Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-12-06
TALMAGES SERMON.
Weekly Discourse of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subject; "Paurs Mission In
Athens" preached at
Athens, Greece

TExTs; "E,,s hath not seem nor ear heard" |
u Corinthians H., 9. "For noio zee see
through a glass darkly."-I Corinthians
xiii, r.
Both these sentences written " the most
illustrious merely human being the worl9
ever saw. one who walked these streets, and !
preached from wonder pile of rocks, Mars
Hill. Though more classic associations are
connected with this city than with any Guy
under the sun, because here Socrates, ana
Plato and Aristotle and DenoSthenes, anu
Pericles and Heroditus, and Pythagoras, ana
Xenophon, and Praxitees wrote or chiseled,
or taught or Numbered or sung, yet IN my
mind all those men and their teachings were
rclipsed by Paul and the Gospel he preached
in this CITY and in your nearby CITY OF Cor
inth. Yesterday, standing ON the old fortress
at Corinth. the Acro-Corinthus, out from the
ruins at its base arose in my Inauguration Vhe
old CITY. lust as Paul saw it. l have been
told that for splendor the world beholds no
s,lch wonder to-day as that ancient Corlnth
standing on an isthmus washed by two seas
the one sea bringing the commerce OF Europe
the other sea bringing the commerce OF ASA:
From her wharves, IN the construction oi
which whole kingdoms had been absof BED,
war gslleys with three banks of oars pushed
ont and COMPOUNDED the navy yards OF all the
world Huge handed machinery, such as
modern invention cannot equal htted shlpS
from the sea on one side ana transported
them on trucks across the isthmus ana sal
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 sported in her
Isthmian games and the beauty, OF all
lands sat in her theatres, walked her
porticos and threw itself on the altar OF
her stupendous designations. Column and
statue and temple bewildered the beholder.
There were white marble fountains, into
which, from apertures at the side, there
gushed waters everywhere knQMn5"" basins,
Viriivetl INTO wreaths of stone, there were all
the beauties Of sculpture and architecture;
while standing, as II to guard the costly as
play, was statue of Hercules OF FURNISHED
Corinthian brass Vases of terra Gotta
adorned the cemeteries Of the dead-vases SO
costly that Julius Caesar was not satisfied I'M
til he had captured them for Rome. Armed
officials, the corintharii, paced up and down
to see that no statue was defaccd, no pedestal
overthrown, no bas-relief touched. From the
edge of the city the hill held its magnificent
burden of columns and towers and temples
1000 slaves waiting at one shrine, and
citadel so thoroughly impregnable that Glib
raltar is heap of sand compared with it.
Amid all that strength and magnihcence
Corinth stood and defied the world.
Oh! it was not to rustics who had never
seen anything grand that Paul uttered one
of my texts 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 even
ing groves: they had passed their whole lives
among pictures and sculpture and architect
ure 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 it had not glittered, and
no gateway that it had not adorned. All, it
was bold thing for Paul to stand there amid
all that and say: "All this is nothing. These
sounds that come from the temple of Neptune
arenot music compared with the harmonies
of which I speak. These waters rushing in
the basin of Pyrene are not pare. These
statues of Bacchus and Mercury are not ex-
uuisite. Your citadel of Aero Corinthus is
not strong compared with that which offer
to the poorest slave that puts down his bur-
den at the brazen gate. You Corinthians
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 hath
prepared for them that love Him" Indeed,
both my 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 see
through glass, darby, but then face to face.
So Paul takes the responsibility of saying
that even the Bible is an indistinct mirror,
l think there may be one Bible in heaven
fastened to the throne. just as now, in
museum, we have lamp exhumed from
Herculaneum or Nineveh and we look at it
with great interest and say "How poor
light it must have given compared with our
modern lamps" SO l 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 be-
tween 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 scatfolding. The idea l shall de-
velop to-day is, that in this world our knowl-
edge is comparatively dim and unsatisfac-
tory, but nevertheless is Introductory 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 con-
clude that we understand Him. He is repre-
sented as having the tenderness of father,
the firmness 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 it trembles on
Q tongue Of the dying octogenarian. We
think that we know very much about Him.
Take the attribute of mercy. DO we under
stand it? 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 nercieS, of tho mercy
that endureth forever, of the multitude or
His merces. And yet know that the views
we have of this great being are most indefi-
mite, one sided and incomplete. When, at
death, the gates shall fly open, and we shall
look directly upon Him, how new and sur
prising! 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
the morning. But we rise at daybreak, and
9 M, a. ~ see ior 11rseives mat which
mountains are ef-unshgnred. The FURNISHED
gates of heaven swing open. and Shut, 70 lot
mass "a host of fiery splendors. The clouds
are all abloom, and hang pendant from arbors
of alabaster and amethyst. The waters make
pathway of inlaid pearl for the light to walk
upon: and there is morning on the sea. line
crags uncover their Scared visage; and there
ismorning among the mountains. Now you
go home, and how tame your picture of the
morning seems i'll contrast? Greater than
that shall be the contrast between this script
ural view of God and that which we shall
have when standing face to face. Thisis 9
picture of the morning; that will be the
morning itself.
Again: My texts are true of the Saviour's
excellency. By image and sweet rhythm of
expression, and startling antitheses Christ is
setforth-His love- His compassion, His work,
His life, His death, His resurrection. We are
challenged to measure it, to compute it, to
weigh 1t. In the hour of our broken en-
thrallment, we mount up into high expert
ence of His love, and shout until the coun-
tenance glows and the blood bounds and
the whole nature is exhilarated II have
found Him" And yet it is through glass
darkly. We see not half of that compassion
ate face. We feel not half the warmth of
that loving heart. We wait for death to let
us rush into His outspread arms. Then we
shall be face to face. Not shadow then but
substance Not hope then, but the fulfilling