Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-06
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminen New York Divins's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "surpassing spIendor."


TEXT: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard. "
Il Corinthians H., 8.
III am going to heaven! I am going to
| heaven! Heaven! Heaven! Heaven" These
were the last words uttered a few days ago
! by my precious wife as she assembled to be
| with God forever, and is 1t not natural as
we'll as Christianity appropriate that our
| thoughts be much directed toward the glori-
Gus residence of which st. Paul speaks in
the text / have chosen?
The city Of Corinth has been called the
Paris of antiquity. Indeed for splendor the
world holds no such wonderto-day. Hstood
| 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 absorbe J, war galleys
! with three banks of oars pushed out ana
| 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 ali people sported in her
Isthmian games, and the beauty of all lands
| sat in her theatres, walked her porticoes and
| threw itself on the altar of her stupendouS
| 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 ii to guard
| 1. ,1c-, cI oft
OF FURNISHED Corinthian brass. Vases Of
terra Gotta adorned the cemeteries of the
dead-vases so costly that julius Caesar was
not satisfied until he had captured them for
Rome. Armed officials, the "Corinthiarii,"
paced up and down to see that no statue was
| defaced no pedestal OverthrOwn, no bas re.
lief touched. From the edge OF the city a
| hill arose. with its magnificent burden OF
columns and towers and temples QO0O slaves
awaiting at one shrine), and citadel so
! thoroughly impregnable that Gibraltar is u
heap Of sand compared with it. Amid al
that strength and magniflcence Corinth
stood and defled the world.
Oh, it was not TO rustics who had never
seen anything grand that st. Paul uttered
! this text They bad heard the best music
| that had como from the best instruments in
all tho world. They had heard songs float
ing from morning porticOes ard melting in
evening groves. They had passed their
whole lives away among pictures and
sculpture and architecture and Corlnthian
brass, which had been nodded and shaped,
until there was no chariot wheel in which 1t
had not sped, and no tower in which it had
not glittered, and no gateway that 1t had not
adorned
All, it was 0old thing for Paul to stand
there amid all that and say: "Ali this is
nothing. These sounds that come from the
temple of Neptune are not music compared
with the harmony of which speak. These
waters rushing in the basin of Pyrene are not
pure. These statues of BacchuS and Mer-
curry are not exquisite. Yon citadel of
Acrocorinthus is not strong compared with
that which offer to the poorest slave that
puts down bis burden at that brazen gate.
You, Corinthians, think this is 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 forthem
that love Him.
You see my text sets forth the idea that,
however exalted our ideas maybe OF heaven,
they come far short Of the reality. Some
wise men have been calculating how many
furlongs long and wide is heaven, and they
have calculated how many inhabitants there
are on the earth; how long the earth VIII
probably stand, and then they come to- this
estimate-that after all the nations had been
gathered to heaven there will be a room lor
each soul, room 16 feet long and 10 feet
wide. It would not be large enough for me.
an glad to know that no human estimate
ia 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
ID idea of the health Of heaven. When you
we're q child and you went out in the morn
ing. how YOU bounded along the ROAD or
street-vou had never felt sorrow or SICK
ness! Perhaps later-perhaps IN these very
summer days-you felt glow IN your
cheek, and spring in your step, ana an eX-
uberance of spirits, and clearness OF eye,
that made YOU thank God you were permit
ted tolive. The nerves were harp strings
and the sunlight was a dOXOlogy. and the
ustling leaves were the rustling OF the robes
of q great crowd rising up to pr use the
Lord. You thought that you knew what II
WAS TO be well. but there is no perfect healtn
on earth. The diseases Of past generations
come down TO us. The airs that float now
ON the earth are unlike those which hoated
abo-e paradise. They are charged with I'M
purties and distempers. The most elastic
and robust health Of earth, comparel Wlth
that which those experience before Whom inc
gates have been opened, is nothing put SICK
ness and emaciation. Look at that soul
standing before the throne. On earth she
was lifelong invalid. Sec her step now AMI
hear her voice now! Catch, If you can. one
breath of that celestial air. Health in all the
Dulsesi Health of vision. Bealth OF spirits.
immortal health. No racking cough, no
sharp pleurisies. no consuming levers. no
cxhausting pains, no hospitals OF wounded
men. Health swinging in the air. Health
flowing in all the streams. Health blooming
on the banks. No headaches, no sideaches,
no backachee. That child that died in the
aconies of Group. hear her voice now ringing
in the anthem That old man that went
bowed down with the intlrmlties OF age, seq
him walk now with the step OF an immortal
athete-forever young again! mat hlght
when the needlewoman tainted away IN the
garret. a wave of the heavenly AIR resuscltat-
ed her forever. For everlasting years, 10
have neither ache nor pain nor W. aEne5s nor
fatigue. eye hath not seen it, ear MAIN nol
heard it..
remark further that we can in this world
get no lust idea of the splendor of heaven.
st. John tries to describe it. He says, "Ths
twelve gates are twelve pearls" and thai
"the foundations of the walls are garnished
with all manner of precious stones" AS we
stand looking through the telescope of st.
John we see a blaze of amethyst AMI pearl
and emerald and sardOnyXa and chrysoprasus
and sapphire. mountain OF light a catar-
act Of color, a sea of glass and city like the
sun.
I'll 10 ~ an md xUn COZ