The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-02-13
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
breaches a Sermon to the Foes OF
Evangelical Doctrines

How Different Religious Creeds arc Dls-
torted by Those Who DO Not Un-
derstand Then-The Ignorance
OF the Scofrers Terrible
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's recent sermon
was on ISLANDERS Against Religion An
swered." His tex. was: And l took the
little book out Of the angels hand, and ate
it up; and it was in mouth sweet as honey;
and as soon as had eaten it my belly was
bitter. And he sad unto ME. thou must
prophesy again before many peoples, ana
nations, and tongues, and kings" Rev. X.
l0-ll. The eloquent divine spoke as follows:
Donitian, the Roman Emperor, had IN his
realm trou oublesome evangelist who would
keep preaching, and so he eNlled him to q
barren island, as now the Russians exile
convicts to Siberia, or as sometimes the
English Government used to send prisoners
to Australia The island speak Of is now
called Patmos, and it is so barren and un-
productive that its inhabitants live BY fish
ing.
But one day the evangelist Of whom l
speak, sitting at the mouth Of a cavern on
the hillside, and perhaps half asleep under
the drone of the sea, has supernatural
dream, and before him pass, rs in panorama,
time and eternity. Among the strange things
that he saw was an ange! with little book
in his hand, and in his dream tt;e evangelist
asked for this little book, and the angel
gave it to him, and told him to eat it up.
AS in g dream things are sometimes iocon-
no no
and eat it up. The angel told him before
hand that it would be very sweet in the
mouth, but afterward he would be tro1bled
with indigestion. True enough, the evanse-
list devours the book and it becomes to him
sweetness during the mastication, but
afterwar6 physical bitterness.
Who the angel was and what the book
was no one can tell. The commentators do
not agree, and shall take no responsibility
OF Interpretation, but will tell you that it
suggests to me the little book Of creeds
which skeptics take and chew up and lind
very luscious morsel to their witticism. but
after while it is to them great distress.
The angel of the church hands out this little
book Of evangelism, and the antagonists Of
the Christian Church take it and eat it up,
and it makes them smile at first, but after
ward it is to them dire dyspepsia.
All intelligent people have creeds-that Is,
favorite theories which they have adopted.
Political creeds-that is, theories about
tariff, about finance, about civil service,
about government. Social creeds-that is,
theories about manners and customs and
good neighborhood. lEsthetical creeds-
that is, theories about tapestry, about brio
a-brac. about styles of ornamentation. Re
lisious creeds-that is. theories about the
Lefty, about the soul, about the great
fulere. The only being who has no creed
about any thing is the idiot. THIS scoflng
against creeds is always sign OF profound
ignorance on the part OF the scoffer, for he
has himself hundred creeds in regard to
other things. In our time the bellefs or
evangelistic churches are under fusillade
of caricature and Misrepresentation Men
set up what they call orthodox faith, and
then they rake it with the musketry of their
denunciation. They falsify what the Chris
tian churches believe. They take evanceli-
cal doctrines aud set them in harsh and re-
pulsive way. and put them out Of the asso-
citation with other truths. They are like
mad anatomist who, desiring to tell what
man is. dissects human body and hangs
up in one place the heart, and in an
other place the two lungs, and in another
place an ankle bone. and says that Is
q man. They are only fragments of man
wrenched out OF their God-appointed places.
Evangelical religion is healthy, SYM
metrical, well-jointed, roseate, bounding
life, and the scalpel and the dissecting knife
Of the infdel or the atheist can not tell you
what it is. Evangelical religion is as differ
ent from what it is represented to be by
these enemies as the scarecrow which
farmer puts into the corn field to keep of
the ravens is different from the farmer him
SELF
For instance. these enemies of evangelism
say that the Presbyterian Church believes
God is savage sovereign and that he emade
some men just to damn them, and that there
are infants in he'll span long. These old
ISLANDERS come down from generation to gen.
GRAFTON. The Presbyterian Church believes
no such thing The Presbyterian Church
believes that God is loving and just soyer-
eign and that we are free agents. mo, no!
that can not be, " say these men who have
chewed up the creed and have the conse-
quent embittered stomachs. THAT is i'm
possible; if God is sovereign we can't be
free agents." Why. my friends, we admit
this In every other direction. l, De Witt
Talmage, am a free citizen of Brooklyn.
90 when please and come when | please
but have at least four sovereigns. The
church court Of our denomination; that IS
NV ecclesiastical sovereign. The mayor OF
this city; be is my municipal sovereign. The
Governor of New York; he is my State SOW
ereigu The President Of the United States;
he is my national sovereign.
Four sovereigns have I, and yet in every
faculty of body, mind and soul am free
man. So. YOU see, it is possible that the two
doctrines go side by side, and there is com
mon sense way of presenting it, and there,
Is way that is repul>ive. if yon have the
two doctrines in a worldly direction, why
not in religious direction! If choose to-
morrow morning to walk into the Mercan-
tile Library and improve my mind, or to 60
through the conservatory Of my friend at
Jamaica, who has flowers from all lands
growing un der the arches of glass, and who
has an aquarium all aswim with trout and
gold fish, and there are trees bearing oranges
and baranas-if I wanted to 20 there l
could, am free to 20. Ii want to go over
to Hoboken aud leap into furnace Of an oil
factory, if want to jump from the plat
form Of the Ph iladelphia express train If l
want to leap from Brooklyn bridge, may.
But suppose should 60 tomorrow ard leap
into the furnace at Hoboken, who would be
to blame? That is all there is about sover-
eighty and free agency. God rules and
reigns and he has conservetories and he has
h,oet fnrnoras r. yo,1 want To walk in the
gardens. walk there. If you want to leap