Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-01-23
THE WALL Or HEAVEN.
DR.. TALMAGES TABERNACLE SERMON YES
TERDAY.
A Glorious and Brilliant Picture Of Heaven Drawn
By the Eloquent Brooklyn Divine-Ihe
Precious Stones and Their
Bible Meaning.


tour OF preaching and lecturlng Tor ten
DAYS in kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama,
Georgia aud South Carolina, and re-
sumed his course of sermons on "God
Everywhere" Having preached on
The Astronomy of the Bible, or God
among the Stars, The Chronology OF
the Bible, or God among the Centuries, "
'sThe 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: Reyel3-
tion 24;I0: "The foundations OF the
wall of the city were garniShed with all
manner Of precious stones
Shall be frank and tell you what are
my designs on you to-day? They are
70 make you homesick for heaven; to
console you concerning your departed
Christian friends by giving son some
idea OF the briiliancy Of the scenes in
which they now cOmmingle; 70 give all
who love the Lord more elevated idea
as TO where they are going 20 pass the
most OF the years Of their existence,
and 90 set all the Indifferent and neg
Iectful 90 quick and immediate prepare
tion, that they may have IL likewise.
Yea, 10 Is 20 induce many OF our young
people TO study volume Of God that
few ever open, but, without some ac-
ouaintance with which il is impossible
10 understand the Bible mean the
precious stones, their crystallizatiOn,
their powers of reiraction, their cleav-
age, their fracture, their luStre, their
phOsphOresenCe, their transparency,
their iufnity OF color and shape, and
what they had 70 do with the welfare
and doom Of families and the destiny OF
nations; aye, the positive revelation
they make of God himself.
MY TEXT STANDS Us
in the presence Of the most Stupendous
splend0r of the universe, and that is the
wall Of heaven, and says Of its fOunda-
tiOnS that they are garnisEed with all
manner of precious stones. All the
ancient cities had walls for safety, and
heaven has a wall for everlasting safe
". You may say that a wall made up
Of all manner of precious stones is tgu-
rative, but you cannot understand the
force and significance Of the figure un-
less you know something about the real
structure ard color and value OF the
precious stones mentioned. Now, !
propose this morning, SO far as the
Lord may help me, to attempt TO climb,
not the wall of heaven but the fOunda-
tiOns of the wall, and / ask yOn 10 join
me in the attempt to scale some of the
heights. We shall only get part Of the
way up, but better that than 70 stay
down on the stupid level where the most
OF as have all our lives been standing.
We begin clear down at the bottom and
where the wall begins.
The tirst layer of the foundation,
reaching all around the city aud for
fifteen hundred miles, is a layer of
Jasper. Indeed there is more OF jasper
in the wall of heaven than Of any other
brilliant, becaeSe 10 not only cOmpOseS
part Of the foundation but makes up
the chief part of the suDerstructure.
The jasper is a congregation OF many
colors IL is brown; IL is yellow; il is
green; 10 Is vermilliOn; 10 is red; it is
purple; lt is black; and so is striped
with cOlors that much Of il is CALLED
ribbon-jasper. 1t is found In Siberia
and Egypt, but it is rare in most lands
ane of great value, for il is so hard the
ordinary processes cannot break it II
from the places where il has been de-
posted.
THE WOBRNlEN BORE NOTES
into the rock of jasper; then drive into
these holes sticks OF dry birch wood,
and then sOnurate the sticks and keep
them saturated until they swell enough
to split the rock, and the fragments are
brought out and polished and trans
ported and cut into canoes and put be-
hind the glass doors Of museums. The
portraits Of Roman emperorS were cut
INFO it. The finest intagliO ever seen is
in the Vatican museum, the head Of
Minerva is jasper. BY divine arrange
ment, jasper adorned the breastplate
OF she high priest i'm the ancient tenn
pie. But its most significant position
is where il glows and burns and dark
ems and brightens and breaches from
the lowest strata OF the wall Of heaven.
Glad am 1 that the very first row
of stones In the wall Of heaven
IS jasper OF May cOlOrs, and il you like
purple 10 is purple, and II you like
brown 90 is brown, and If you like green
10 is green, aud II you like OChre-yellOw
IL is OchreyeilOw, aud if you like YER
million 10 Is vermiiiOn, and il you like
black 10 Is black. IL suggests TO me
that heaven is place Of all cOlors-
colOrs of opinion, coiorS Of creek, cOlOrS
of skin, cOlOrS Of taste.
But we must pass up In this inSpec-
tion of the foundations Of the great wall
Of heaven, and after leaving the jasper,
the next precious stone reached is sap
phire, and 10 sweeps around the city if
teen hundred miles. AN lupidaries
agree In saying that the sapphire OF the
Bible is what ne now call lapis lazuli.
Job speaks with emotion OF ''The Place
OF Sapplires, and God thought so
much of this precious stone that be put
il in the breast plate Of the high priest,
commanding, "The second row shall be
an emerald, q sapphire. and adiamOnd.
The sapphire is blue, but varies from
fainteSt hue 60 deepest ultramarine. It
is found q pebble In the rivers of CeylOn.
IL is elsewhere On compact masses.
PERSIA AND Tibet.
and Burmah and New South Wales aud
North Carolina yield exquisite Speci-
mems It's blue eye is seen In the VAL
ley Of the Rhine After a burial Of
thousands of years it has been brought
TO sight IN Egyptian monuments and
Assyrian offenders. AT Moscow and
St. Petersburg and COnstantiuOple,
have seen great masses Of this sapphire
commonly called lapiz lazull The
closer you study It's veins, the more en-
chanting, and / DO not wonder that
the sapphire is called into the founda-
tion of the wall Of heaven. IL makes
ctroDu sfonp for tina foundation for