The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-04-17

About BiSotry ana oe'''
Rare Pearls.
Nav YORK. April The bright
snrine weather has brought still larg-
er crowds to the Sunday afternoon
services conducted by the Rev. Dr.
Talmage. He took for his subject to-
day 'sThe Gates of Heaven" the text
being Revelation xxi, IS: '.On the
east three gates; on the north three
gates; on the south three gates; on the
west three gates"
The Cashmere gate OF Delhi where
converged a heroism that makes ones
nerves tingle, the Lucknow gate still
dented and SCARED with sepoy bonn
bardment, the Madeline gate, with its
emblazonry in bronze, the hundred
gates of Thebes, the wonder of centu-
ries, all 60 out sight before the gates
of my text.
Our subject speaks of great me-
tropolis, 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 the topgallants., you
Immediately make up your mind that
those vessels come from foreign ports,
and YOU saw, THAT is from Hamburg,
and that is from MarSeilles, and that IS
from Southampton, and that is from
Havana, and your supposition IS ac-
curate. But from the city OF which l
am now speaking no weather beaten
merchantmen or frigates with Scared
bulkheaas have ever come. There
has been vast emigration into that
city, but no emigration from it so far
as our natural vision can descry.
There is no such city, says the
undevout astronomer. Il have STOOD
in high towers with a mighty tele-
scope and have swept the heavens.
and have seen spots on the sun ana
caverns in the moon, but no towers
have ever risen on my vision, no pal
aces, no temples, no shining streets,
no massive wall. There is no such
city" Even very good people tell
me that heaven is not a material or,
ganism, but grand spiritual fact, and
that the Bible description of it are IN
all cases to be taken fguratively. j
bring in reply to this what Christ said,
and he ought to know, 4 go to pre-
pare"-not theory, not a. principle,
not sentiment, but Il go to prepare
a 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
something to handle. If my eye, hay
ing gone out in death, is to be rekin-
died, must have something to gaze
on. Your adverse theory seems to
imply that the resurrected body IS to
be hung on nothing, or to walk in air,
or to float amid the intangibles. You
may say if there be material organ
isms then soul in heaven will be
cramped and hindered in its enjoy
ments, but I answer, Did not Adam
and Eve have plenty room in the gar
den of Eden2 Although only few
miles roclld have described the cir
cumfer 7nce of that place, they had
ample room. And do you not sup
pose that God, in the immensltles. can
build a place large enough to give the
whole race room, even though there
be material organisms?
Herschel looked into the heavens.
As a Swiss guide puts his Alpine
stock between the glaciers and crosses
over from crag to crag, so Herschel
planted his telescope between the
worlds and gided from star to star
until he could announce to US
that we live in a part of the universe
but sparsely strewn with worlds, and
he peers out into immensely until he
finds region no larger than our solar
system in which there are $4,000
worlds moving. And Professor Lang
says that by a philosophic reasoning
there must be somewhere world where
there is no darkness, but everlasting
sunshine, so I do not know but that 1t
is simply because we haveno telescope
powerful enough that we cannot see
into the land where there IS no dark
ness ct al and catch a glimpse Of the
FURNISHED pinnacles. AS a conquer
ing army marching on to take city
comes at nightfan 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 good look
before they. pitch their tents for the
night, so now, coming as we do on
this mountain top of prospect, con-
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 the great city. 'On the east three
gates; on the north three gates; on the
south three gates, and on. the west
three gates"
In the first place I want you to ex-
anime the architecture of these gates.
Proprietors of large estates are very
apt to have an ornamented gateway.
Sometimes they spring an arch Of ma
sonry, the posts of the gate hanked
with lions in statuary; the bronze gate
representation of INTERVIEWING foliage,
bird haunted, until the hand Of archi-
tectural genius drops exhausted, all its
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
eve ever eazed on, untouched of in
spiration. With the nail of his own
cross he cut into its wonderful tracer
les stories of past suffering and of
eladness 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 of pearl. Not one piece pick
ed up from Ceylon banks, and another
piece from the Persian Gulf, and an
other from the island of Marguerite,
h,,4 ava eo1;J MOO II ricl-o6 ,,,, fro,,o tha