The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-25
REV. In ATHENS
HIS DISCOURSE BASED ON PAS
SAGES FROM PAUL.


to the Idea OF the Preacher The
Lessons From the Texts.
ATHENS, Nov. 24-The Rev. T. De Witt
Iaimage, D.. D., Of Brooklyn, preached In
this city this morning to a group Of friends.
oasing his discourse on the following two
passages from the Pauline epistles: /. Cor
lnthlans, H., Q: Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard" and L Corinthians, xiii. 2i For
now We see through glass, darkly." The
sermon was as follows:
both these sentences we're written hv tina
most lllustrous merely human being the
world ever saw, ono who walked these
SUI eets, and preached from yonder pile Of
rocks, Mars hill Though more classic as
Slclations are connected with this city than
with any other CITY under tho sun. because
here Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle.
and Demosthenes, and Pericles, aud Hero.
dotuS, and Pythagoras. and Xenophon. and
fraxlteles, wrote or chiseled, or taught or
Numbered or sung, yet in my mind all those
men and their teachings were eclipssd by
faul and the gospel he preached In this
CITY and in your nearby city of Corinth.
Yesterday, standing on the old fortress Of
Corinth, the o-Corinthus, out from the
ruins at It's base arose in my Imagination
the old city just as Paul saw it. / have
been bold that for splendor the world be.
noius no such wonder to-day as that ancient
Corlnth standing on an isthmus washed by
TWO seas, the one sea bringing tha
coramerce Of Europe, the other sea
bringing the commerce Of Asia. From
her wharves, in the Construction
or which whole kingdoms had been alb
'Sorbed, war galleys with three banks of
oars pushed out and confounded the navy
yards or all the world. Huge-handed ma
chlnerv, such as modern invention cannot
equal, lifted ships from the sea on one side
and transported them on trucks across tha
lsthmus and set them down in the sea on
the other side. The revenue officers of the
city went down through the olive groves
that lined the beach to collect tariff from
all nations. The mirth of all people sportad
IN her isthmian games, and the beauty of an
lands sat In her theaters, walked her portioos
and threw itself on the altar of her stu
pendouS designations Column and statI1a
and temple bewildered the beholder. There
were white marble fountains. into which
from apertures at the side there rushed
wal ers everywhere known for health
giving qualities Around these basins.
twisted into wreaths of stone, there were all
the beauties OF sculpture and architecture.
while standing, as IL to guard the costly dis.
play, was a statue of Hercules of FURNISHED
Corr nthian brass. Vases of terra Gotta
adorned the cemeteries Of the dsad-vases
so costly that Julius Caesar was not salts
fed until he had captured them for
Rome Armed officials, the Corlntharii.
pfIced up and down, TO see that no statue
ysas defaced, no pedestal oyerthrown. no
bas-relief touched. From the edge Of tba
city the hill held its magnificent burdens OF
columns and towers and temples n 600
slaves waiting at one shrine) and a citadel
SO thoroughly impregnable that Gibraltar is
heap OF sand compared with it, Amid
all that strength and magnihcence Corinth
stood and deded the world. o, it was NOT
to rustlcs who had never seen ANYTHING
grand that Paul uttered one of nv tarts
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 melting in gyenino
groves; they had passed their whole lives
among pictures and sculpture and archi.
lecture and Corinthian brass, which had
been nodded and shaped until there was no
chariot wheel in which it had not sped, and
no tower in which 1t had not gIittered' and
no gateway that 1t had not adorned. An
it was 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 not music compared with the har-
monies of which | speak. These waters
rushing in the basin of Pyrene are not pure.
not exquisite. Your citadel of Acro-
Corinthus is not strong compared with that
which offer to the poorest slave that puts
down his burden at that brazen gate. You
Corinthians think this is a splendid cjtvr
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 hath prepared for
them that love him." Indeed both INV
texts the one spoken by Paul and the one
written by Paul, show us that we have very
imperfect eyesight, and that our day Of
vision is yet to come; For now we sea
through glass darkly, but then face to
face. so Paul takes the responsibility OF
saying that the Bible is an indistlnct mir
ror, and that its mission shall be finally
suspended. | think there NAV be- one
Bible in heaven fastened to the throne
Just as now, in museum. Ns
have a lamp exhumed from Herculaneum
or Nineveh, and we look at it with great
interest and says "How poor a light ii
must have given, compared with our
modern lanps.n So think that this Bible.
which was lamp to our feet in this world.
may lie near the throne of God, exciting
our interest to all eternity by the contrast
between its comparatively feeble light and
the illumination of heaven. The Bible.
now, is the scaffolding to the rising temple.
but when the building is done there will be
no use for the scaffolding The idea / shall
develop to-day is, that in this world our
knowledge is comparatively dim and un-
satisfactory. but nevertheless is introduc-
tory TO grander and more complete vision.
This is eminently true in regard to
our view of God. We hear so much about
God that we conclude that we understand
him. He is represented as having the ten
derness Of father, the firmpess Of Judge.
the pomp Of king and the love of
mother. We hear about him, talk about
him, write about him. We lisp his name In
infancy, and 1t trembles on the tongue Of
the dying octogenarian. We think that
we know very much about him. Take the
attribute of mercy. Do we understand It'll
The Bible blossoms all over with that word
mercy 1t speaks again and again
of the tender mercies Of God; Of
the sure mercies; Of the great
mercies; Of the mercy that endureth for
ever; of the multitude Of his mercies. And
vet know that the views we have of this
great being are most indefinite, one sided
and incomplete. When, at death, the gates
shall fy open, and we shall look directly
upon him, how new and surprisingl We
see upon canvas picture Of the morning.
We study the cloud in the sky, the dew
upon the grass, and the husbandman on the
way TO the field. Beautiful picture of tbs
morning! But we rise at daybreak and 60
upon a hill to see for ourselves that which
was represented to US. While we look