The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-22
THE MISSION OF THE LAMP.
DR.. Talmage Shows that the Word of
God lisa Light for All Purposes.
A Lamp that Should Be Transferred from the
Dining-ROOm and the Kitchen to the
ParlOr and the Street

returned from his Southern tour, during which
he delivered the opening prayer at the New Or
leans exposition. He preached this evening ia
the Brooklyn Tabernacle on the subject, 'Illu~
mination." The opening hymn was: .
How firm foundation, We saints of the Lord
Hath He laid for your faith in His excellent word.
After expounding appropriate passages OF
Scripture, DR.. Talmage gave out the text from
Psalm cxix los: "Thy word is lamp to my
feet and light to my path"
From o'clock last evening, said Dr. Talmage.
until O'Clock this morning, darkness rested on
our part of the earth and every few hours there
rolls wave of natural night all over the ma
tons. With lamps, and chandeliers, and torches,
and lanterns we try to drive out the night from
houses, and churches, and stores, and shops
He who invents new kind of light invents his
own fortune, and the fortune of his children.
But there is night of sin, and suffering, and
shame which needs another kind of illumina-
ton. Ancient philosophy made lamp but it
was dead failure and The people kept crying
out ''Give US light! Give US light" After while
prophet and evangelist and apostle made g.
lamp A coal from heaven struck ii into blaze
and dncounted multitudes of people, with aE
open Bible before them, cry out in rapture and
in love: ''Thy word is a lamp"
When, some years ago, there was great acct
dent in Hartley Colliery, England, and 200 per-
sons lost their lives the Queen telegraphed down
to the scene of disaster: "Can we give you any
helpl Will you be able to get the men QUIT
How many are lostl Give my sympathy to ais
the bereft" What consolation it was to the
families who stood amidst the CONSERVATION ana
the terror, that the throne of England throbbed
Al
tell you more glorious truth. and that is, FROM
the throne of God, the King Of heaven and earth
telegraphs down through this Bible into the
dungeons of our sin and suffering, a message Of
pardon of love, of sympathy, of comfort Of
eternal life. Like some lighthouse high
promontory, blessed by ships passing through
darkness and storm, so on the heights of Gods
love and grace there flames forth light upon
the great sea of man. wrechedness and of Gods
providence, so that angels on their way earth
ward, and ransomed spirits on their way heavens
ward pass through its flash, crying Thy word
is lamp"
You have four or five Bibles in your house,
perhaps ten perhaps twenty. They are suck
common property you do not appreciate them
If you had only one Bible and for that you had
paid five hundred dollars the price that was
paid in olden time for a copy of the Scriptures
then you would more thoroughly appreciate it.
1 was once colporteur for few months in a
vacation, and came into house of restitution
1 saw a woman there eighty-fve years
of age and l said to her: MAY
l give you Biblep "Oh," she re-
piled, IA Bible would be of no use to me. |
can't see to read. 1 used to read, but for tWent;
years 1 haven't been able to read word" L
pulled out of my satchel one of the copies of the
Psalms of David and the New Testament in great
large, round type and said: 'tNow just put on
your spectacles and see if you can't read this
She wiped her spectacles and put them on. "Oh
yes" she said, ''why can see after ALL am
very thankful to you. Why, yes, see it; love
the Lord because he hath heard my voice and
my-Oh, yes; can read It'll I can read i'll" {
wish that God tonight would make the Bible as
new and fresh to us as it was to her.
LAMP FOR ALL PURPOSES
want to show you that the Bible is q lamp
a parlor-lamp a streetlamp, store-lamp
church-lamp, a sepulchral lamp. In parlors
all afash with gas-light and cleaning mirror, and
blazing chandelier, and candelabra, there may
be Egyptian darkness; while in some plain room,
which a frugal hand has spread with hospitality
and refinement this one lamp may cast glow
that makes it a fit place for heavenly corona
lions. We invoke no shadow to fall upon the
hilarities of life. We would not have every
song dirge and every picture martyrdom and
every step funeral pace. Gods lamp hung in
the parlor would chill no joy, would
rend no harmony, would check no innocent
laughter. On the contrary, it would bring out
brighter colors in the picture; it would expose
new gracefulness in the curtain; it would unrou
new wreaths from the carpet; it would strike
new music from the harp; it would throw new
polish into the manners; it would kindle with
| light, borrowed from the throne of God, all the
refnements of society. Oh that the Christ who
was born in a barn would come to our parlori
We need His hand to sift the parlor music We
need his taste to assert the parlor literature.
We need His voice to conduct the parlor con-
versation. We are apt to think of religion as
being a rude, laundering thing, not fit to put its
foot upon Administer, or its clownish hands on
beautiful adornments, or lift its voice amidst
the artistic and refined; so, while we have Jesus
in the nursery when we teach our children to
pray, and Jesus in the diningh hall when we ask
His blessing upon our food, and Jesus in the
sitting room when we have family prayers, it is
a simple fact that from ten thousand Christian
homes in this country, Christ is from one end Of
the year to the other shut out of the parlor. Oh
that housekeepers understood that the grace Of
| God is the greatest accomplishment and that
no seat is too luxurious for reigonto sit in, and
no arch too grand for religion to walk under,
and no circle too brilliant for religion
to move in! If Christianity, at last, is
to walk up the streets of heaven
with seraphim and archangel, it is good enough
TO 90 anywhere where you go or where 1 shall
go. To purify the heart, to cleanse the life, to
culture the taste, to expurgate all hypocrisy and
folrohonI md cham wa rnnct hn,,o tl,n Rhln in