The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-05-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
NEW JERUSALEM. LAST SUM-
DAYS SUBJECT.
There Will BE No Parting from Ono
Another in the Heavsnly Kingdom
Its Glories surpass Human Power of
Comprehension.

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 won
der today. 1t 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
absorbed, war galleys with three banks
Of oars pushed out and COMPOUNDED 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
side.
The revenue officers of the city went
down through the olive groves that
lined the beach to collect tariff from
all nations. The mirth of all people
sported in her isthmian games, and
the beauty of all lands sat in her thea
tiers, walked her porticoes and threw
itself on the altar of her stupendous
dissipations. 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 sculp-
ture and architecture, while standing,
as If to guard the costly display, was
statue of Hercules of FURNISHED Cor
inthian 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
Corlntharii, paced up and down to see
mat no statue was defaced, no pedes-
tai overthrown, no bas relief touched.
From the edge of the city a hill arose,
with its magnificent burden of COL
umns, towers and temples (1,0OO slaves
waiting at one shrine), and a citadel
SO thoroughly impregnable that Glib
raltar is heap of sand compared with
II. Amid all that strength and mag
n1ficence 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
pest music that had come from the
best instruments in all the world; they
had heard songs floating from morn
ing porticoes and melting in evening
groves; they had passed their whole
lives among pictures and sculp-
ture and architecture and Corinthian
brass, which had been nodded 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 1T bad not aiorn-,
ed. All, it was 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 har-
monies Of which speak. These wat
ers rushing in the basin of Pyrene are
not pure. These statues of Bacchus
and Mercury are not exquisite. Your
citadel of Acrocorinthus is not strong
compared with that which l offer to
the poorest slave that puts down his
burden at that brazen gate. You Cor
inthians think this is a 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 for them that love
him"
beyond Our Conception.
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 cal
culating how many furlongs long and
wide is the new Jerusalem, and thew
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 gathering to
heaven there will be room for each
soul, room 16 feet long and Is feet
wide. 1t would not be large enough
for you. 1t would not be large enough
for me. am glad to know that no hui
man estimate is sufficient to take the
dimensions. Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard" nor arithmeticians call
culated
I first remark that we can get no
idea of the health of heaven. When
you were 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 spring
in your step and an exuberance of
spirits and clearness of eye that
made you thank God you were permit
ted to live. The nerves were harp
strings and the sunlight was a doxol-
ogy, and the rustling leaves were the
rustling of the robes of a great crowd
rising up to praise the Lord. You
thought that you knew what it was
to be well, but there is no perfect
health on earth. The diseases of past
generations came down to us. The
airs that now float upon the earth are
not like those which floated above par
adise. They are charged with impu-.
rites and distempers. The most elias