The morning times., 1896-01-27

lie Kew l.. lie w diilldSt
to a congregation last evening that filled
| the First Presbyterian Church from the
pulpit 10 the doors. The subject was The
Twelve Gates,'' the text being from Revela-
tions. xxi:21-''An nd the twelve gates were
twelve pearls" DIR. TsIi;iaee said in Fart:
ADAM AND EVE HAD ROOM
u GO TO prepare"-not "A theory, not a
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 il must have
something 10 tread on If my hand is
to be reconstructed. 1T must have some
thing 10 handle. If my eye. having gone
out in death, is To be rekindled, ] must
have something TO gaze on.
Your adverse theory seems to imply
that the restricted body is to be hung
on nothing. or TO walk in air or
TO float amid the intangibles. You may
say If there be ma teral organisms. then
n soul in heaven will be cramped and
hiDdered in its enjoymenis; but ] answer:
Did not Adam and Eve have plenty of
room in the Garden of Eden?
Although only a few miles would have
described the circumference of that pla ce.
they had ample room. And do you not
suppose that God. in the immensities, can
build n place large enough to give the
whole race room, even though there be
material organisms?
Your adverse theory seems TO imply
the existence of which many have doubted.
Standing on the wharf and looking off
upon the harbor. and seeing the merchant
men coming up the bay. the flags of foreign
nations streaming from the topgaliants.
you Immediately make up Your mind that
you say" That is from Hamburg. and that
is from Marseilles. and that is from South
ampton. and that is from Havana and
your suppoS:tion as accurate. But from the
city OF which i am now speaking. no
wea eatier-beaten merchantmen of frigates
with scared bulkheads have ever come.
There has been a vast emigration into that
city. but no immigration 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 mighty telescope, and have swept
the heavens. and have seen spots ON the
sun and caverns in the moon: but lo towers
have ever risen On my vsion-no places. 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 organism, but a grand
spiritual fact, and that the Bible descrip-
tions of IL are in all cases To be taken
figurativcly. / bring in reply 10 this what
Christ said, and He ought To know:
As ooDCuering army, marching on to
take city. comes al nightfall to the crest
OF 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 10 have Il good look be
fore they pitch their tents for the night: so
now. coming as we do on this mountain
top OF prospect, ! command this regiment
or God to rein in their thoughts and halt,
and, Eefore they pitch their tents for the
night take one good, long look at the gate
of the great city. And the twelve gates
were twelve pearls
HEAVEN NOT A DULL PLACE.
want you to examine tie architecture
of those gates. Proprietors of large estates
ere very apt 10 have an ornamcnted gate
way. Sometimes they spring an arch OF
masonry; the POSTS of the gate flankcd with
lions in statuary: the bronze gate rep
resertation OF intertwining foliage, bird
haunted. until the hand of architectural
genius drops exhausted, all its life frozen
into the stone.
Oh, Heaven is not a dull place. Heaven
is not contracted place. Heaven is not q
stupid place. Il saw the twelve gates
and they were twelve pearls"
I want you to count the number OF those
Sdtes- iihptEidI pdrhh anu ioiuly ibaHorS
are apt TO have one expensive gateway,
and the eothers a re ordinary; but look around
at these entrances to heaven, and count
them.
] admit this is rather hard on sharp sec
tarianisns, If IA Presbyterian is bigoted
he brings his Westminster Assembly Cate
chsm, and he makes gateway out ofs
that, and he says TO the world: You go
through there or stay out" If a member
of the Reformed Church is bigcted, he
makes a gate out of the Heidelberg Cate
chism, and he says: You go through there
or stay out If Methodist is bigotcd
he plants two posts, and he says: Now
you crowd in between those two posts or
stay OUT
ALSO A WATER ROUTE.