The Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., of Cambridge, Mass preached at the "Church of Christ (Scientist)," 2 Park street, on Sunday last. His text was—"Ye shall see heaven open." (John 1:51.)
Dr Peabody said: By these words he did not believe that Jesus referred to any special manifestation of the heavens, but he defined what was going to be the experience of his disciples, because it was his own constant experience, and it was his aim to place them where he stood, to give them the open vision of heaven in which he dwelt, and through them to transmit the vision to all coming time. So clear was the transcendental vision of the soul, that if merely subjective it seemed to them objective, painted on the retina of the fleshly eye.
But when Christianity mounted the throne of the Cesars the bishops became courtiers, and the church a triumphal sovereignty. There was no more open vision, and what had been seen with the inward eye died out of men's hearts; yet without being expunged from their creeds. What had been vivid experiences, were compressed into narrow dogmas, and frozen into ritual observances.
