Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-04-12

picked up from the beach of everlasting
light by heavenly hands and hoisted
and swung amid the shouting Of angels.
The glories of alabaster vase and por-
phyry pillar fade out before this gate
way. It puts out the spark of feldspar
and diamond. You know how one little
precious stone on your finger will fash
under the gaslight But, oh the bright
ness when the great gate Of heaven
swings, struck through and dripping
with the light Of eternal MONDAY.
Gate Of Pearl.
Julius Caesar paid 1875, 900 crowns
for one pearl. The government of Portu-
gal boasted of having pearl larger than
a pear Cleopatra and Philip II dazzled
the worlds vision with precious stones.
But gather all these together and lift
them and add to them all the wealth Of
the pearl fisheries and set them in the
panel of one door, and it does not equal
this magnificent gateway. An almighty
hand hewed this, swung this, polished
this. Against this gateway, on the one
side, clash all the splendors of earthly
beauty. Against this gate on the other
sido beat the surges Of eternal glory.
Oh, the gate, the gate! 1t strikes an in
finite charm through every one that
passes it. One step this side Of the gate
and we are paupers One step the other
side of The gate and we are kings. The
pilgrim of earth going through sees in
the one huge pearl all his earthly tears
in crystal Oh, gate Of light, gate Of
pearl, gate Of heaven, for our weary
souls at last swing open
When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
And pearly gates behold;
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong
And streets Of shining godf
Oh, heaven is not a dull place
Heaven is not a contracted place
Heaven is not a stupid place. II saw
the 10 gates and they were IL pearls "
In the second place | want you to
count the number Of those gates. lmpe-
rial parks and lordly manors are apt to
have one expensive gateway, and the
others are ordinary, but look around at
these entrances to heaven and count
them. One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight nine, ten, eleven, twelve.
Hear it, all the earth and all the hesv-
ensl Twelve gates
Hard on Sectarianism.
l admit this is rather hard on sharp
sectarianismsl If Presbyterian is big
oted, he brings his Westminster assem-
bly, catechism, and he makes a gateway
out Of that, and he says to the world,
"You 90 through there or stay out. " II
a member of the Reformed church is
bigoted, he makes a gate out Of the Hell
delberg catechism, and he says, "You
90 through there or stay out" If a
Methodist is bigoted, he plants two
posts, and he says, Now, you crowd in
between those two posts or stay out "
Or perhaps an Episcopalian may say:
Here is a liturgy out Of which | mean
to make gate. Go through it or stay
out, " or Baptist may say: Here is
water gate. You 60 through that or
YOU must stay out, " and so in all our
churches and in all our denominations
there are men who make one gate for
themselves and then demand that the
whole world go through it. Iabhor this
contractedness in religious views. y
small souled man, when did God give
Won the contract for making gates? l
tell you plainly l will not 90 in that
gate. will 60 in at any one OF the IL
gates choose Here is man who says,
II can more easily and more closely ap-
proach God through a prayer book. "
| say, my brother, then use the prayer
book. " Here is a man who says, Il be-
lieve there is only one mode of baptism,
and that is immersion. Then l say,
LET me plunge you" Anyhow, | say,
away with the gate of rough panel and
rotten posts and rusted latch, when there
are l2 gates and they are ~ pearls.
The fact is that great many OF the
churches in this day are being doctrined
to death. They have been trying to find
ont all about Gods DEGREES, and they
want to know who are elected to be
saved and who are reprobated to be
damned and they are keeping on dis
cussing that subject when there are
millions of souls who need to have the
truth put straight at them. They sit
counting the number Of teeth in the
iawbone with which Samson slew the
Philistines. They sit on the beach and
see vessel going to pieces in the ofhng,
and instead Of getting into boat and
pullinR away for the wreck, they sit
discussing the different styles OF oar
looks. God intended us to know some
things and intended us not to know
others. 1 have heard scores OF sermons
explanatory of Gods DEGREES, but came
away more perplsxed than when l
went The only result Of such discussion
is a great fog. Here are two truths
which are to conquer the world: Man,
a sinner; Christ, Saviour ANY man
who adopts those two theories in his re-
ligious belief shall have my right hand
in warm grip Of Christian brotherhood
Empty Handed.
A man comes down to river IN time
of freshet. He wants to get across. He
| has 10 SWIM. W uab uOco ho uO' ~AS
first thing is to put of his heavy ap-
parel and drop everything he has in his
hands. He must go empty handed II he
is going to the other bank. And l tell
YOU when we have come down to the
river Of death and find il swift and rag
ing we will have to put of all our SEQ
tarianism and lay down all our cum
brous creed and empty handed put out
for the other shore. "What, say you,
would you resolve all the Christian
church into one kind Of church, Would
you make all Cbristendom worship in
the same way, by the same formsl" Oh.
no. You might as we'll decide that all
people shall eat the same kind OF food
without reference to appetite or wear
the same kind Of apparel without refer
ence to the shape Of their body. Your
ancestry, your temperament, your sur
roundings. will decide whether you 60
to this or that church and adopt this or
that church polity. One church will
best get one man to heaven and another
ch uroh another man. do not care
which one OF the gates you go through