The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-04
EN- ROUTE TO PALESTINE.
DR.. TALMAeE BREACHES AT ATHENS.
The Sermon Delivered within Sight of Mars
Hill, Where st. Paul Preached TO the
Ancient Greeks-Full Text
of the Discourse.

The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.,
preached in Athens. Greece, last Sunday |
morning, basing his discourse on the follow
ing two passages from the Pauline epistle: |
L Corinthians, H., 9: "Eye hath not seen |
nor ear heard" and l Corinthians, xiii,
=: For now we see through glass dark
"" The sermon vas rs 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-Alars hill Though more classic as
sociations are connected with this city
than with any other city under the sun,
because here Socrates, and Plato, and Arts
totle, and Demosthenes, and Pericles, and
Herodotus, and Pytbagoras, and Memo
phOn, and Praxiteles wrote, or chiseled, or
taught, or Numbered, or sung. vet in my
mind all those men and their teachings
were eclipsed by Paul and the gospel
he preached in this city and in your near
by-city of Corinth. Yesterday, standing
on the old fortress at Corinth, the Aero
Corinthus, out from the ruins at it's base
arose in my imagination the old city, just
as Paul saw il. 1 have beed told that for
cHiCAitAOt TIC hOIlu ttnCllS no kutn hOu-
der to-day as that ancient Corinth stand
ing on an isthmus washed by two seas, the
one sea bringing the commerce of Europe,
the other sea bringing the commerce OF
Asia. From her wharves, in the construc-
ton OF which whole kingdoms had been
absorbed, war galleys with three banks of
oars pushed out and confounded the navy
yards OF all the werld. Huge-handed ma
chinery, such as modern invention can not
equal, lifted ships from tine sea on one
side and transported 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 coll
lect tariff from all nations The mirth
OF all people sported in her isthmian
games and the beauty of all lands
sat in her theaters, walked her porticos,
and threw itself on the altar of her stu
pendous designations Column and statue
and temple bewildered the beholder
There were white marble fountains. 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 were ali the beauties of sculpture
and architecture, while standing, as if to
guard the costly display, was a statue of
Hercules Of FURNISHED Corinthian brass.
Vases of terra Gotta adorned the ceme-
terles OF the dead-vases so costly that
Julius Caesar was not satisfied until he had
captured them for Rome. Armed Off
Gals, the corintharii, paced up and
down to see that no statue was
defaced, no pedestal overthrown, no
bas-relief touched. From the edge of
the city the hill held its magnificent bur-
dens OF columns, and towers, and temples,
q 900 slaves whiting ut one shrine), and a
citadel so thoroughly impregnable that
Gibraltar is heap OF sand compared with
it. Amid all that strength and magnif-
cence Corinth stood and defed 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 instru-
ments in all the world; they had heard
songs floating from morning porticos and
melting in evening groves; they hid
passed their whole lives among pictures,
and sculpture. and architecture, and Cor
inthian brass, Which had been nodded and
shaped until there was no chariot wheel
in which it had not been sped, and no
tower in which it had not glittered, and no
gateway that it had not adorned. All. il
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 / speak These
waters rushing in the basin of Pyrene are
not pure. These statues of Bacchus and
/ Mercury are 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 splendid city; you think you have
heard all sweet sounds and seen all beau
/ tiful 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 a glass
darkly, but then face to face. So Paul
| takes the responsibility of saving that the
bible is an indistinct mirror 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, we have a lamp ex.
humed from Herculaneum or Nineveh,
and we look at it with great
/ interest and say How poor light II
must have given, compared with our mod
ern lamps" so / think that this bible
which was a lamp 10 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 scafiolding to the rising tenn.
pie, 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
unsatisfactory, but nevertheless is intro
ductory to grandeur 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 un.
derstand Him. He is represented as having
the tenderness of father the frmness O!
a 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
infacy, and it 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 ii
The bible blossoms all over with thai
word-mercy. 1t speaks again and again
OF the tender mercies OF God; of the sure
mercies; of the great mercies; of the mer
cies that endureth forever; of the multi
tude of His mercies And yet know thai
the views we have of this great being are
/ indafinffa nna-cfHoA nd loft