Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-05-31
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISC CURSE eY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: The SpIendors Of Heaven-How-
ever Exalted Our Ideas May Be of the
Home OH High, They Are Far Short
of the Reality What Awaits Us.
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of the Reality What Awaits Us.
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WASHINGTON, ID. C.-In this discourse Dr.
Talmage lifts the curtain from eternal
felicities and In an unusual way treats OF
the heavenly world; text, I Corinthians,
H., 9, 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 confounded
the navy yards OF all the world. Huge
handed machinery such as modern inven-
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, aud the beauty Of all
lands sat in her theatres, walked In her
porticos and threw its elf on the altar Of
her stupendous dissipations. Column and
statue and temple bewldered the behold
er. 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, stand
ing, as If to guard the costly display, was
n statue OF Hercules OF FURNISHED Corinth-
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 Corintharii, paced up and
down to see that no statue was defaced,
no pedestal overthrown, no bas-relief
touched. From the edge OF the city a hill
arose, with its magnificent burden Of COL
umns, towers aud temples (1000 slaves
whiting at one shrine), and citadel SO
thoroughly impregnable that Gibraltar is
a heap Of sand compared with 1t. Amid
| all that strength and magnifcence Corinth
| stood and defed 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 architecture and Corlnthian brass
| which had been nodded 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 1t had not
| adorned. All, 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 temple OF Neptune are not music
! compared with the harmonies Of which 1
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 tlat puts down his burden at that
| brazen gate. Your Corinthians think this
is a splendid city; you think you have
ful 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 Jerusalem,
| and they have calculated how many inhab.
| itauts 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, u room
sixteen feet long and fifteen feet wide. 1t
would not be large enough for you; 1t
would not be large enough for me. l am
| glad to know that no human estimate is
sufficient to take the dimensions. EYE
| hath not seen nor ear heard" or arlthmeti-
clans calculated.
! first remark that we can get no idea oil
the health of heaven. When you were n
| child and you went out in the morning
| how you bounded along the road or street.
You had never felt sorrow or sickness
Perhaps later you felt glow in your cheek
and u spring IN your step and an exuber.
| Ia o,,I nlan aoH l.,k
| made you thank God you were permitted
to live. The nerves were harp strings, and
| the sunlight was a doXology, and the rus.
| tlinS OF the robes OF Il great crowd rising
up to praise the Lord. You thought that
you knew what 1t was to be we'll, but there
| Is no perfect health on earth. The dis
eases OF past generations came down to US.
| The airs that now float upon the earth are
not like those which foated above Para
disc. They are charged with impurities
! and distempers. The most elastic and ro-
bust health Of earth, compared with that
! gates have been opened, is nothing but
sickness and emaciation. Look ut that
soul standing before rhe throne. On
earth she was lifelong invalid. See her
step now and hear her voice now.
Catch, II 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 now ringing in the anthem; that old
man that went bowed down with the In.
firmities Of age, see him walk now with the
| step Of un i'm mortal athlete, forever young
again. That night when the needlewoman
| tainted away In the garret wave OF the
heavenly air resuscitated her forever. Fol
everlasting years to have neither ache mol
pain nor weakness, nor fatigue! EYE
hath not seen 1t; ear hath not heard It,"
| l remark further that we can in this
world get no just idea Of the splendors OF
heaven. John tries to describe them. He
says "twelve gates are twelve pearls and
| that "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 blaze Of amethyst and
| PEARL: and emerald and sardonyx and
chrysoprasus AMI sapphire, mountain oi
| 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 the patriarchs, thrones ol
| the angels, thrones OF the apostles, thrones
of the martyrs, throne Of Jesus, throne o