Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-09-26
WINDOWS AND GATES.
THE REV DR.. TALmAGE breaches
FROM A NEGLECTED. TEXT.

And VIII MAKE Thy Windows of Agates
and Thy Gates Of CarbuncIes" How
Christ Hoi-trd the Grcat Gates of Far.
don In His own BIood.
WASHINGTON. sept. 27.-From n neg.
leCtcd text. ard one To most people I'M
tuown, Rev DIR. Ialmagc this morning
produces sermon appropriate to individ-
ual and national circumstances The sub
ject was. Gates Of Carbuncle, the text
heing lsaiah liv. IL, And will make thy
windows Of agates and thy gates OF car
hunclcs"
Perhaps because "a human disease OF
most painful and ofttimcs fatal character
Is named after IL the church and the world
have never done justice to that intense and
all suggestive precious stone, the carbun-
Gle. Tho pearl that Christ picked mp to IL
lustrate his sermon, and the jasper and the
sapphire and the amethyst which the apoc-
alyptic vision mnsoned 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 scarlet and |
held up between yourcyc and the sun IL is
u burning coal The Toct puts IL into
rhythm n he writes:
Like TO the burning coal whence comes it.
name,
Among the Greeks rs Anthrax known 60 fame
God sets 1t high up In Bible crystallog
raphy. He cuts IL with divine chisel,
shapes II with IA precise geometry and kin
dies It's fire into an almost supernatural:
flame Of beauty Its law 81 symmetry, its
law Of zones, its law Of parallelism, some
thing IN excite the amazement Of the sci
enlist. chime the cantos Of the poet and
arouse the ndo rnton Of the Christian.
None but God.
No one but the infinite God could fash
ion n carbuncle as large as your thumb |
nail, and ms II TO make all ages appreciate |
this precious stone he ordered It set in the
first row 81 the high priest breastplate in
olden time and higher up than the onyx
ard the emerald and the diamond, and In
Ezckicls rOphccies concerning the splen-
doris az the Iyrian court the carbuncle 10
mentioned the brilliancics Of the walls and
Of the tcssellatcd floors suggested by the
Bible sentence, Thou hast walked mp and
down in the midst Of the stones Of fire.
But in my text Il is not solitary spcci-
men that / hand you. as the keeper Of n
u precious stone and allow you 10 examine
it. Nor Is II the panel OF door that you
might stand and study for its unique cary
ings or bronzcd traccrics. but there is n
whole gate Of IL lifted before our admiring
and nstoundcd vision-aye, two gates OF II
aye. many gates Of IL, Il will make thy
gates 81 carhunclcs. - What gates Gates
Of the church. Gates of anything worth pos
scssing. Gates Of succsslt enterprise Gates
Of salvation. Gates Of national achieve
mcnt Isaiah. who wrote this text. wrote
also all that about Christ ms the Lamb
To tho slaughter" and spoke II Christ ms
saying, 81 have trod the wine press alone. -
and WRITE. who Is this that cometh from
Edom. with dyed garments from Bozrahs'
And do you think that Isaiah In my text
merely happened Ia repre- sent the gates as
red gates, as carminc gates. as gates OF car
buncle; No. He means that il is through
atoncment, through blood rel struggle,
through ngonics, we get into anything
worth getting into.
Gates Deeply Dyed.
Heavens gates may well lie made Of
pearl. bright. Iollucid, cheerful crystal.
lization, bccausc all the struggles nrc over,
and there are beyond those gates nothing
but rapturos and cantata and triumphal
/
of reunion, and so the l2 gates are IL
pearls. and could be nothing else than
pearls. But Christ hoisted the gates of
pardon in his own blood, md the marks Of
eight fingers and two thumbs arc on each
gate, and as he lifted the gate II leaned
against his forehead and took from IL n
crimson impress, and all those gates are
deeply dyed. and Isaiah was right when
M spoke of those gntcs as gates OF carbun.
Gle.
What an odd thing II il. think some,
this idea Of yicarious suffering. or suffering
for others! Not ut all. Tho world has
seen vicarious suffering millions Of times
hcfo r. Christ came ard demonstrated II on
sc;.lc that cclipscd all that went before
and all that shall come nfter. Rachel lived
only long enough after the birth Of her son
TO give him IA name. In faint whisper she
said, Call him Ben-oni," which means
son Of my ain. and all modern travel.
crs ON the read from Jerusalem to Bethel
uncover their Leads and stand reverently
mt the tomb of Rachel, who died for her
10y. But in all ages, how many mothers
die for their children, and in many cases
grown up children, who by recreancy stab
Gear through the mothers heart! suffer.
ing for Others: Why. the world is full of 1t.
Died at His Post.
Jump said the engineer to the fire.
man IN the locomotive. "One of us Il
enough 10 die Jump And so the en-.
Ginocr died at his Iost, trying to save the
train. When this summer the two trains
crashed into each other near Atlantic City,
among tie - who lost their lives. the en-
ginecr was found dead, with one hand on
the thr, ulc"f the locomotive and the other
saVN
here today ,.iTcring for others You know
and God knUws that il is Vicarious sacri.
flee. But on one limestone hill about
twice tie lcight Il this church, five min.
ntcs' walk from the gates Of Jerusalem,
WIS the sullimCst ease Of suffering for
others TINT tie world ever saw or ever viii
rec. Christ the victim, human and satan
ic nIalcN' lcEcc the exccutioner, the whole
human race having an overwhelming in
terest in tic spectacle. To oIcn way for
MS sinful men and sinful women into glo-
rinus pardon and high hope and eternal
exulIatiOn Christ. with hand dripping
with ;he rush II orcTed arteries swung
back the gate, and, behold. il is red gate
"a gate of deepest hue. 1t gate OF carbuncle!
What Is true in spiriiunls is true In tenn
porals There ARE young men and older
men who hope, through tho right settle
ment Of this acrid controversy between sill
yer and gold, or the bimctallic quarrel,
that II viii become easy To make a living.
hat time Will never come. II never mas
been easy TO make "A living The men who
have IL very easy now went through hard
ships and self denials Ia which most young
men would never consent. Unless they
got IL by inheritance you cannot mention
20 men who have come TO honorable for.
tune that did not fight their way inch by
inch and against fearful odds that again
and again almost destroyed them. For
some good reason God has arranged Ii for
all the centuries that the only way for
most people To get livelihood for them
selves and their families Is with both hands
and all the allied forces Of body, mind and
soul to push back and push open the red
gate, tho gate Of carbuncle. For the ben
eft of all young men, II / had the time,
would call the roll of those who overcame
obstacle. How many OF the mighty men
who went one way on Pennsylvania ave
nue. and reached the United States senate,
or walked the other way on Pennsylvania
avenue and reached the White House, did
not have to climb over political obloquys
Not one. How much scorn and scoff and
brutal attack did Horace Mann endure be-
tween the time when he first began TO fight
for better common school system In Mas
sachusetts and the day when statue In
honor of him was placed on the steps Of
The statchouse overlooking tho Commonsf