The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-10-08
REV. 1AuMAGES SUNDAY SERMON
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE
Subject, Coates OF Carbuncie.

TExr; "And will make thy windows OF
agates, and thy gates OF carbunclos. lisa.
liv., ~.
Perhaps because Il human disease OF most
painful and ofttines fatal character is named
after II, the church and the world have never
done justice to that intense and all-suggestive
precious stone. the carbuncle. The pearl
that Christ picked mp 70 illustrate His SER
mon, and the jasper and the sapphire and
the amethyst which the apocalyptic vision
masoned into the wall of heaven lave had
proper recognition, but this in all the ages,
IL the first sermon on the carbuncle
This precious stone is found in the East
Indies, in color ~ an intense scarlet, and
held up between your eye and the sun II Is n
burning coal. The poet puts II into rhythm
rs he writes
Like to the burning. coal whence comes its
name;
Among the Greeks as Anthrax known to
fame.
God sets 1t high up in Bible crystallography.
He cuts II with divine chisol, sharpens IL
with precise geometry, and kindles its fire
into an almost supernatural hame OF beauty.
Its law Of symmetry, its law OF zones. its law
OF parallelism. something TO excite the
amaZement OF the scientist. chime tho cantos
OF tho poet and arouse the alteration OF the
Christian. No one but the innuite God could
fashion carbuncle rs large a. your thumb
this precious stone He ordered It 10 be set in
the first row Of the high priests breast. plate
In oldcn time and higher up than the ONYX
anu the emerald and the diamond, and In
Ezekiels prophecies concerning tho splendors
OF the Tvriau court, the carbuncle IL men
toned, the brillaucies OF tho walls and OF
the tassellnted iioOrs suggested by the Bible
sentence; Thou hast walked M and down
In the midst OF the stones OF nrcw But in
my text IL is not a solitary specimen that
handyou, os the keeper OF museum might
take down from the shelf a precious
stone aud allow you TO examine
1t. Nor Is it I'm tho pnnc OF n
door that you might stand an1 study for its
unique carvings or bronzed tracerles, but
there is whole gate OF it lifted before our
admlring md astounded vision. aye! two
gates of IL, aye! many gates Of II; "I will
make thy gates OF carcuncles." What gates2
Gates OF the Church. Gates OF ANYTHING
worth possessing. Gates OF successful en-
terprlse. Gates OF salvation. Gates OF Ma
tonal achievement. Isaiah who wrote this
text, wrote also all that about Christ ''as the
lamb OF the slaughter" and spoke OF Christ
rs saying, "I havctrod the wine press alone"
and wrote, "Wbo is this that cometh from
Edom. with dyed garments from Bozrah?"
And do you think that Isaiah In my text
merely happened to represent the gates as
red gates, ~ cartnine gates, rs gates of car
bunce? No. Hc means that Is through
atonement, through blood-red struggle,
through agonics we get into anything worth
getting into. Heavens gates may well be
made Of pearl, n bright. pelucid. cheerful
crysialization, because all the struggles are
over and thore II beyond those gates nothing
but raptures and cantata and tnumphal pro-
cession and everlasting holiday and kiss OF
reunion, and so the twelve gates are twelve
pearls, and could be nothing less than pearls.
But Christ hosted the gates OF pardon in His
own blood. and the marks OF eight fingers
and two thumbs are on each gate and as He
lifted the gate IL leaned against His forehead
and took from IL "a crimson impress, and all
those gates are deeply dyed, and Isaiah was
night when be spoke Ct these gates as gates
Of carbuncle.
What an odd thing II Is, think some. this
idea OF yicarious suffering or suffering for
others! Not at all. The world had seen vi
carious suffering millions OF times before
Christ came and demonstrated II on n scale
that eclipsed all that went before and all that
shall come after Rachael lived only long
enough after the birth OF her son TO give him
n 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 10 Bethel unc0ver their heads
and stand reverentlY at the tomb OF Rachel
who died for her boy. But In ali ages how
many mothers die for their children, and In
many cases grown up children, who by re-
creancy stab clear through tho mothers
heart, Suffering Tor others2 Why. the world
is full OF II. Jump said the engineer to
the fireman on the locomotive. zone OF
us Is enough to die. jump" And 90 the
engineer died at his post, trying to save the
train. When this summer the two trains
crashed into each other near Atlantic City,
among the iorty-seven 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 arc hun
dreds here to-day suffering for others You
know aud God knows it Is yicarious sarri-
fee. But on one limestone hill about twice
the height Of this church, five minutes walk
from the gates of Jerusalem. was the sub
lmest case OF suffering for Others that tho
world ever saw or ever will see. Christ the
victim. human and satanic malevolencr tho
executioncr, the whole human race having
an overwhelming interest in the spectacle.
TO open way for us sinful men and sinful
women into glorious pardon and high hope
and eternal cxultation, Christ. with hand
dripping with the rush of opened arteries,
swung back the gate, and behold! it is u rod
gate, n gate OF deepest hue, gate OF car
buncle.
What Is true in spirltuals Is true In tenn
porals. There ars young men and older
men who hope. through tho settlement Of
this acrid controversy between silver and
gold. or the Dimetlllic quarrel, that It will
become easy TO make a living. That timo
will never come. 1t never has been easy to
make a living. The men who have It very
easy now, went through hardships and self
denials TO which most young men would
never consent. Unless they got II by inheri-
tance, YOU cannot mention twenty-five men
who have come TO honorable fortune tnat
did not fight their way, inch by inch, and
against fearful odds thar again and again al
most destroyed them. For some good rca-
son God has arranged 1t for all the centuries
that the only way for most people to get a
livelihood for themselves and their families
Is with both hands and all tho allied forces
OF body, mind and soul TO push back and
push open the red gate, the gate OF carbun-
Gle. For the benefit 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 Pennsyl-
vnnia avenue and reached the United States
Senate, or walked the other way on Pennsyl-
vania avenue and reached the White House,
did not have To climb over political obloquy2
Not one How much scorn and scoff aud
brutal attnck did HOrnPn Mann pn1ura he