xiii. THE GATES OF FEARL. 233 



heard the dying describe sights of exquisite beauty as 

 the shades of darkness were gathering round the outer 

 eye, and the inner eye was opening upon the unutter- 

 able wonders within the gates ! The cloud that over- 

 shadowed all their life is thus, at the gates of the west, 

 becoming radiant with the glory that shall be revealed 

 in them. Jesus Himself bowed His head and passed 

 through the iron gate. He entered the region of death 

 and all heaven entered with Him, and He^annexed to 

 the Kingdom of Life this dark outer realm which sin 

 had estranged from the government of God ; and like a 

 mightier Samson, carrying the gates of the prison that 

 had held Him captive up the hill of God, the gates of 

 pearl were opened wide at the angel-song of triumph 

 " Lift up your heads, oh! ye gates ; and be ye lifted up, 

 ye everlasting doors ; and the King of Glory shall come 

 in." Through the opening of the gates by His resurrec- 

 tion and ascension we have caught bright glimpses of 

 the glorious things which He hath prepared for them 

 that love Him ; we have seen the other side of death 

 the heavenly side and a light has streamed down upon 

 all this dark, death-stricken world that shall never 

 more be lost out of it. 



How much do these gates of pearl say to the re- 

 deemed souls that have passed through them ! In some 

 far inland home you put your ear to the cool pink lips 

 of a shell you had picked up from the ocean marge, and 

 it murmurs to you of the warm ripples that curl on the 

 creamy beach, and the soft winds that make a low 

 speech tenderly sad on the lonely shore. The deep 



