The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-01-13
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
''The Coming Glory the Subject
of a New Years Discourse.
The Past Year Dead, the Century Dying
"A Look Into the BeyOntl-WOrld-
Iy Ideas of Heaven Far Short e
of the Reality.

Eve hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither '
ave entered into the heart OF man the things
Which God hath prepared for them that love {
i'm.
He said: 1888. How strange it looks, | {
md how strange it sounds Not only is {
he past year dead, but the century is {
living. Only twelve more long breaths I
md the old giant will have expired. I
None of the past centuries viii be present
It the obsequies. Only the twentieth | ]
century will the nineteenth buried. |
As all the years are Fastening past, and /
Ill our lives on earth viii soon be /
ended propose to cheer myself, and |
cheer you with the glories to come, which /
shall utterly eclipse all the glories past;
,or my text tells US that eye hath not |
seen nor ear heard anything like the ad-
7ancing splGndor.
The CITY of Corinth has been called the
Paris of antiquity. Indeed, for splendor'
the wor] d holds no such wonder To-Day
It stood on an isthmus washed by two
'eas, the one sea bringing the conherce
IF nrope. the other bringing the com
ner ce Of Asia From her wharves, IN the
60 n nstruction of which whole Kingdoms
sad been absorbed, war-galleys with
three banks of oars pushed out and con-
founded the navy-yards of all the world
Huge-handed machinery, such as MODE
invention can not equal, lifted sh' IN
the sea on one side and tran IS from
on trucks across the ported them
tbon, down in the ,sthmHs and sat
Iba ravenr sea on the other side.
~, - officers of the city went
!. through the olive grove that
.sued the beach to collect a
tariff front all nations. The
mirth of ali people sported in her
isthman games, and the beauty of all
lands sat in her theaters, walked her
porticos, and threw itself on the altar of
her stupendous designations. Column,
and statue, and temple bewildered the be-
holder There were white marble fount-
aims into which, from apertures at the
side, there rushed waters everywhere
known for health-giving qualities.
Around these basins, twisted into wreaths
of stone, there We're all the beauties of
sculpture and architecture; while stand
ing, as if to guard the cos tly display, was
a statue of Hercules of FURNISHED Corin-
THAN brass. Vases of terra Gotta adorned
the GENE teries of the dead-vases so cost
ly that Julius Caesar was not satisfied un-
til he had captured them for Rome. Armed
officials, the corintharii, paced up and
down to that no statue was defaced,
no pedestal overthrown, no s-relief
touched. From the edge of the city a hill
arose, with its magnificent burden of COLI
umhs, and towers, and temples tone thous-
and slaves waiting at one shrine), and q
citadel so thoroughly impregnable that
Gibraltar is a heap of sand compared with
it, Amid all that strength and magntfi.
cence Corinth stood and defed the
world.
Oh! 1t was not to rust:cs who had never
seen any thing grand that Paul uttered
this text. They had heard the best music |
that had come from the best instruments
in all the world; they had heard songs |
floating from morning porticos and melt |
ing in evening groves; they had passed |
their whole lives among pictures, and /
sculpture, and architecture, and COrinth- |
ian brass, which had been nodded and /
shaped until there was no chariot wheel |
in which it had not sped, and no tower /
in which it had not glittered, and |
no gateway that it had not |
adorned Ah, it was a bold thing for Paul |
to stand there amid all that and say;
GAN this is nothing. These sounds |
that come from the temple of Neptune are
dot music compared with the harmonies
Of which I speak. These waters rushing
in the basin of PyTene are not pure. These
statues of Bacchus and Mercury are not (
exquisite. Your citadel of Acrocorinthus
is not strong compared with that which I
offer to the poorest slave that puts down
his burden at that brazen gate. You Cor
inthians think this is a splendid city;
you think you have heard all sweet
sounds, and seen all beautiful sights, but
tell you eye hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of
man. the things which God has prepared
for them that love him."
You see my text sets forth the idea that
however exalted our ideas may be of
Heaven, they come far short of the
reality. Some wise men have been calcu-
lating how many furlongs long and
wide is the new Jerusalem; and they
have calculated how many inhabit-
ants there are on the EARTH how long the
earth will probably stand, and then they
come to this estimate: That, after all the
nations have been gathered to Heaven, |
there will be room for each sOul-a room
sixteen feet long and fifteen feet wide It
would not be large enough for me. 1 am
glad to know that no human estimate is
sufficient to take the dimensions. eye |
hath not seen nor ear heard, ," nor arith.
metics calculated. / first remark that we
can in this world get no idea of the wealth
of Heaven. When you were a child, and
when you went out in the morning, how
you bounded along the road or street
you had never felt sorrow sickness.
Perhaps later you felt a glow in your
cheek, and a spring in your step, and
an exuberance of spirits, and a
clearness of eye, that made you thank
God you were permitted to live. The
nerves were harp strings, and
the sunlight was a doxology, and
the rustIing leaves were the rustling
Of the robes of a great crowd rising up to
praise the Lord. You thought that you
knew what it was to be well, but there is
no perfect health on earth. The diseases
of past generations came down to US.
The airs that float now upon the earth are
not like those which f1oated above para
disc. They are charged with impurities
and distempers. The most elastic and 70.
bust health of EARTH compared with that
which those experience before whom the
gates have been opened, is nothing but
sickness and emaciation. Look at that
soul standing before the throne On
earth she was a lifelong invalid. See
her step now, and hear her voice now.
Catch, if you can, one breath Of that
celestial air. Health in all the pulses
health Of vision; health of spirits; i'm
mortal health No racking cough, no
sharp pleurisies. no consuming fevers, no
exhausting pains, no hospitals OF
wounded men. Health swinging in the
air; health flowing in all he streams;
health blooming on the banks. No head
aches, no sideaches, no backaches. That
child that died in the agonies of Group,
hear her voice now ringing in the an
them. That old man that went bowed
down with the infirmities Of age, see him
walk now with the step of an immortal
athlete - forever young again. That
Hignt Wnen une needle woman Ialubeu
away in the gaFret, n wave Of the heaven
" air Tesuscitated her forever. For ever
lasting years TO have neither ache, nor
pain, nor weakness, nor fatigue. Eye
hath not seen it. ear hath not heard H."
81 remark, further, that can, ia this
world get just idea % the splendors of
Heaven. John tries 10 describe them. /
He saysi ''the twelve gates are Nv eive
pearls, +" aud that "tLe foundations of the
wall are garnished wigL AL manner Of
precious stones" As we stand looking
through the TELESCOPES u St. John We ses