River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-06-09
At the Beautiful
Gate
By REV. C. A. S. DWIGHT, Phi. D.
Toronto, Can.

at the gate OF the temple WHICH ID
called beautiful" The gate SO de-
scribed was probably the gate on the
east which led from ''the court Of the
women" to the inner court. While the
other gates were overlaid with gold
and silver this portal, according to
Josephus, was made "of Corinthian
bronze, and much surpassed in worth
those enriched with silver and gold"
The lame man was perhaps one of the
most unfortunate individuals in Jeru-
salem, having no means of earning a
livelihood, being quite fr1endless and
certainly forlorn-yet he was well
placed.
The situation at the door of the
temple was both pathetic and prom
Using. He could not walk in, but his
thoughts could enter; he might not
join in the praises of the worshipping
hosts within, but he could catch some
thing of the enthusiasm which bright
ened their faces as they came out.
While he was outside the circle Of
inner, intimate communion he was
yet in the line of blessing and could
make daily proof of the fact that it
was better to be lame doorkeeper
in the house of God than to dwell
luxuriously in the court of riotious
Herod.
1t Is impossible to tell how pure
were the motives of the lame man in
habitually frequenting the door step
of the Lords house. He was certain
w Oft hut oil xryhn
after money in some shape were ex-
cluded from the sanctuary congrega-
tons today would be much thinner
than in many communities they are.
To q degree the lame man needed
coin, and to certain extent every
man needs it, but if his thoughts and
desires had been wholly centered up
ON money it is not likely that Peter
and John would ever have been at
tracted to him, or been empowered
by the Lord to work in his case
miraculous cure. Let ug suppose that
the lame man had some sincere inter-
est in the temple itself as well as in
the tolls which he COLLECTED from the
charitable, and that, while not indif-
ferent to the silver and the gold, he
cared most of all for the spiritual mes
sage which such men as Peter and
John had to give.
| 1t was fine thing then that the
lame man got as far as the Beautiful
Gate. Rich or poor, men alike need
| in their lives the identifying touch.
and hard prosaic lives need it most
of all. Even If the lame man could
not enter the temple recesses he could
look up and admire the architectural
beauty about him, and the CLEAN of
that Corinthian bronze brought a
touch of brightness into his life. The
geranium plant in the window of the
city tenement, the tree struggling for
stunted growth in city street, all
these are glimpses and gladdenings of
the esthetic sense-the sense for
color, for proportion, for harmony,
which, often degraded to a goddess
"art," are yet susceptible of serving,
when purified and idealized, the high
est aims of the moral nature. The
lame man was deformed in himself,
but he was transformed by his daily
look into the face of the beautiful
above him.
All men, however athletic or vigo1"
GUS or full of pride, are at some point
weak-are somewhere in their being
lame and impotent and in need Of
aims, or of spiritual uplift far bet,
ter than aims. There are beautiful
gates unto which we all alike need
to come. God has made, not one nor
two nor six, as in the temple of old,
but many such portals, in different
parts of the pilgrim country of mortal
sojourn, opening into fair reaches of
truth and broad areas of higher ex-
perience.
There is first the Beautiful Gate of
Faith. If the lame man had not in
some degree had faith he would not
have received from the miracle work
ing apostles what was better than
alms-new health and strengthened
what was better than physical health
and quickening- recreating of his
spiritual manhood, the renovation of
his moral nature. Without faith It is
impossible to please God, or to get
anything worth while done. He who
would be successful in this life must
be much at the Gate of Faith.
There is secondly the Gate of Pray
er. Prayer is faiths voice. Faith finds
its expression through prayer. The
prayerless man is always essentially
a weak and resourceless man. The
lame man was weak, but he knew how
to use his voice in prayer, and so he
did not remain weak
There is the Beautiful Gate of
Hope. The soul that is full of faith.
prayer and love is consequently and
naturally hopeful. Hope paints life in
roseate hues, and while it may be
unfounded in many cases, is after
all, when properly based and directed,
one Of life's chiefest architectural
forces. The Christian man is by that
very term and definition a man of
hope. The Beautiful Gate of Hope is
where he loves oft to be, and which
Ito change the f1gure) ever enlarges
and becomes the more radiant, as he
gazes upon it, until finally it seems
fairly merged in the vast expanse of
the City Celestial.
There is the Beautiful Gate of Love.
The lame man appealed to the love
that was in Peter and John, and did
not fail to receive a response. Love
is the very atmosphere of that land
of delight into which the Gate Bean
FL