Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-02-07
SUNDAYS SERMON.
.yr Of REV. DIR TALMAGE'S
o sTERLING DISCOURSES.
su,isct: ISLANDERS Against ReiiG-
ION Answered.

rvvr. and I took the little bool; out Of
nsanosrs hand, and ate IL up; and 1t i0di
!. IN, ,aouth siUset rs honey; and as soon
t ~ i eoten it mn belly lcds bitter. lind
q. s1id unto me: Thou must proDhess
- .",ia before many peoples and nations,
.sJg,ngnes. and kings. Rev. K, l0-lL
nomitian. the Roman Emperor. had in his
,.slm a troublesome evangelist who would
s.sn ureaching, and so he exiled him to q
80, ~ island. as now the Russians exile con-
Sicts 10 Siberia, or as sometimes the English
eorerpment used to send prisoners to Aus
,.,ls The island speak of is now called
s,tmos. and is so barren and unproductive
III its inhabitants live by fishing.
But one day the evangelist of whom
vaak, sitting at the mouth OF a cavern on
lie hillside, and perhaps half asleep under
10 drone OF the sea, has a supernatural
Srssnl, and before him pass as in panorama.
lima and eternity. Among the strange
things that he saw was an angel with "a
MIA book in his hand, AMI in his
Srssm the evangelist asked for
Ls little book, and the angel gave it
"a him. and told him to eat it up.
4, in a dream things ar sometimes in
rongruous, the evangelist took the little BOOK
and ate il up. The angel told him before
sSrd that it would be very sweet in the
n,d1fh. Ollb al Vel Mdlu ne WOuiQ Oc btOuOlcu
I'M Indigestion. True enough, the evangel-
IA deyours the book, and it becomes to him a
sTeetnes, during tho mc-tication, but after.
ward physical bitterness.
Who The angel was and what the look was
no one can tell The commentators do not
agree and shall take no responsibility OF
iSterpr....a. on, but will tell you that
L Suggests to ne the little look
Il creeds which skeptics take and chew
10 sni find a very luscious morsel
d their witticism, but after while it is TO
them great distress. The angel OF the
church hands out this little book OF evangel-
Ism, and the antagonists OF the. Christian
Church take il and eat it up, and it makes
them smile at first, hut afterward 1t Is to
them dire dyspepsia.
All intelligent people have creeds-that Is,
tayorte 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
bOrhool. Esthetical creeds-that is theories
about tapestry, about brio brac, about
styles Of ornamentation. Religious creeds-
that is theories about the Deity, about the
SOUL about the great future. The only being
who has no creed about anything is the
IDIOT This scoHing against creeds is always
eihu VI lAOAOhAA4 AkANA@Nc - 49,
part Of the scoffer, for he has
himself a hundred creeds in regard to other
things In our time the beliefs of evangeis-
lie churches are under fusilade of carica-
ture and Misrepresentation. Men set up
What they call orthodox faith, and they rake
with the musketry of their denunciation.
hey falsify what the Christian churches be-
kye. They take evangelical doctrines and
vt them in harsh and repusive way, and
put them out of the association with other
truths They are like mad anatomist who.
desiring TO tell what man is, dissects a hui
man 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 man. They are only fragments of
amsn wrenched out of their God appointed
places
Evangelical religion is healthy. symetri-
cal, Wel-jointed, roseate, bounding life, and
Tie aapel and the dissecting knife of the in
hde or the atheist cannot tell you what il is.
Evangelical religion is as different from
what lis represented TO be by these enemies
the scarecrow which a farmer puts in the
eornHeld to keep of the ravens is different
IRON the farmer himself
For instance these enemies OF evangelism
Say that the Presbyterian Church believes
nat Tod Is savage Sovereign, and that He
maze some men Just to damn them, and that
here are infants in he'll span long. These
% SANDERS come down from generation TO
generation. The Presbyterian Church be-
leves no such thing. The Presbyterian
Church believes that God is a loving and just
Sovereign, and that we are free agents
No, no; that cannot be- say these men who
have chewed up the creed aud have the con-
squent embittered stomach. ''rhat is impos-
anlei Il God is Sovereign, we can't be free
agents" Why, my friends. we admit this
every other direction. ], De Witt Tai
mage, am free citizen of Brooklyn. / go
wen please and | come when please, but
lhaye at least four soversignS The Church
court OF our denomination. that is my
eeesastical sovereign. The mayor OF this
ooy' be is my municipal sovereign. The
governor Of New York; he is my State
osVsrelgn The President of the United
oales; he is my national sovereign. Four
Sverelgns have ]. and yet in every faculty
0ooly, mind and soul | am free man. So,
wv Sc, II Is possible that the two doctrines
pSde oy side. and there is 4 common-sense
sE oi presenting it, and there is a way that
Afepuslve. If you have the two doctrines in
aNorhly direction. why not in religious di-
lcnon If | choose tomorrow morning to
yak INTO the Mercantile Library and inn
1--we my mind, or to go through
Ne conservatory of my friend at ia
lO8ng under the arches OF glass, and who
S an aquarium all asQuirm with trc:.t and
sOh hsh and there are trees bearing
gyahges nd bananas-if want to go there,
.eOua' lam free to go. If | want to 90
We hotoxen and leap into furnace of
gu factory, il want 10 jump from the
sGf.sOrA oil the Philadelphia express train,
want to leap from the Brooklyn Bridge,
~. .uy' but suppose should go tomorrow
~o ~ zap INTO the furnace at Hoboken, who
, sOla be TO blame That is all there is
~ ~. sovereignity AMI free agency. God
NJ ~ u ana reigns, and He has Conservatives
~, IN ne mas blast furnaces. If you want to
ma ia ~ ne gardens walk there If YOU
S Sn cap in the furnaces, you may.
M s,sIgp9se now man had a charmed key
~ winch he could open all the jails, and
uyan open Raymond Street Jail and the
c nm lorS Iombs and all the prisons on the
s,1s ulsht In three weeks what kind of a
sr.ag! would this be. all the inmates
= out oil those prisons and penitentiar-
mr. oppose all the reprobates, the bad
Ernss Tue outrageous spirits, should be
NJ 49, INTO the New Jerusalem. Why. the
Irra morning the gates OF pearl would be
M ~ vi ~ hnge, the linchpin would be gone
.ue char OF wheels the ''house
- mansions would be burg
No.. Assault and battery, arson,
nSi,sSm and assassination would
c. ca N tne eapitalof the skies. Angels of
von,s soSld be nlsu,ted on the streets. Heaven
rr.s. oe dead failure if there were nc
bfh.i aoeS-np If all people without regard
70 ~ cnaraeter when they leave this world
bnriss ns INTO glory-I wonder if in the