Connecticut western news., 1900-05-17
LIFTS THE CURTAIN.
REV. DR. TALMAGE SPEAKS OF THE
 SPlENDORS OF HEAVEN.


 SPLENDORS OF HEAVEN.
 However Exalted Our Ideas May Be of the Home on High, They Arc Ous Union Awaits Us.
 WASHINGTON, May 18.-In this dis course Dr. TalmAge lifts the curtain from eternal feiicities and in an unusu- al way treats of the heavenly world; text, 1 Corinthians il, @, Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have en- tered Into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 3t.* 3A3@sA The city of Corinth has been called splendor the world holds no such won der today. It stood on an isthmus washed by two seas, the one sea bring ing the commerce of Europe, the other sea bringing the commerce of Asia. From her wharfs, In the construction of which whole kingdoms had been ab- sorbed, war galleys with three banks of oars pushed out and confounded the navy yards of all the world. Huge handed machinery such as modern in- vention 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 aide. ld H D yt% EE F .5 tl
 The revenue officers of the city went down through the olive groves that lined the beach to collect tariff from nll nations. The mirth of all people sperted 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 stupendous dissipa- tlons. Column and statue and temple bewildered the beholder. There were white marble fountains into which, from apertures at the side, there rush. ed 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 cotta adorned the cemeteries of the dead-vases so costly that Julius Cesar was not satis- fled until he had captured them for Rome. Armed officials, the Corintha- Til, 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, towers and temples Q,000 slaves walt ing at one shrine), and citadel so thoroughly impregnable that Gibraltar is a heap of sand compared with 1t. Amid all that strength and magnifi- cence Corinth stood and defied the world.
 Oh, 1t was not to rustics who had never seen anything grand that 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 among pictures and sculpture and ar chitecture and Corinthian 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. An, 1t was a bold thing for Paul to stand there amid all that and say: "All this Is nothing. These sounds that come from the tenn pie of Neptune are not music compared with the harmonies of which I speak; In, hn ho oiY nf Pyrene are not pure; these statues of Racchus and Mercury are not exqui- site; your citadel of Acrocorinthus Is not strong compared with that which offer to the poorest slave that puts down his burden at that brazen gate. You Corinthians think this Is splen- did 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."
 You see my text sets forth the idea that, however exalted our ideas of heaven, they come far short of the re- ality. Some wise men have been cal culating how many furlongs long and wide is the new Jerusalem, 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 have been gathered to heaven there will be room for each soul, a room 16 feet long and 15 feet wide. 1t would not be large enough for you; 1t 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 ear heard" or arithmeticians calculated.
 I first remark that we can get no Idea of the health of heaven. When you were a child and you went out in the morning, how you bounded along the road or street. You had never felt sor. row or sickness. Perhaps later you felt a glow in your cheek and spring ir 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 tho sunlight was doxology, and the rus ting leaves were the rustling of tho
 
 praise the Lord. You thought that yor knew what 1t was to be well, but ther, is no perfect health on earth. The dis eases of past generations came down tt us. The airs that now float upon tn, earth are not like those which fioatet above paradise. They are charged witl impurities and distempers. The mos elastic and robust health of earth compared with that which those ex perience before whom the gates hay, been opened, Is nothing but sickness and cancellation. Look at that sou standing before the throne. On eartl she was lifelong invalid. See he step now and henr her voice now Catch, if you can, one breath of tha celestial air. Health in all the pulses health of vision, health of spirits-im mortal health. No racking cough, n'