The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-01-30
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
breaches Sermon to the Foes OF
Evangelical Doctrines.
How Different Rel,yious Creeds are Dis
torted by Those Who DO Not I'm
derstand Them-The Ignorance
OF the Bcoffers A Terrible
Plague.

Plague.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's recent sermon
was ON ISLANDERS Against Religion An.
swered.n His text was: Sand took the
little book out Of the angels hand, and ato
II up; and IL was In mouth sweet as honey;
and as soon as had eaten It my belly was
bitter. And he said unto me. thou must
prophesy again before many peoples, and
nations, and tongues, and kings" Rev. x.
10-ll. The eloquent tdivine spoke as follows:
Domitian, the Roman Emperor, had in his
realm troublesome evangelist who would
keep preaching, and so he exiled him to a
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 il is so barren and un-
productive that its inhabitants live by fish
ing.
But one day the evangelist Of whom I
speak, sitting at the mouth OF cavern on
the hillside, and perhaps half asleep under
the drone Of the sea. has supernatural
dream, and before him pass, as In panorama,
time and eternity. Among the strange things
that he saw was an angel with little book
In his hand, and in his dream the evangelist
asked for this little book, and the angel
gave II TO him, and told him TO eat IL up.
As in dream things are sometimes incon.
gruous, the evangelist took the little book
and eat IL up. The angel told him before
hand that II would be very sweet In the
mouth, but afterward he would be trorbled
with indigestion. True enough, the evauge-
list dcvours the book and II becomes to him
a sweetness during the masticGtion, but
afterward physical bit erness.
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 il
suggests 10 mo the little book Of creeds
which skeptlcs take and chew up aud find
very luscious morsel TO their witticism. but
after a whlo II is TO them great distress.
The angel Of the church hands out this little
book Of evangelism, aud the antagonists Of
the Christian Church take II and eat II up,
and II makes them smile at first, but after
ward it is to them dire dyspepsia.
All intelligent paople have creeds-that Is,
favorite theories which they havo adopted.
Political creeds-that Is, theories about
tariff, about finance about civil service,
about government Fo-ial creeds-that IL,
thenri 3 about manner and customs and
good nCighborhood. iF1sthotical creehs-
that is, theories nbont tapestry, about brio.
a-brac. about styles Of ornamentation. Re-
ligiOus creeds-ihat Is, theories about the
Deity, about the SOL abo the great
futore. The only being who has no creed
about any thing is the idiot. This sconlng
against creeds is always sign of profound
Ignorance on the part OF the scoifcr, for he
has himself hundred crceds In rePard 70
other things. In our time the beliefs Of
evangclisiic churches are under fusilladc
OF coricatnro and misrepresentation. Men
set IN what they call orthodox faith, and
then they rake II withthc mnsketry Of their
denuncrtion. They falsify what the Chris
tian churches believe. They take evangeli-
cal doctrines mud set then In y harsh and ro-
pulsve way aud put thnm out Of the asSo-
citation with other truths. They arc like
mad anntomist who, desiring 10 tell what
man Is. dissects human body and hangs
up In one place the heart, and In an
other place tho two lungs, and In another
place an ankle bone and says that Is
q man. Thry are only fragments OF man
wrenchcd out OF their God-appolnted places.
Evangelical religion Is a healthy, svm-
metrical. well 'ointed. roseate. bounding
life, and the scalpel and the dissecting knife
Of the inhdel or the atheist can not tell YOU
what II is Evangelical religion is rs dlffer-
ent from what tits represented 70 bo by
these enemies Us tho scarecrow which
farmer puts into the corn field To keep OF
the ravens Is different from tho farmer him
self.
For instance, these enemies OF evangelism
say that the Presbyterian Church believes
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 gen.
no such thing Tho Presbyterian Church
believes that God is loving and Just sover-
.iRn and that we are free agents. "No, no
that can not be-" say these men who have
chswed up the creed and have the conse-
luent embittered stomachs. "That Is i'm
possible; II God Is a sovereign we can't be
free agents" Why. my friends, we admit
this In every other direction. I, De Witt
am free citizen Of Brooklyn. /
70 when please and come when please,
but have at least four sovereigns The
church court OF our denomination; that Is
my ecclesiastical sovereign. The mayor OF
this city; he is my municipal sovereign. The
Governor Of New York; he is my State SOW
ereign. 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. 30. you sec. II is possible that the two
go side by side, and there ia q CON-
mon sense way OF presenting II, and there
Is way that Is repul'lve. II you have the
Two doctrines In O worldly direction, why
not In religious directioni II choose to-
morning 10 walk into the Mcrcau-
Tile Library and improve my mind, or TO 20
through the conservatory Of my friend at
jamaica, who has flowers from all lands
growing under the arches OF glass, and who
has an aquarinm'all aswim with trout and
yold fsh, and there are trees bearing oranges
and bananas-if / wanted 10 20 there ]
could, / am free 70 go. II I want 10 go over
10 Hoboken and leap into furnace OF an oil
factory, II want TO Jump from the plat
form OF the Phi iladelphia express train, II
want 10 leap from Brooklyn bridge, may.
But suppose ! should 20 tomorrow ard leap
into the furnace at Hoboken, who would be
70 blamei That is oil there is about sover.
signify and free agency. God rules and
reIgns. and he has conservatories and he has
blast furnaces. II you want 10 walk In the
gardens walk there. II you want TO leap
into the furnace, you may.
Suppose now man had charmed key
with which he could open all the iails, and
no should open Raymond street Jail and