The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-12-11
TALMAGE AT ATHENS.
The Brooklyn Divine on His Pill
grimage to the Holy Land
He breaches y Sermon to tho Athenians
Based on Two Passages OF Paal's
Epistle to tho Corinthians
The Profound Myster-
les of PrOvidonce.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.,
preached recently at Athens, Greece,
basing his discourse on the following
two passages from the Pauline epistles:
!. Corinthians, ii. 9: Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard" and I. Corinthians, xiii,
Q: "For now we see through glass,
darkly." The sermon was as follows:
Both these sentences were written by
the most illustrious merely human be-
ing 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 city than with any othercity under
the sun, because here Socrates, and
Plato, and Aristotle, and Demosthenes,
and Pericles, and Herodotus, and Pytha-
goras, and Xenophon, and Praxitele
wrote, or chiseled, or taught, or thun-
dered, or sung, yet 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 Acro-Corinthus,
ont from the ruins at its base arose in
nv imagination the old city, just as Paul
saw it. I have been told that for splen-
dor the world beholds no such wonder
to-day as that ancient Corinth standing
on the isthmus washed by both seas, the
one sea bringing the commerce OF Eu-
rope, the other sea bringing the COM
merce of Asia. From her wharves, in
the construction of which whole king
doms had been absorbed, war galleys
with three banks of oars pushed out and
COMPOUNDED the navy yards OF all the
| world. Huge-handed mahcinery. such
as modern invention can not equal,
lifted ships from the sea on one
side and transported them across
| the isthmus, and set them down in the
sea on the other side. The revenue Off
GERS of the city went down through the
olive groves that lined the beach to col
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 all the beauties Of sculpture
and architecture, while standing, as If
to guard the costly display, was statue
Of Hercules Of FURNISHED Corinthian
brass. Vases Of terra Gotta adorned the
cemeteries of the dead-vases so costly
that julius Cesar was not satisfied until
he had captured them for Rome. Armed
officials, the corinthari, 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 burdens of col
umns and towers and temples $1,000
slaves waiting at one shrine), and cit
adel so thoroughly impregnable that
Gibraltar is a heap of sand compared
with it. Amid all that strength and
magnifcence Corinth stood and defied
the world. 0, 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
architecture 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
1t had not adorned. All, it was bold
thing for Paul to stand there amid all
that and say: GAIL this is nothing.
These sounds which come from the tenn
pie 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 ex-
quisite. Your citadel of Acro-C orinthus
Is not strong compared with that
which I offer to the poorest slave that
puts down his burden at that 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 vison is yet
to come. For now we see through glass
darkly, but then face to face. So Paul
takes the responsibility of saying that
the Bible is an indistinct mirror, and
that it's mission shall be finally sus.
pended. think there may be one Bible
in Heaven fastened to the throne. just
as now, in a museum, we have a lamp
exhumed from Herculaneum or Nineveh,
and say: "How poor hghtit must have
| r.,- mi A.,
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 interests to all eter
nifty by the contrast between it's com
paratively feeble light and the illumi
nation 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 unsatisfactory, butnevertheless
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 conclude We
understand Him. He is represented as
having the tenderness of father, the
frmness of a Judge, the pomp of a king
and the love of mother. We hear about
Him, talk about Him, write about Him
We lisp His name in infancy, and il
trembles on the tongue of the dying oc
togenarian. We think that we know
very much about Him. Take the attrib
ute of mercy. Do we understand it
The Bible blossoms all over with thai
rd-Mercy. Itspeaks again and agar
the tender mercies of God; of the SURE
mercies: of the great mercies, of the
mercy that endureth forever, of the null
titude of His mercies. And vet knos