Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-04-11

- gates of ThebeS the
wonder of centuries, all go out of sight
before the gates Of my text
The Great Metropolis.
Our subject speaks of a great metrop
oils, the existence of which many have
doubted. Standing on the wharf and
looking off upon the harbor, and seeing
the merchantmen coming up the bay,
the flags of foreign nations streaming
from top-gallants, you Immediately
make up your mind that those vessels
come from foreign ports, and you say:
THAT is from Hamburg, and that is
from Marseilles, and that is from
Southampton, and that is from Hava-
!, ma" and your supposition is accurate.
But from the city of which 1 am now
speaking no weather-beaten merchant
men or frigates with SCARED bulkhead
have ever come. There has been vast
emigration into that city, but no emf
grafton from it-so far as our natural
vision can descry. There is no such
CITY," says the undevout astronomer,
II have stood in high towers with
mighty telescope, and have swept the
heavens, and 1 have seen spots on the
sun and caverns in the moon; but no
towers have ever risen on my vision,
no palaces, no temples, no shining
streets, no massive wall. There is no
such city" Even very good people
tell me that heaven is not material
organism, but a grand spiritual fact,
and that the Bible descriptions of it are
in all cases to be taken fguratiVely. L
bring in reply to this that Christ said,
and he ought to know: Il go to pre-
pare'-not theory, not principle,
not a sentiment; but II go to prepare
place for you" The reSurrected
body implies this. If my foot is to be
reformed from the dust, it must have
something to tread on. If my hand is to
be reconstructed, it must have some
thing to handle. If my eye, having
gone out in death, is to be rekindled, l
must have something to gaze on. Your
adverse theory seems to imply that the
resurrected body is to be hung on moth
ing, or to walk in air, or to float amid
the intangibles. You may say if there
be material organisms, then a soul in
heaven will be cramped and hindered
in it's enjoyments; but I answer: Did
not Adam and Eve have plenty of room
in the garden of Eden? Although only
few miles would have described the
circumference of that place, they had
ample room. And do you not suppose
that God, in the immensities can build
place large enough to give the whole
race room, even though there be ma
terial organisms?
Ferschelrs Reasonings.
Herschel looked into the heavens. AS
Swiss guide puts his Alpine stock be-
tween the glaciers and crosses over
from crag to crag, so Herschel planted
his telescope between the worlds and
glided from star to star, until he could
announce to us that we live in part
of the universe but sparsely strewn
with worlds; and he peers out into i'm
mensity until he finds a region no
larger than our solar system in which
there are fifty thousand worlds moving
And Prof. Lang says that by a philo-
sophie reasoning, there must be some
where world where there is no dark
ness, but everlasting sunshine; so | do
not know but that it is simply because
we have no telescope powerful enough
that we can not see into the land where
there is no darkness at all, and catch a
glimpse of the FURNISHED pinnacles. AS
conquering army marching on to take
a city, comes at nightfall to the crest
of a mountain from which, in the midst
of the landscape, they see the castles
they are to capture, and rein in their
war chargers, and halt to take a good
look before they pitch their tents for
the night; so, now coming as we do on
this mountain top Of prospect, I COM
mand this regiment Of God to rein in
their thoughts and halt, and before
they pitch their tents for the night
take one good, long look at the gates
of bn ri " IN, ha
gates; on the north three gates; on the
south three gates; and on the west three
gates.
The Heavenly Gates.
In the first place want you to exam
inc the architecture of these gates. Pro-
prietors CT large estates are very apt to
have an ornamental gateway Some
times they spring an arch of masonry,
the posts Of the gates fianked with lions
in statuary; the bronze gate a repre-
sentation of INTERVENING foliage, bird
haunted, until the hand of architectural
genius drops exhausted, all it's life
frozen into the stone. Gates of wood
and iron, and stone guarded nearly all
the old cities. Moslems have inscribed
upon their gateways inscriptions from
the Koran of the Mohammedan. There
have been a great many fine gateways,
but Christ sets his hand to the work,
and for the upper city swung a gate
such as no eye ever gazed on, untouched
of inspiration. With the nail Of his own
cross he cut into it's wonderful traceries
stories of past suffering and gladness
to come. There is no wood, or stone, or
bronze in that gate, but from top to
base, and from side to side, it is all
pearl. Not one piece picked up from
Ceylon banks and another piece from
the Persian gulf, and another from the
island of Marguerite; but one solid
pearl picked up from the beach of ever
lasting light by heavenly hands, and
hoisted and swung amid the shouting
cc angels. The glories of alabaster vase
and periphery pillar fade out before this
gateway. 1t puts out the spark of
felspar and diamond. You know how
one little precious stone on your finger
will flash under the gaslfght But o!
the brightness when the great gate of
heaven swings, struck through and
dripping with the light Of eternal noon
day.
Julius Caesar paid a hundred and
twenty-five thousand crowns for one