The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-06-16
TALMAGE SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY TIE A3LF Ol,
VINE
Subject: The Splendors Of Heaven-How
ever Exalted Our Ideas May BE of the
Home on High, They Are Far Short
of the Reality What Awaits Us.
copyright l9Ou.l

Home on High. They Are Far Shor
of the Reality What Awaits Us.
copyright laou.l
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In this discourse DR..
| Talmage lifts the curtain from eternal
felicities and In an unusual way treats OF
the heavenly world; text, | Corinthians
H., g. 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."
The city Of Corinth has been called "the
Paris of antiquity" Indeed for splendor
the world holds no such wonder to-day 1t
stood on an isthmus washed by two seas,
the one sea bringing the commerce OF Eu-
rope, the other sea bringing the commerce
OF Asia. From her wharfs, In the con.
struction OF which whole kingdoms had
been absorbed war galleys with three
banks OF oars pushed out and eonfOundetl
tho navy yards OF all the world. Huge
handed machinery sNch as modern inven-
tion 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 tariff from all ma
tions. The mirth Of all people sported in
her isthmian games and the beauty OF all
lands sat in her theatres walked In her
porticos and threw itself on tho altar of
der stupendous dissipations. Column and
statue and temple bewilderei the behold
er. There were white marble fountains
into which, from apertures at the side,
there rushed waters everywhera known
these basins, twisted into wreaths OF
stone. there were all tho beauties OF
sculpture and architecture, while, stand
ing, rs II to guard the costly display, was
statue OF Hercules OF FURNISHED Corlnth-
ian brass. Vases OF terra Gotta adorned
the cemeteries OF the dead-vases so cost
ly that julius Caesar was not satisfied until
he had captured them for Rome. Armed
officials, the Corntharii, paced up and
down to see that no statue was defaced,
no pedestal Overthrown, no bas-relicf
touched. From the edge OF the city hill
arose, with its magnificent burden of col
umns, towers and temples C000 slaves
waiting at one shrine), and citadel 80
thoroughly impregnable that Gibraltar is
heap Of sand compared with It. Amid
all that strength and magniflcence Corinth
stood and dcted 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
whole lives among pictures and sculpture
and architecture and COrinthian brass
which had been molded and shaped until
there was no chariot wheel In which it had
not sped, and no tower In which 1t had not
glittered, and no gateway that it had not
adorned. Ah, 1t was a bold 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 harmones OF which
speak; these waters rushing in the basin OF
Pyrene are not pure; these statues Of Bac-
chus and Mercury are not exquisite; your
citadel OF Acrocorinthus Is not strong COM
pared with that which / offer to the poorest
slave that puts down his burden ut that
brazen gate. Your Corinthians think this
is splendid city; you think you have
heard all sweet sounds and seen all beau:i-
tul 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 reality. Some wise
men have been calculating how many fur
longs long and wide Is the new Jorusalem,
and they, have calculated how many inhab-
itants there are on the earth, how long
the earth sWill probably stand, and then
they come b this estimate-that after all
the nations have been gathered to heaven
there will b@Cr Dom for each soul, room
sixteen feet long and fifteen 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 estimate is
sufficient to take the dimensions. Eye
hath not seen nor ear heard" or arthmetl.
clans calculated.
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 theIoad or street
You had never felt sorrow or sickness.
Perhaps later you felt a glow in your cheek
and spring Ia your step and an eyuber
nnce OF spirits and a clearness OF eye that
made you thank God you were permitted
to live. The nerves were harp strings, and
the sunlight was q doxology, and the rus
Ting OF the robes of great crowd rising
up to praise the Lord. You thought thnt
you knew what it was to be we'll, but there
is no perfect health on earth. The dis
eases OF past generations came downto us.
The airs that now float upon the earth are
not like those which hoated above Para.
disc. They are charged with impurities
and distempers. The most elastic and ro-
bust health OF earth, compared with that
which those experience before whom the
gates have been opened, is nothing but
sickness and emacation. Look ut that
soul standing before the throne. On
earth she was lifelong invalid. See her
step now and hear her voice now.
Catch. IL you can, one breath OF that
celestial air. Health. in all the pulses,
health of vision, health OF spirits-immor-
tai health. No racking cough, no sharp
pleurisies, no consuming fevers, no ex-
hausting pains, no hospitals OF wounded
men. Health swinging in the air; health
flowing In all the streams; health bloom
ing on the banks. No head aches, no side
aches, no back aches. That child that
died in the agonies OF Group. hear her
voice low ringing in the anthem; that old
man that went bowed down with the In
nrmities OF age, see him walk now with the
step OF an immortal athlete, forever young
again. That night when the needlewoman
tainted away In the garret q wave OF the
heavenly air resuscitate1 her forever. For
everlasting years to have neither nche nor
pain nor weakness, nor fatigue! Eye |
bath not seen IT. ear hath not heard it,
l remark further that we can in this f!
world get no just idea of the splcDdors OF |
heaven. John tries to describe them. He |
says "twelve gates are twelve pearls ard
that t.the foundations of the wall are garn-
ished with all manner OF precious stones
AS we stand looking through the telescope |
of St. John We see a blaze OF amethyst and |
PEARL, and emerald and sardonyx and |
ami sapphire, mountain OF |
light, a cataract OF color, a sea OF glass and |
a city like the sun. John bids us look again,
and we see thrones-thrones Of the proph- |
cts, thrones OF tho patriarchs, thrones OF |
The angels thrones OF the aDOsties thrones