The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-10-07

Rev. DR.. Talnlage Shows How Earthly
Trial Comes Before Heavenly Satisfsc-
tion-A Sermon Appropriate to Indi-
viiual and National Circumstances.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27.-From neg
lectcd text and one to most people en-
known Lev. DR.. Ialmage this morning
produces sermon appropriate to lndl-
yiduai and national circumstances. The
subject was "Gates of Carbuncle," the
text being Isaiah liv, l2, "And | Will
make thy windows OF agates and thy
gates CT carbuncles. F"
Perhaps because q human disease OF
most painful and ofttiIncs fa:a! charac-
ter is named after it the church and the
world have never done justice TO that
intense and all suggestive precious
stone, tho carbancle. The pearl that
Christ picked up 10 illustrate his Ser
mon, and the jasper and the sapphire
and the amethyst which the apocalyptlc
vision masored into the wall Of heaven
have had proper recognition, but this,
in all the ages, is the first sermon on
the carbuncle.
This precious stone is found IN the
East Indies, in color is an intense scar
let, and held up between your eye ard
the sun it is burning coal. The poet
puts it into rhythm as he writes:
Like to the burning ccal whence comes its
Z name,
Amons the Greeks as Anthrax known to fame
God sets it high up in Bible crystal
Biography. He cuts itwith divine chs
ei, shapes it with precise geometry
and kindles its fire into an almost sd
pernatural fame Of beauty. Its law OF
symmetry, its law of zones, its law of
parallelism, something to excite the
amazemcnt CT the scientist, chime tee
cantos of tho poet and arouse the adora-
ton Of the Christian. No one but the
infinite God could fashion cartuncle
ss large as your thumb rail, and as If
to make all ages appreciate this precious
stone he ordered it set in the first row
of the high priests brcastplsto in olden
time and higher up than the onyx ara
the emerald and tho diamond, and IN
Ezekiel's prophecies concerning the
splendors Of tho Tyrian court the car.
Surcle is mentioned, the brillianclcs CT
the walls and cf the tesselated focrs
susgested by the Bible sentence, "Lnou
hast walled up and down Ill the MIDST
~ tho stones CT fire. But in 1ay text
it is rot o solitary specimen that hand
you, as tho keeper Of q museum might
take down frcm tho shelf precious
stone and allow you to examine 1t, nor
is IL the panel Of door that you MI ght
stand aud study for its unique carvings
or bronzed traceries, but there IS whole
rate CT IL lifted Eefore our admirlng
and astounded vision; aye, two gates CT
It: aye, nany gates cf it, Il will make
fhy estes of carbuncies. What gates:
Gates CT the church. Gates Of anything
worth possessing. Gates Of successtu!
ENTERPRISE. Gates Of salvation. Gates CT
national achievement. Isaiah, VINO
wrotc this text, wrote also all that
about Christ "as the lamb to the slaugh,
ter" and spoke OF Christ as saying, =
have trod the wine press alone, y and
wrote. "Nho is this that cometh from
Edom, with dyed garments from Boz
rahr'' And do you think that Isaiah III
nv text merely happened to represent
the gates rs red gates, as carmlne gates
az gates of carbuncle? No He means
that it is through atonement, through
blood red struggle, through agonles' we
Get into anything worth getting into.
Heavens gates may we'll be made of
rearl. a bright, pellucid, cheerful crys-
falli.ation, because all the struggles are
over and there is beyond these gates
nothing but raptures and cantata ano
trinuohal procession and everlasting
holidcy ard kiss CT reunion, and so the
1aoates e.c - pearls and could be moth
ing clso than pearls. But Christ hoist
ed the gates cf pardon i'll hls own
blcod. end tie marks Of eight fingers
apd tro ihrmbs arc Oh each gate, ard
"a be lifted ito gate it leaned against
his forehead and took fcoci it crinsol
srprcsz, and all those gates arc deeply
dyed, and Isaiah was right when hl
spoks Ct those gates Gs gates CT cafpbA'
Gle.
sscerirs For Others.
What IN cdd thing it is, think some
this idea Of vica1ious suffering or suffer.
ing fer others. Not at all. The Woflo
has seen yicarioIs suffering millions o.
<. times before Christ came and demon,
strated it cn scale that ecl!psed al