the triumphs of the other made
Joy in heaven among the angels Of God.
The heart Of one exile was flied with re-
morse and despair, while the other was lighted
up with Thanksgiving and ineItinguishable
hope. Over st. Helena gathered the black
ness ; OF oar oatkness, elonos Lignted up oy no sun
the nghtnings of q wrathful God, and the
spray flung 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 the roll and CLEAN of waters from
under the throne like crystal, and the barren
ness of the ground under the apostle was for
gotten as above him he saw the trees of life all
bending under the rich glow of heavenly fruit
age, while the hoarse blast of contending ele-
ments around his suffering body was drowned
in the trumpeting of trumpets and the harp
ing 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
~r1W. T1,1s sG1,
ance Of perpetual summer and drowsy with
breath Of cinnamon and cassia and tesselated
with long 2isles of geranium and cactus we
would not have been surprised at the splendor
of the vision. But the last place you would 90
TO II 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 looking 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 Of old paper picked up about his room,
the great Dream was written. 1t was while
John Calvin was q refugee from bloody perse-
cution and was hid in house at Angouleme,
that he conceived the idea of writing his i'm
mortal Institute" Jacob had many time seen
the sun breaking through the mists and
kindling them into shafts and pillars of fiery
splendor that might well have been a ladder
o. for the angels to tread on, but the famous lad
der which he saw SCARED through a gloomy
night over the wilderness. The night of trial
and desolation 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 an
opened entrance suggests the truth that God
is looking down upon the earth and observant
prospect, we climb up into tower or mountain.
The higher up we are the broader the land
scape we behold. Yet our most comprehensive
view is limited TO only a few leagues-here
river ana there lake and wonder a mountain
peak. But what must be the glory of the earth
in the eye of Him who, from the door of
heaven, beholds at one glance all mountains
and lakes and prairies and oceans?
As we take our stand upon some high point
single objects dwindIe into such insignincance
that we cease to see them in the minutia and
we behold only the grand points of the scenery,
But not so with God. Although standing far
mp in the very tower of heaven, nothing by rea-
son of its smallness escapes His vision. Every
lily of the field, every violet under the grass the
tiniest helIotrope aster and gentian are as
plainly seen by Him as the proudest magnolia
and not one vein of color in their leaf deepens
or fades without bis notice. From this door in
heaven God sees all human conduct and the
worlds moral changes. Not one tear OF sorrow
falls in hospital or workshop or dungeon but
He sees it and in high heaven makes record of
Its fall.
THE WORLDS INIoUITIEs
in all their ghastl1ness glover under His vision
Wars and tumulus and the desolations of
famine and earthquake. whirlwind and ship
wreck, spread out before Him. If there were
no being in all the universe but GOO, He could
be happy with such an outlook as the door of
heaven. But there He stands, no more dis
turbed by the fall Of kingdom than the drop
ping of q leaf, no more excited by the rising of
q throne IN the bursting Of bud, the falling
of deluge than the trickling OF raindrop.
Earthly royalty clutches nervousy its sceptre
and waits in suspense the will of infiamed sub
iects and the crown is tossed from one family
to another But above all earthly vicissitude
and the assault of human passions, in mistaken
security stands the King of Kings watching
all the affairs Of His empire from the intro
duction Of an era 10 the counting of the hairs
of voar head.
Again: 1 learn from the fact that a door in /
heaven is opened. that there is a way of en- /
trance for our prayers and of egress for di- /
vine blessings. It does not seem that our weak |
voice has strength enough to climb up to Gods |
ear. Shall not our prayer be lost in the clouds? |
HaVe words wings? The truth is plain. Heav- |
ems door is wide open to receive every prayer. |
Must it not be loud? Ought il not to ring up |
with the strength of stout lungs? Must il not |
be loud call, such as drownIng men utter or |
like the shout Of some chieftain in the battle? |
No; Whisper is as good as a shout, and the |
mere wish of the soul in profound silence is as |
good as a whisper. 1t rises lust as high and |
accomplishes Just as much.
But ought not prayer to be made up of GOLDEN |
words II it is to enter such splendid door and |
live oeslde seraphim and archangelf Ought /
not every phrase be rounded into perfection,
ought not the language be musical, and classic, |