The national leader., 1889-02-09
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON:
Evangelism vind,cated

sweet as honey; rnd as soon as had eaten it.
my belly was bitter. And he said unto me,
Thou must propaesy again before many poo
pies and nations and tongues and kings."-
Rev. 10 : 10, III.
DoMITIAN, the Roman Emperor, had
In his realm a troublesome evangelist
who would keep preaching, and so ne
exlled him to barren island, as now
the Russians exile convictS to Siberia,
or as sometimes the English govern
ment used to send prisoners to Austria
liza. The island speak Of is now call
ed Patmos, ard is so barren and uMpro-
ductlve that Its inhabitants live By
fishing.
But one day the evangelist Of whom
I speak, sitting at the mouth of cav
ern, and perhaps half asleep under the
drone of the sea, has
A SUPERNATURAL DREAM,
and before him pass, as in panorama,
time and eternity. Among the strange
things that he cav was an angel with
little book in his hand, and in his dream
the evangelist asked for this little book,
and the angel gave it to him, and told
him to eat it up. AS in dream things
are sometimes incongruous. the evange-
list took the little book and ate it up.
The angel told him beforehand that it
would be very sweet in the mouth, but
afterward he would be troubled with
Indigestion. True enough, the evange-
list devOurs the book, and it becomes
to him sweetness during the mastica-
ton, but afterward a physical bitter
ness.
Who the angel was and what the
book was, no one can tell. The COM
mentators do not agree, and / shall
take no responsibility OF Interpretation,
but it suggests to me
THE LITTLE BOOK OF CREEDs,
which sceptics take and chew up and
find very luscious morsel to their wit
ticism, but after while it is to them a
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, favorlte 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 neigh
borhood. Esthetical creeds-that is,
theories about tapestry, about bric-a
brac, about STYLES of ornamentation.
Religious creeds- that is, theories
aboutthe Deity, about the soul,
the great future. The only being
who has no creed about anything
is the idiot. This scofing 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 beliefs
of evangtlistic churches are under
FUsILLADE or CARICATURE
and Misrepresentation. Men set up
what they call orthodox faith, and then
they rake 1t with the musketry of their
denunciation, They falsify what the
Christian Churches believe. They take
evangelical doctrines and set them in
harsh and repulsive way, and put them
out of the association with other truths.
They are like mad anatomist, who,
desiring to tell what a man is, dissects
human body and hangs up in one
place the heart, and in another place
the two lungs, and in another place an
ankle bone, and says that is man.
They are only fragments of a man
wrenched out Of their God-appointed
places.
Evangelical religion is healthy,
symmetrical, well-jointed, roseate,
fn hn lTo1 nd
dissecting knife of the intidel or the
atheist cannot tell you what it is.
Evangelical religion is as different from
what it is represented to be by these
enemies as the scare-crow which
farmer puts in the cornfield to keep off
the ravens is different from the farmer
himself.
For instance, these enemies of evan
gelism say that the Presbyterian Church
believes that God is a savage sovereign,
and that He made some men just to
damn them, and that there are infants
In hell span long. These old slanders
come down from generation to genera
ton. The Presbyterian Church be-
Geves no such thing. The Presbyter-
ian Church believes that God is low
Ing and just Sovereign. and that we are
free agents. mo, mol that cannot be-"
say these men who have chewed up the
creed and have the consequent embit-
tered stomachs. THAT is impossible;
If God is sovereign, we can't be free
agents" SWhy, my friends. we ad-
NIT this in every other direction. /,
De Witt Talmage, am a free citizen. L
60 when l please and | come when 1
please, but | have
AT LEAST FOUR SOVEREIGNS.
The Church court of our denomina-
non; that is my ecclesiastical sovereign.
The mayor Of this city; he is my muni-
,ipal sovereign. The Governor Of New
York; lie is my State sovereign. The
President of the United States; he IS
nv national sovereign. Four sover-
signs 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 60 side by side, and
there is common-sense way of present.
ing it. and there is way that is repul-
sive. If you have the two doctrines in
: worldly direction, why not in a re-
tigious directIon2 If | choose to-mOr-
row morning to walk into the Mercan-
lille Library and improve my mind, or
10 60 through the conservatory of my
r. rryhn hoe