The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-23
THE WALL OF HEAVEN.
TALMAGE TALKS TO MAKE PEOPLE
HOMESICK FOR HEAVEN.

N~~
BROOKLYN, Jan. 22.-Dr. TaImage res
turned from his southern tour Of preaching
aud lecturing for ten days in Kentucky,
Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and South
Carolina, and resumed his course of sermons
on ''God Everywhere" Having preached
on "The Astronomy of the Bible or God
Among the Stars" "The Chronology of ths
Bible or God Among the Centuries, "The
Ornithology of the Bible or God Among the
Birds" he to-day speaks of "The Precious
Stones Of the Bible or God Among the
Amethysts." Subject "The Wall of
Heaven" Text: Revelation xxi, 10: "The
foundations of the wall Of the city were
garnished with all manner Of precious
stones"
Shall l be frank and tell you what are
my designs on you to-dayl They are TO
make you homesick for heaven; to con-
sole you concerning your departed Christian
friends by giving you some idea OF the
brilliancy OF the scenes in which they now
commingle; to give all who love the Lord
a more elevated idea as to where they are
going TO pass the most of the years OF their
existence, and to set all the indifferent and
neglectful to quick and immediate prepara-
tion, that they may have IL likewise. Yea,
1t is to induce many Of our young people
to study a volume Of God that few ever
open, but without some acquaintance with
which 1t Is impossible to understand the
Bible-izmeau the precious stones; their
capitalization, their powers Of refraction,
their cleavage, their fracture, their luster,
their phosphorescence, their transparency.
their inhnity Of color and shape and what
they had to do with the welfare and doom
of families and the destiny of nations; aye,
Nh. aIakF 49, ~
himself.
My text stands us in the presence OF the
most stupendous splendor of the universe.
and that is the wall of heaven and says Of
its foundations that they are garnished
with all manner OF precious stones. All
the ancient cities had walls for safety, aud
heaven has a wall for everlasting safety.
You may say that a wall made up OF all
manner Of precious stones ia figurative,
but you cannot understand the force and
Significance OF the figure unless you know
something ahout the real structure aud
color and value of the precious stones men-
toned. Now, propose this morning, so
far as the Lord may help me, to attempt to
climb, not the wall Of heaven, but the
foundations Of the wall, and l ask you to
join me IN the attempt to scale some of ths
heights. We shall only get part of the wny
up, but better than to stay down on the
stupid level where the most OF us have all
our lives been standing. We begin clear
down at the bottom aud where the wall
begins.
Te first layer of3the foundation reaching
all around the city and for fifteen hundred
miles, is a layer Of jasper. Indeed there la
more OF jasper In the wall of heaven than
of any other brilliant, because IL not only
composes a part of the foundation bus
makes up the chief part of the superstruct-
ure. The jasper is a congregation of many
tw Ia L. Ill Il l.
it is vermilion; IL Is red; it is purple it Is
black; and so is striped with colors that
much OF 10 is called ribbon-jasper. Il is
found In Siberia aud Egypt, but it is rare
In most lands and OF great value, for it IL
80 hard the ordinary processes cannon bresx
it off from the places where 1t has been de-
posted. The workmen bore holes into tho
rock OF jasper then drive into these holes
sticks OF dry birch wood, and then saturats
the sticks and keep them saturated
until they swell enough TO split ths
rock, and the fragments are brought out
and polished and transported and cut
into canoes and put behind the glass
doors of museums. The portraits OF
Roman emperors we're cut into 1t. The
finest intaglio ever seen is in the Vatican
museum, the head of Minerva in Jasper.
BY divine arrangement jasper adorned the
breastplace Of the high priest In the auciena
temple. But its most significant position is
where it glows and burns and darkens and
brightens aud!preaohes from the lowest stars
of the wall of heaven. Glad am that the
very first row Of stones in the wall OF heaven
is jasper Of many coiors, and il you like
purple it is purple, and II you like brown 10
is brown, and If you like green IL is green.
and IL you like oohre-yelIow it Is ochre-
yellow, and IL you like vermilion il Is YER
million, and IL you like black It is black. IL
suggests to me that heaven is place of all
colors-colors OF opinion, eolors Of creed
colors Of skin, colors of taste.
But we must pass up in this inspection Of
the foundations OF the great wall of heaven.
and after leaving the jasper. the next
precious stone reached is sapphire, and 10
sweeps around the city fifteen hundred
miles All lapidaries agree In saying that
the sapphire Of the Bible Is what we now
call lapis lazuli. Job speaks with emotion
of "rhe Place OF Sapphires," and God
thought 80 much Of this precious stone that
he put il in the breastplate OF the high
priest, commanding. ''The second row shall
be an emerald, sapphire and q diamondn
The sapphire is blue. but varies from
faintest hue to deepest .ultramarine. 1t is
found pebble in the rivers of Ceylon. II
is elsewhere in compact masses. Persia ard
Thibet and Burrnah and New South Wales
and North Carolina yield exquisite speci-
mems. Its blue eye is seen in the valley Of
the Rhine. After burial of Thousands Of
years it has been brought to sight
il Egyptian monuments and Assyrian
cylinders. At Moscow and St. Petersburg
and Constantinopie / have seen great
masses OF this sapphire, commonly called
lapis lazuli. The closer you study It's veins
the more enchanting, and do not wonder
that the sapphire is called into the founda-
ton OF the wall of heaven. It makes q
strong stone for the foundation, for 1t is the
hardest of all minerals except the diamond.
Sapphire based on jasper a blue sky over
q fiery sunset st. John points to it In Rev
citation, and says: "The second, sapphire:"
and this suggests to me that though our
earth and ali its furniture OF mountains and
seas and atmospheres is 20 collapse and
vanish We will throughout all eternity have
In some way kept the most beautiful Of
earthly appearances. whether you take this
sapphire Of the second layer as literal or
hgurative. The deep blue OF our skies and
the deep blue OF our seas must not, will
not, be forgotten. IL thousand
years after the world has gone TO
ashes you or want TO recall
how the earthly skies looked In q summer
noon, or the midocean in a calm. we will
have only 10 look at the second row OF the
foundation Of the wall OF heaven. 0, am
90 glad that st. John told us about isi
"Ihe second, sapphirew While we are ily-
ing IN sight Of that wall. spirits who have
come from other worlds, and who never
saw our earth. viii visit as, and We VIII
visit them, aud some time We viii be Ia
aastyaraa l.ostf affa earth tnhau II waa vnf