New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-24
An INTERESTING HEAVEN.
DIR. PARKHURsT's VIEWS OF THE OTHER
WORLD.

HE is INCLINED TO THINK THAT IF 1T WERE
MATERIALIzED MORE THERE WOULD BE
LESS TEMPTATION TO ovERDo THE
NATURALIZATION OF THIS WORLD.
The Rev. DR. Parkhurst delivered his first ser
mon yesterday morning since his memorao'e AMI
election one in which he gave the city ohc'a'S
such rakng The doctors church' the
Madison Square Presbyterian. was crowded. Even
In the middle aisle people were standing halfway
Nm TO the front pews The doctor ala not touch o"
the work Of the Lexow Committee or the diherehces
of opinion TO whether Superintendent byrhes
shall be called expert and treated with con-
sideration or subjected TO the same rigorous eN-
animation as other police officials. While the ser
mon die not deal with these matters it was ex-
tremey Interesting the doctor put ior'h soi'ie
views as TO now far materiality entered mo
heaven. which. he declared, is generally regaroeu
as wholly spiritual He said in part;
I am not one who thinks that there Is Srea
danger in materiaizing heavenly things lou can
not read the Apocalyptic description OF .ng nI
Jerusalem without feeling that with us walls anu
gates its avenues and mansions IL VIII ne as sh
sianal an affair as the original Jerusaen er,aim
we try spiritualiZe matters beyond q certain
point get into the region where the oTa fn r.,
from which to calculate our mental latitude and
longitude. Ii is with ideas something as IL 10 VIZ.
of solid weight before "a rudder be rugged up
that will be good for anything, to steer pSc rid
that we can either think about with any safety or
that we are qualified to has any srpure for
thinking THAI the more unlike TINS EARN you '"-
aR R thing to eT hs before he ws here and
there is no ground for supposing that ina! Se
choirs will not become angelic choirs by undertake
ing to sing falsetto. Heaven is undoubtedly a 10,
exceedingly commendable Paradise. was a locality.
and there has been in the mean time no Sufh cnahs
in the constitution Of our nature as 10 indicate lha'
paradise that is not local would be any
s ,ers as the New Heaven and the New Earth
fan directly in line with what we are here SAYING;
that the earth and the heaven by which the pres
en are to be @ w Sn though
the earth be new it is going TO De eartn sti.i;
God does not discard his types: his initial move,
respect them one of the discoveries made by geol-
that h isS Which b ear6 0d He a has aoM
tinued to stand ny. The animals ana ioweIs ,hat
b ge to ihe the an
flowers that appeared during the creative week:
teaches us in another and shows that away in
the celestial spaces stretching so iar beyond US INA,
lump the interval things are made In the same way
ali the wide area covered by astronomy. and the
stl wider covered by spectroscopy there IS no
il obtains in regions nearer home. SO that. put
heaven where YOU please T. you put anywhsre
good deal like what familiar with here one me
as be thrust into realm that is structurally dis
tincf from the one used to.
We are not conjurng up any theory OF me
heavenly world; We are simply trying to conform
with the suggestions of an enlightened sense ana
truth and intina tions of Bible Interpreted slmpy
and in that avoid the necessity OF con)uIlne
IN theories We cannot make map OF heaven.
but IL is to be supposed that II could be mapped.
Undoubtedly can spoil things by overma -erlai,
izing them but also we can Just as certainly sp9i
Them by overspirtuaZing them. We are made
of BODY and spirit and every heavenly situation
we need 10 construe with reference TO Just that
duality in our nature. and we suppose that duaiity
will always continue. 49,.
We might as we'll stop talking or thinking about
heaven altogether as TO subscribe to an neon
ceivable heaven. and the only heaven that Is not
inconceivable is a heaven that in its structural
features is a prolongation of the earth We are
now living in, a region that is somewhere ara
that could be put down in parallels and meridians
in the universal atlas. II that atlas were 20 be
produced and published. I am disposed 10 believe
that If materialized the heavenly world more we
should he less tempted to overdo the materialiZa-
ton OF this world In other words. there would be
less OF the animal III our lives mere. II We uld
not pitch our realities OF the heavenly world In so
spiritual a key to embarrass all thought ABOUT
heaven and discourage all interest in II ana all
care to there. This is not said in the interests
OF an immoral heaven, but OF an interesting
heaven.