The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-09-04
GLORIES OF HEAVEN.
REV. Dr. TALMAGE TO THE BEREAVED
AND FAINT HEARTED.

| Ti>C TiiS IlCrNtt -S'
He Glowlnsly Pictures the Attractions of
Cthe World Beyond-The Health. the
Splendors, the Reunions. and tho Song of
Heaven.
New York, Aug. 25.-For the be-
reaved and faint hearted there could
be no words of stronger consolation
or encouragement than those Of the
sermon prepared by Rev. DR.. Talmage
for today His subject was Surprising
Splendors With inimitable touch,
he has pictured the :ylories and attrac-
ticns of the world beyond the skies in
a way to bring Joy to believing souls
and to fascinate even the thoughtless
and indifferent. The text chosen was,
Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, y
l Corinthians il g.
lam going to heaven! am going
to heaven. Heaven. Heaven, Heav-
EN-" These were the last words uttered
a few days ago by my precious wife as
she ascended to be with God forever,
and is it not natural as well as Christ
ianly appropriate that our thoughts be
much directed toward the glorious
residence Of which st. Paul speaks IN
the text have chosen?
The city of Corinth has oeen called
the Paris of antiquity. Indeed for splen-
dor the world holds no such wonder
today. It stood on an isthmus washed
by two seas, the one sea bringing the
commerce of Europe, the other the
commerce of Asia. From her
wharves, in the construction of which
whole kingdoms had been absorbed,
war galleys with three banks of oars
pushed out and confounded the navy
yards of all the world. Huge handed
machinery, such as modern invention
cannot equal, lifted ships from the 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 collect a tariff from
all nations. The mirth of all people
sported in her Isthmalan games,
and the beauty Of all lands sat
in her theaters. walked her porticoes
and threw itself on the altar of her
stupendous dissipations. Column and
statue and temple bewildered the be-
holder. There were white marble
fountains into which, from apertures
at the side, there rushed waters every
where known for health giving quail
ties. 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 Hercu-
les of FURNISHED Corinthian brass.
Vases of terra Gotta adorned the ceme-
teries of the dead-vases so costly that
Julius Caesar was not satisfied until
he had captured them for Rome.
Armed officials, the "Corinthiarii, y
paced up and down to see that 40 stat
ue was defaced, no pedestal overthrown
no bas-relief touched. From the edge
of the city hill arose, with its mag
nifcent burden of columns and towers
and temples-1,0 900 slaves awaiting at
one shrine-and city SC thoroughly
impregnable that Gibraltar is a heap Of
sand compared with it. Amid all that
strength and magnifcence Corinth
stood and defed the world.
| Oh, it was not to rustics who had
never seen anything grand that St;
Paul uttered this text. They had heard
the best music that had come from the
best instruments in all the world, they
had heard songs floating from morn
ing porticoes and melting in evening
groves, they had passed their whole
| lives away among pictures and sculp-
ture 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 towerin which it had not glittered,
and no gateway thatit had not adorned.
All, 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 har-
mony of which I speak. These waters
rushing in the basin of Pyrene are not
pure. These statues of Bacchus and
Mercury are not exquisite. Yon cita-
del of Acrocorinthus is not strong
compared with that which I offer to
tae poorest slave that puts down his
burden at that brazen gate. You, Co.
rinthians, think this is splendid city
you think you have heard all sweet
sounds and seen all beautiful sights;
but I 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. ;"
You see my text sets forth the idea
| that, however exalted our ideas may be
of heaven they come far short of the
reality. Some wise men have been
calculating how many furlongs long
and wide heaven is, and they have
calculated how many inhabitants
there are on the earth, how long the
earth will probably stand, and then
they come to this estimate-that after
all the nations had been gathered to
heaven, there would be room for
each soul, a room il feet long and Is
feet wide. It would not be large
enough for me- I am glad to know
that no human estimate is sufficient to
take the dimensions. Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard" nor arithmetic
calculated.
I first remark that we can in this
world get no idea of the health OF
heaven. When you were child. and
you went out in the morning, how
you bounded along the road or street
--you had never felt sorrow or SICK
ness! Perhaps later-perhapsin these
very summer days-you felt a glow in
your cheek and spring in your step,
and an exuberance of spirits, and a
clearness of eye, that made you thank
God you were permitted to live. The
nerves were harp strings, and the sum
light was doxology, and the rustlng
of the leaves were the rustling Of the