Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-02-03
REV. DR.. TllMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE's sun
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECr:-"THE WALL OF HEAVEN.

designs on you to-dayf They are TO make
Tou homesic& for heaven: TO console Won con.
cerning your departed Christian friends by
giving you some idea OF the brillancy of the
scenes IN which they now commingle: to
give all who love the Lord a more elevataJ
ioea as 70 where they are going TO pass the
most OF the years OF their existence and 10
set all the indiffer ent aud neglected TO Quick
ana immediate preparation, that they NAV
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 acaua ntance
with which 1t is impossible to understand
the BIBLE mean the precious stones, their
crystaiization, their powers OF refracton,
tnelr cleavage, their fracture, their luster
ther phosphoresence, their TRANSPARENCY
their infinity OF color and shape and what
they had to DO with the welfare aud doom
OF families and the destiny of nations-aye.
the positive revelation they make OF God
Himself.
NV text stands us in the presence of the
most stupen ious splen Tor OF the universe
and that Is the wall OF heaven, and saws OF
its foundations that they are garnished with
all manner OF precious stones All the
ancient cities had walls for safety. and
heaven has wall for everlasting safety.
You may say that a wall made up of ali
manner OF precious stones Is figurative, but
you cannot understand the force and siguif.
canoe OF the figure unless you know some
thing about the real structure and 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 foundations
OF the wall, and | ask you to join me in the
attempt TO scale some OF the heights. We
shall only get part OF the way up, but better
that 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 bot.
tom and where the wall begins.
The first layer of the foundation reaching
all around the city and for 1900 miles is a
layer OF jasper. 1nieei there is more OF
jasper in the wall of heaven than of any
other brilliant because 1t not only composes
a part of the foundation, but makes up the
chief part Of the superstructure. The jasper
Is congregation Of many colors. 1t 10
brown, it is yellow, it is green, 1t Is vermil.
Ion, It Is red, 1t is purple, it is black, and Is
20 striped with coiors that much of it il
called ribbon jasper
1t Is found IN Siberia and Egypt, but it is
rare in most lands and OF great value. for IL
Is 50 hard the ordinary processes cannot
break 1t off from the places where il has
been deposited. The workmen bore holes
into the rock Of jasper then drive into these
| uOIcp stlIhS VI uiI plTCu WOOL, ana tn9n
saturate the sticks and keep them saturated
until they swell enough to split the rock, aud
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 were
| cut into 1t. The finest iuta clio ever seen Is
In the Vatican museum, the head OF Minerva
In jasper. By divine arrang cement jasper
adorned the breastpate OF the high priest In
the ancient temple. But its most significant
position is where it glows and burns and
darkens and briGhtens and breaches from
| the lowest stratu of the wall of heaven.
Glad am that the very first row OF stones
In the wall OF heaven is jasper of many coll
ors, and il you like purple it is purple. aud
IL you like brown it is brown, and IL you like
| green it is green, an IL you like ocher yell
low it Is ocher yellow, and IL you like YER
million it is vermillion, and il you like
black 1t is black. 1t suggests to mo that
heaven is a place OF all colors-colors OF
opinion. co'ors Of creed, colors Of skin, col
| ors 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 pre-
| cious stone reached is sapphire, and it
sweeps around the city 1900 miles. All lapi-
| daries a gree in saying that the sapphire OF
the Bible is what we now call lapis lazuli.
| Job speaks with emotion OF "The place of
sapphires" and God thought so much Of tn is
precious stone that He put 1t in the breast
plate Of the high priest commanding. THE
second row shall be an emerald, sapphire
and diamond"
The sapphire is a blue, but varies from
faintest hue to deepest ultramsrine 1t Is
found pebble In the rivers OF Ceylon. 1t
| Is elsewhere in compact masses. Persia and
Thibet and Burmah and New South Wales
and North Carolina yield exquisite speci-
| mems. Its blue eye is seen in the valley OF
the Rhine. After a burial OF thousands of
years Il has been brought to sight in Egyp-
tian monuments and Asyrisn cylinders.
At Moscow and st. Petersburg and Con-
stantinope have seen great masses OF this
sapphire, commonly called lapis lazuli. The
closer YOU study its veins the more enchant-
ing, and do not wonder that the sapphire
is called into the foundation OF the wall of
heaven. II makes strong stone for the
foundation, for it Is the hardest OF all min
erals except the diamond.
Sapphire based on jasper. blue sky over
a fiery sunset. ST. John points to it In Rev
eiation and says, "The second, sapphire"
and this suggests to me that though our
earth and all its furniture OF mountains and
seas and atmospheres are TO 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
faurative, The deep blue OF our skies and
the deep blue of our seas must not, Will not,
be forgotten, II a thousand years after the
world has gone to ashes you or l. want to
|. recall how the earthly skies looked IN n sum-
mer noon or,the midocean I'D calm, we
will have only to look at the second row OF
the foundation Of the wall OF heaven.
I Glad that Nj ,IOhn fold
about itl "The second sapphirep While
we are living in sight OF that wall spirits
who have come from other worlds and who
never saw our earth will visit US, and we
will visit them, and some time we will be in
conversation about this earth when 1t was
vet afloat and aswing, and we shall want TO
tell them about how 1t looked at certain
times and then it will be great object
lesson for all eternity, and We will say TO
onr visitor from some other world, as we
noint toward the wall Of heaven, ut looked
fike that stratum of foundation next to the
iowestn John, twenty first chapter and
nineteenth verse, "rhe second sapphire"
A step higher and you come to chal-
cedonv another layer in the foundation oil
the wall and the running 1900 miles around
the heavenly city Chalcedonyl Trans.
lucent. A divine mixture Of agates and
opals and comedians Striped with white
and gray. DdSDeu VI phiiOi AhC'
red and darkening into purple. Ice ald an
the Hebrides hold forth beautiful specimens
of chalcedony.
But now wo must MAKE swift ascent to
the top of the foundation wall, for we can
not minutey examine all the layers, and SO.
putting one foot on the chalcedonY OF which
we have been speaking, Wa spring TO the
emerald, aud we are one-third of the way
TO the top of the foundation, for the fourth
row is emerald. That would judge, is
Gods favorite among ge MS, bee lusS it holds
what seems evident IS His tavorite color or
earth, the green, since that is the color most
widely diffussd across all the earth's conti-
nents--the grass, the foliage, the everyday
dress Of nature. The enieralll Kings use
II as a seal to stamp pronunciamentos The
rainbow around the throne Of God is by
St John compared to it.
Conquerors have considered it the great
est prizs to capture. What ruthessneS