The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-08-28
THE GLORY OF HEAVEN.
DR.. Talmage breaches a Sermon
Concerning It.
Until We Get There.-G Iorious Re
unions With Departed Friends
Will he One of the Joys
OF the believers.

viii he One of the Joys
OF the Believers.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmnge preached
his latest sermon on the Surprising
Splendors of Heaven" He pictured
the glories of the future state in a way
calculated to bring JOY TO the believing
hearts, selecting his text from l Cor,
ii: 0. Eye hath not seen nor ear
heard" Following is the DISCOURSE:
II am going to Heaven! am going
to Heaven! Heaven! Hcuven!" These
were the last words uttered few days
ago by my precious wife as she as
cended to be with God forever, and is
it not natural, as well as Christianly
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 been called
the Paris of antiquity. Indeed, for
splendor, the world holds no such won
der to-day. 1t stood on an isthmus
ing 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 the world. Hugc-handed ma
chinery, such as modern invention can
not equal, lifted ships from the sea
from 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 tariff from all ma
tions. The mirth of all people sported
in her Isthmian games, and the beauty
of all lands sat in her theatcrs, walked
her porticos, and threw itself on the
altar of her stupendous dissipations.
Column, and statue and temple be-
wildered 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 a statue
of Hercules, of Furnished Corinthian
brass. Vases of terra Gotta adorned
the cemeteries of the dead-vases so
costly that julius Caesar was not salts
fed until he had captured them for
Rome. Armed officials, the "Corinthi-
aril," paced up and down to see that no
statue was defaced, no pedestal over
thrown, no bas-relief touched. From
the edge of the city hill arose, with
its magnificent burden of columns, and
towers, and temples zone thousand
slaves awaiting at one shrine), and a
citidel so 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 morning
porticoes and melting in evening
groves: they had passed their whole
lives away among pictures, and sculpt,
ure, and architecture, and Co"inthian
brass, which had been mClded 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 it had not
adorned. All, it was bold thing for
Paul TO stand there amid all that, and
say: "All this is nothing. These sounds
that co.rc 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 com
pared with that which l offer to the
poorest slave that puts down his bur
den at the brazen gate. You, Corinth
ians, think this is splendid city; you
think you-havc heard all sweet sounds
and seen all beautiful sights; but tel
you eye hath not seen, nor ear heard
neither have entered into the heart o.
man, the things which God hath pre-
pared for them that love Him.
You see my text sets forth the ide;
that, however exalted our ideas may be
of Heaven, they come far short of the
reality. Some wise men have been cal
culating how many furlongs long ant
wide is Heaven, and they have calcu
lated how many inhabitants there are
on earth; how long the earth will prob
ably stand; and then they com-a to this
estimate: That after all the nations
had been gathered to Heaven, there vii
be room for each soul-a room six
teen feet long and fifteen feet wide. i
would not be large enough for me.
am glad to know that no human esti
mate is sufficient to take the dimen
sions. Eye hath not seen, nor eal
heard, nor arithmetic calculated
first remark that we can in thi
world get no idea of the health o
Heaven. When you were child, anC
you went out in the morning, how yol
bounded along the road or street-yol
had never felt sorrow or sickness! Per
haps later-perhaps in these very sum
mer days7-you felt glow in you
cheek, and a spring in your step, anc
an exuberance of spirit, and clearnes
of eye that made you thank God tina
you were permitted to live. The nerves
were harnstrinps. and the sunlirht wa