Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01

1.-The city hath on the east three gates,
on the north three gates, on the south
three gates and on the west three gates.
And the gates of 1t shall not be shut at
all."-Revelation. xxi:13-25.
This was the text of sermon by Rev.
Ulysses G. B. Pierce, minister of All
Souls Church. last Sunday. He said:
This magnificent picture of the holy
city coming down from God we at once
recognize as the objectifcation of our
own religious nature. The holy city is
perfected and sanctified human nature.
1t is refreshing to think how many ave-
nues of entrance there are in.o this molly
human nature: on the north three gates.
on the south three ga.es. on the east
three gates and on the west three gates.
The approach is universal. Any one who
Journeys thither Is sure Of avoiding the
crowd and Is sure, of gaining entrance.
Indeed 1t is refreshing to think how much
our Bible has to say about doors and
how little 1t has to say about fences.
One would think to hear some people
speak that the Bible had great deal to
say about walls and fences and very
little about doors. But we have to adj
NIT that this. city is amply equipped
with three portals on the north. three
on the south and east and west. So the
Master conceived 1t when He rebuked the
intolerance of His jealous disciplines and
the east and from the west. from the
north and from the south, and shall sit
down In the kingdom Of heaven And
again He says to them. I am door.
not fence to divide our spiritual prop
critics. I am a door to open up re-
lationships. BY me. II any man come
in. he shall find not a prison. but pas
ture. He shall not be fenced but fed.
He shall come in and he shall go out.
and feed at leisure
And this is exactly the thing that we
observe in the world, that religious men
and women have not all been of the same
way of thinking. that they have not ap-
preached the religious life from the same
angle; that all have not come In at the
north gate. with It's cold. stormy wind;
that all have not come In through the
eastern gate, whose prospect is toward the
rising sun; all have not come In through
the gate which opens from the avenue OF
palms. and all hove not come In through
the gate which faces the setting sun. NO.
they have come through them all, and
as one thinks of this how 1t treasures
him. What home-like feeling it gives
one in the world in which we live. to
think that the religious life is to be
lived not only one way, but any way:
that we are to enter the city OF per-
fected human nature on the side which
most invites u.s.
consider that for a moment and see
how 1t enlarges and how 1t deepens our
religious life. The nationalist comes In
at the north gate; the sentimentalist
comes In at the south gate; the mystic
comes In at the east gate; the prodigal
man marches bravely in through the west
gate. But the question is, not the ave-
nue. by which they come. but the point
at which they arrive. And / submit to
you If there is not something profoundly
religious. If there is not something with
an emotion beyond expression in these
words Of the great nationalist, Huxley.
who makes his way into this city through
the storm-bound gate, who comes where
ice aand snow Nnger. where the storm of
debate and controversy howl, but yet
makes his way through the gate. Per-
haps you yourself marked the same pas
sage when you read his Life and Let
ters' by his son. Mr.. and Mrs. Huxley's
beloved child had died. The scientist and
the sentimentalist take the same expert
ence. but 1t comes differently to them.