The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-10-07
WINDOWS AND GATES.
THE Rrv DR. TALMAG= P7EACR5S
EeoMANEGLEcTEO TEXT.

and Thy Gates OF C:1"nacies IL ,"
Christ Holsssd the GSeat Gates OF Par
DON His Owl Blood.
WASHINGTON, Sep. 27.-Fron a
neglected text, and one to most people
unknown, Rev. Dr.. Talmage this
morning produces sermon approprl-
ate 10 individual and national clrcuul.
stances. The subject was, "Gates o.
Carbuncle," the text being lsalan liV,
12. And I Will make thy windows
of agates and thy gates ofcarbuncles.
Perhaps because human disease OF
most painful aud ofttimes fatal char.
acter is named after it the church and
the world have never done justice to
that intense and all suggestive pre-
cious stone, the carbuncle. The pearl
that Christ picked up to illustrate his
sermon, and the jasper and the sap
phire and the amethyst which the
apocalyptic vision masoned into the
wall of heaven, have had proper recos-
milton, but this, in all the ages, Is tne
first sermon on the carbuncle.
This precious stone is found IN the
East Indies, in color is an intense scar
let. and held between your eye ana
the sun it isa burning coal. The poet
puts it into rhythm as he writes:
Like to the burning coal whence comes It's
name,
Among the Greeks as Anthrax known 10 fame.
God sets it high up in Bible crystal
lography. He cuts it with divine
chissl, shapes it with a precise geome-
try and kindles its fire into an almost
supernatural flame of beauty. It's law
of symmetry, its law OF zones, It's law
of narallelisna, something to excite the
amaZement Of the scientist, cnime tAe
cantos OF the poet and arouse the aoo-
ration of the Christian.
No one but the infinite God could
fashion a carSuncle as large as your
thumb nail, and as if to make all ages
appreciate this precious stone he Or
dered it set in the first row OF the high
priests breastplate in olden tine and
higher up than the onyx and the en-
erald and the diamond, aud in Eze-
kiel,s prophecies concerning the splen-
dors of the Tyrian court the carbuncie
is mentioned, the brilliancies OF the
walls and of the tessellated floors sug-
eested by the Bible sentence, Thou
hast walked up and down in the midst
of the stones Of fre!" But in my text
it is not 8 solitary specimen that l
hand YOU, as the keeper OF museum
might take down from the shelf pre-
cious stone and allow you toexamlne
it. Nor is it the panel OF a door that
you might stand and study for its
unique carvings or bronzed tracerless,
but there is a whole gate Of 1t lifted
before our admiring and astounded
yision-aye, two gates of it aye,
many gates of it, ~ will make thy
gates of carbuncles. What gates2
Gates of the church. Gates OF any
thing worth possessing. Gates Of sue
cessful enterprise. Gates OF salvation.
Gates Of national achievement. !salah,
who wrote this text, wrote also all that
about Christ ssas the lamb to the
slaughter and spoke of Christ as say
ing, 81 have trod the wine press
alone" aud wrote, "Who IS this that
cometh from Edom, with dyed gar
ments from Bozrah?" And do you
think that Isaiah in my text merely
happened to represent the gates as red
gates, as carmine gates, as gates OF
through atonement, through blood
red struggle, through agonies, we get
into anything worth getting into,
Heavens gates may well be made Of
pearl, a bright, pellucid, cheerful crys-
tallization, because all the struggles
are over, and there are beyond those
gates nothing but raptures and cantata
and triumphal procession and everlast.
ing holiday and kiss of reunion, and
so the ID gates are II pearls, and could
be nothing else than pearls. But
Christ hoisted the gates OF pardon IN
his own blood, and the marks OF eight
4Nps%an65 two swe thumbs are on each
gate. and as he lifted the gate It lea6ea
seainst his forehead and took from 1t a
crimson impress, and all those gates
are deeply dyed, and Isaiah was right
when he spoke of those gates as gates
of carbuncle.
What an odd thing it is, think some,
this idea of vicarious suffering, or sui
fering for others! Not at all. Tne
world has seen vicarious suffering MIL
lions of times before Christ came
and demonstrated it on a scale
that eclipsed all that went before
and all that shall come after.
Rachel lived only long enough
after the birth of her son to give h!m
a name. In faint whisper she said,
Call him Ben-oni," which means
''son of my pain,' and all modern
travellers on the road from Jerusalem
to Bethel uncover their heads and
stand reverently at the tomb OF Racn-
ell, who died for her boy. But IN all
ages, how many mothers die for their
children, and in many cases grown
up children, who by recreancy STAB
clear through the mothers heart :!
Suffering for others? Why, the world
is full of it.
ssJumpr'said the engineerto the fire,
man on the locomotive. ''One OF US
is enough to die. Jump" Aud so
the engineer died athis post, trying to
save the train. When this summer
the two trains crashed into each other
near Atlantic City, among the (! who
lost their lives, the engineer was found
dead. with one hand on the throttle OF
the locomotive and the other on the
brake. Aye, there are hundreds here
today suffering for others. You know
and God knows that it is vicarioUs sac
ri6ce. But on one limestone hill
about twice the height Of this church,
Ave n,inufes walk from the gates Of
Jerusalem. was the sublimest case Of
suffering for others that the world ever
saw or ever will see. Christ the vic
tim, human and satanic malevolence
the executioner, the whole human
race having an overwhelming Interest
in the spectacle. To open way Tor
us sinful men and sinful women into
:. -.as,l