Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-11-25
WONDERSOV THERE
DR.. TALMAGB'S SUBJECT IN HIS SERMON
AT ATKINS
Eys Hath Not Seen Nor Ear Heard The Glores That
Awaits the Christans-All the Pomp
and Grandeur Of the Earth
is Nothing,
80 Tleram 3 lhs Reqlsllr.

through glass, darKly." Inc sermon
wss as follows
Both these sentences were written by
the most illustrious merely human being
the world ever saw, one who walked these
streets and preached from yOnder pile of
rocks, Mars Hill. Though more classic
associations are connected with this than
with any other city under the sup, because
here Socrates, and Plato, aud Aristotle,
and DomOsthenes, and Pericles, and Hero
dotus, and PythagOras, and XenophOn,
and Praxiteles wrote or cbiseled, or taught
or thundeIed or sung, yet in my mind all
those men and their teachings were echps-
ei by Paul and the Gospel be preached in
this city and in your near by city OF
Corinth Yesterday, standing on the old
fortress at Corintb, the AcrO-Corinthus,
out from the ruins at its base arose iH my
imagination the old city, just IS Paul SAW
il. l have been told that for splendor the
world beholds no such wonder to-day as
that ancient Corirth standing On an 18TH
mus washed by two seas, the one sea briI &
ing the commerce Of Europe, the other sea
bridging the commerce of Asia. From
her wharves, in the construction OF which
whole kingdoms had been absorbed, war
gslleys with three banks Of OARS pushed
out and coufounded the navy yards Of the
world. Huge-handed machinery, such as
modern machinery cannot equal, lifted
ships from Il sea on ore side and trans
ported them on trucks across the isthmus
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 spOrted in her
Isthmian games, and the beauty OF all
lands sat 10 her theaters, walked her por-
ticos and threw itself on the altar Of her
stupendous dissipations. Column and
statue and temple beWildered the beholder
There we're white marble fountains into
which, from apertures at the side, there
rushed waters everywhere known for
health-giving qualities. Around these bl-
sins. twisted into Wreaths Of stone, there
were all the beauties Of sculpture and arch
itecture, while standing, as if to guard the
costly display, was a statue Of Hercules OF
FURNISHED COrinthian brass. Vases OF
terra Gotta adorned the cemeteries of the
dead-vases so costly that Julius Ce ar
was not satisfied until he had captured
them for Rome. Armed officials, the
corintharii, paced up and down 10 see that
no statue Wss defsc3d, no pedestal over
thrown. no has-reliof touched From
the edge Of the city the hill held its
magnificent burdens Of columns and
towers and temples q, 600 slaves waiting
at one shrine. AID citadel so thoroughly
impreenable that Gibraltar is a heap Of
sand compared with it. Amid all that
strength and msguifcence Corinth stood
and defied the world. Obi ii was not TO
rustics who had never seen anything grand
that Paul uttered one Of my texts. They
had beard the best music that had come
from the best instruments in all the
work.; they bad heard SONGS floating from
morning porticOs and melting IN evening
groves; they had passed their whole lives
among pictures and sculpture and archi.
lecture and COrinthian bTass, which had
been nodded and shapsd until there was
no chariot whee! in which it had not sped,
and no tour in which it had not glittered,
and no gateway that it had not adorned
Alb. it was a 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 are not music compared with
the harmonies Of which l speak. These
waters rushing in the basin Of Pyrene are
not pure. These statues of Bacchus and
Mercury are not exquisite Your citadel
of Aero Corinthus is not strong compared
with that which l chr to the poorest
slave that puts down bis burden at that
Oss IN gate. You Corinthians think this
is a splendid city, yeu think you have
heard all sweet sounds and seen sll beau
tiful sights; put 1 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. Iadeed, both my texts, ths
one spoken by Paul and the one
written by Paul, show Us that we
have very imperfect eyesght, and tns'
our day of vision is yet to come: For
now we see through a Rlass darkly, but
then face to face. So Paul takes the re-
sponsibility of saying that the Bible Is an
indistinct mirror, and that its mission
shall bs finally suspended. 1 think there
nav be one Bible in Heaven fastened to the
throne. Just a. now in a museum, we
have a lamp exhumed from Herculaneum
or Nineveh, and we look ct it with great
interest and say; "HOw poor light II
must have given, compared with our mod
ern lamps.N SO i think that this biole,
which was lamp to our feet IN TINS
world. may lie near tie throne of God,
exciting our interest to all eternity by the
contrast bs.ween its comparatively feeble
light and the illumination of heaven. The
Bible. now, is the scaffOlding to the rising
tempie. but when the building is done
there will be no use for the scafoldlng.
THE FUTURE GLORY.
The idea I shall develop to-day is, that
in this world our knowledge is compaTa-
tively dim and unsatisfactory, but never.
theless is Introductory to grander and
more complete vision. This is eminently
true in regard to our view OF God. We
hear 20 much about God that we conclude
That we understand him. He is repre-
sented as having the tenderness of a father
the firmness Of a Judge, the pomp Of
king and the love Of a mother. We hear
about him, talk about bin, write about
him. We lisp his name in infancy, and II
trembles on the tongue Of the dying ootog'
enarisn. We think that we know very
much about him. Take the attribute Of
mercy. Do We understand il7 The Bible
blossoms sll over with that wOrd-Meroy.
II speaks again and again Of the tender
mercies of God; of the sure merciesi oil the
great mercies; of the mercy that endureth
forever; of the multitude OF his mereies.
Aud vet know that the views We have Of
this great being are most indefinite,
one sided and incomplete. When, al
death, the gates shall fly open,
and we shall look directly upon
him. how new and surprising We
see upon canvas a picture OF the morning.
We study the cloud in the sky, the dew
upon the grass, snd the husbandman on
the Eay to the Asld. Beautiful picture OF
the morning But we rise at daybreak,
and 20 upon q hill TO see for ourselves
that which was represented to US. While
we lock, the mountains are transhgured'
The Furnished gates Of heaven swing open
aud shut, 10 let pass a host OF fiery splen-
dors. TIE clouds are all abloom, and
hang pendant from arbOrs of alabaster and
smyethist. The waters make pathway oi