Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-12-22
The Foundation God Lays for His
Saints.
is WORD A BURNING LAMP.
A Night Of Sin, Suffering and Sorrow
That No Light Save From
Heaven
CAN TURN INTO DAY


Tabernacle on the subject; Illumination
The opening hymn was:
''Bow firm foundation ye saints OF the Lord
Hath He laid for your faith in His excellent word.
After expounding appropriate passages
ofscripture, DR.. Talmage gave out the text
from Psalm cxix-l05: THY word is lamp
to my feet and light to my faith"
From o'clock last evening, said Dr.
Talmage until g o'clock this morning, dark
ness rested on our part Of the earth and
every few hours there rolls wave of natural
night all over the nation. With lamps, and
chandeliers, and torches and lanterns we
try 10 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 a night Of sin and suffering
and shame which needs another kind Of il
Illumination. Ancient philosophy made a
lamp but it was dead failure and the peo-
pie kept crying out Give us light! Give
US light" After awhile prophet and
evangelist and apostle made a lamp. A
coal from heaven struck it into blaze and
uncounted multitndes Of people with an
open Bible before them, cry ont in rapture
and in love: "Ihy Word is a lamp
Who are Left:
When, some years ago, there was great
accident in Hartley colliery, England, and
200 persons lost their lives, the Queen tele-
graphed down TO the scene of disaster:
Can we give you any help? Will you be
able to get the men out? How many are
lost? Give my sympathy to all the bereft. "
What consultation 1t was to the families who
stood amidst the CONSERVATION aud the ter
ror, that the throne of England throbbed in
sympathy with their disaster? But have
to tell you a 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 sins and
suferings message of pardon of love, Of
sympathy, of comfort, of eternal life. Like
some lighthouse on 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 B wretchedneSs and Of
Gods providence so that angels on their
way earthward, and ransomed spirits on
their way Heavenward, and devils on their
way hellward pass through its flash, crying
Thy word is lamp"
You have four or FIVE bibles in your
house-perhaps ten, perhaps twenty. They
are such common property you do not ap-
preciate them. you had only one bible,
and for that you had paid five hundred
dollars,th price that was paid in olden time
for copy Of the scriptures, then you would
more thoroughly appreciate it. was once
q colporteur for few months in a vacation
and came into house of destitution. |
saw a woman there eighty-fve years of age,
and said to her: May give you bibleT
'Oh," she replied, "a bible would be Of no
use 10 me.
ICan't See to Read.
i used to read but for twenty years 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: Now 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, l
can see, after all; 1 am erythankiul to you.
Why, yes, see it. love the Lord because
he hath heard my voice and my-oh, yes; |
can read it, can read it," | wish that
God tonight would make the bible as new
md fresh to us as it was TO her,
Ivant to show you that the Bible is
lamp parlor lamp, a street lamp, q store
lamp, a church lamp, sepllchral lamp.
In parlors all ahash with gas light and
cleaning mirror and blazing chandelier
there may be Egyptian darkness, while in
some PLAIN room which frugal hand has
spread with hospitality and refinement this
one lamp may cast a glow that makes 1t
fit palace for heavenly coronations We in
woke no shadow to fall upon the hilarities
of life. We would not have every song a
dirge, every picture a martyrdom, every
step a 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; 1t would
expose new gracefulness in the curtain;
it would unroll new wreaths from
the carpet; it would strike
new music from the harp; it would throw
new polish into the manners, it would kim
die with light borrowed from the throne Of
God, all the refnements Of society. Oh,
that the Christ who was born in barn
would come to our parlorl We need his
hand to sift the parlor music. We need his
taste to assort the parlor literature. We
need his voice to conduct the parlor conyer-
satiop. 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 sdornments 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 dining-hsl 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,
Chust is from one end Of the
year to the other shut out of the parlor.
No Circle Too High.
Oh, that housekeeper understood that the
grace Of God is the greatest accomplish
ment, and that no seat is too luxuriant for
religion to sit IN, and no arch too grand tor
religion to walk under. and no circle too
brilliant for religion to move in. If christi
anity is at last to walk upon the streets Of
Heaven with seraphim and archsngel, it is
good enough to 60 anywhere where you 60,
or where shall 60. To purify the heart
to cleanse the life, to culture the taste, to
expurgste all hypocrisy and falsehood and
shame. we must have the Bible in the par
lor. When christian people come to spend
an evening they talk about the weather and
they they talk about the scandals, and they
talk about the crops, and they talk about
markets; but they do not talk about God
and Christ and Heaven. The thing we
most want in our parler is the lamp Of the
Bible.
Still further, the Bible is the streetlsmp-
when night comes down on the city crime
goes forth TO its worst schievements-not
only to show honest citizens where to walk
but TO hinder the burglar and assassin and
and highwsyman and pickpocket we mus
have artificial lights all over the city. re
| member what consternation there was II
Philadelphis when one night the gas work.