Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1890-03-08
REVISION OF CRBHDS.
REV. DIR. TALMAGE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.
Preached at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music.
TENT: Loosen him, and lei him go.r--John

last December at Bethany OIL the ruins OF
the house Of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
We dismountcd from our horses on the way
up from Jordan TO the Dead Sen. Bethany
was the summer evening retreat OF Jesus:
After spending tue day in the hot city OF
Jerusalem He would come out there almost
every evening to the house Of Ills three
friends think the occupants of that house
were orphans, for the father and mother are
not mentioned But the son and two daugh-
tiers must have inherited property, Tor
it must have been, Judging from what
saw of the foundations and the size OF tho
rooms, all opulent home Lazarus, the
brother was now the head Of tho household
and his sisters depended on him and were
proud of him, for he was very popular aud
everybody liked him. and these girls were
splendid girls Martha a first rate house
Keeper and Mary Il spirituele, somewhat
dreamy but ailcctionate. and as good girl
as could be found in all Palestine. But one
day Lazarus got sick. The sisters were in con-
sternation. Father como and mother gone.
they feel very nervous lest they lose their
brother also Disease did its quick work.
How tho girls hung over his pillow? Not
much sleep about that house. no sleep at all.
From the characteristics otherwhere de-
veloped. judge that Martha prepared the
medicines and ma1e tempting dishes OF
food for the poor appstte of the sufferer. but
Mary prayed and sobbed Worse and worse
gets Lazarus, until the doctor announces
that he can do no more The Shrek that
went up from that household when the last
breath had been drawn and tho two sisters
were being led by sympathizers into the nd-
joining room. all those Of us can imagine who
have had our own hearts broken.
But why was not Jesus there as He so often
had BEEN Far away IN the country districts
preaching, healing other sics, how unfortun-
ate that this omnipuuent Doctor had not
been at that domestic crisis IN Bethany.
When at last Jesus arrived in Bethany Laza-
rus had been buried four days and dissou-
ton had taken place. In that climate the
breathless body disintegrates more rapidly
than in ours. If, Immediately utter decease,
that body had been awakened into life,
unbelieverS might have said that he was
only in comatose state, or in sort
of trance, and By some vigorous
manipulation or powerful stimulant vital
ity had been renewed No! Four days
dead At the door Of the sepulcher is u
crowd o. people, but the three most memoir
able are Jesus who was the family friend,
, and the two bereft sisters. We went into
the traditional tomb in December, and it is
deep down and dark, and with torches we
explored it, We found it all quiet that after
noon of our visit hut the day spoken of in
the Bible there was present an excited multi
tude wonder what Jesus viii do. He
orders the door of the grave removed, and
then He begins to descend the steps.
Mary and Martha close after Him. and
the crowd after them. Deeper down into the
shadows and deeper! The hot tears Of Jesus
roll over His cheeks and plash upon the back
of His hands, Were there ever so many Sor
rows compressed into so small n space as in
, , that group pressing on down after Christ NIL
the time bemoanng that He had not come
before? Now all the whispering and all the
CRYING and all the sound OF shuft1lnS
feet arc stopped 1t is the silence Of ex-
pectamcy Death has conquered. but now the
vanuuisher of death confronted the scene
Amid the awful hush of the tomb the
familiar name which Christ bad often
had upon His lips in the inequalities of the
village home came back to Ills tongue ana
with pathos and an alnightiness of which
the resurrection of the last day shall be only
an echo, He cries: Lazarus! come forth
Tue eyes Of tine Slumberer open and he rises
and comes to the foot Of the steps and with
great difficulty begins TO ascend. Tor the
cerements OF the tomb are yet on him and
his feet are fast and his hands are fast and
the impedimeuts TO all his movements are so
great that Jesus commands. Take oil these
rerenIents: remove these hindranceS: unfas-
ten these grave clothes loose him and let
raised Lazarus He went OH and commanded
the looScnng of the cords that bound his
,-eet so that lie could walk, and the breaking
off of the cercuient that bound his hands SO
that be could stretch out his arms in slnts,-
Won, and the tearing of OF the bandage
from around his jaws so that hn could speak.
What would reSurrected life have been to
Lazarus if he had not been freed from all
those crpplements of his holly I am glad
{hot CI,ric - foI Itp
cipation, saying: Loose him, and let him
go
The unfortunate thing now is that many
Christians arr. only half liberated. They have
leen raised from the death and burial of sin
into spiritual life but they yet have the grave
clothes on ten They are like Lazarus, hob
bling up the stairs Of the tomb bound hand
aud foot. and tho object of this sermon is TO
help free their body and free their SOUL and
shall try to obey the Masters command
that comes to me and comes to every minister
of religion: Loose him, and let CO." First
many are bound hand and foot by religious
creetS Let no man niisinterpret me as an
tagonzug creeds. ! have eight OF ten OF them
crpnl about religion, IA creed about art,
creed about social life, a creed about govern
ment and So on. A creed is something that
a man believes. whether it be written or nn-
written The Presbyterian Church is now
agitated nhnn, lis creed Some good men in
if are for keeping it because it was framed
from the belief of John Calvin Other good
men in il want revision. am with neither
party. Instead of revision ] want snbstitu
ton. was sorry to have the question dis
turhed at all The crt1 did not
hinder Us from Offering the pardon and
the comfort of the Gospel to all men and the
Westminster Confession has not interfered
with me one minute. But now the electric
lights have been turned Oil The mperfections
of that creed-and everything that man fash
ions is unprotected us put the Old creed re-
spcctfuliy aside and get brand new one
1t is impossible that people who lived hun
dreds OF wears ago should fashion an appr0
pirate creed for our times John Calvin was
a great and good man. but he died
thre. hundred and twenty-six years
ago. The best centuries of Bible study have
come since then. and explorers have doue
their work. and yoa might as well have thu
world GO back and sticl; to what Robert Full
ton knew about steamboats, and reject the
SUBSEQUENT improvements in navigation: anil
go back to John Gnttenberg, the inventor of
the art o. printing. and reject all moaeru
newspaper presses, and go back to the time
when tslegr'aphy was the elevating OF signals
or the burning of bonfires OIL the hilltopSaud
reject the magnetic wire which is the
tongue of nations, as to ignore all t5r
exegetes and the philologists and the theo-
logians of the last three hundred and twenty.
six years and put your head under the sleeve
of the gown Of sixteenth century doctor.
/ could call the names OF twenty living
Prcsby teriau ministers OF religion VINO coud
make a better creed than John Calvin. The
Nineteenth century ought not to be called 10
sit at the feet Of the Sixteenth.
.'But," you say, sit is the same old Bio!e,
and John Calvin had that as well as the pres
ent student of the Scriptures" Yes; SO it is
the same old sun in the heavens, but in our
time it has gone to making daguerreotypes
and photographs. 1t is the same old water,
but in our century it has gone to running
steam engines 1t is the same old electricity,
but in our time it has become lightning
footed errand boy. So it is the old Bible,
but new applications, new uses, new
interpretations. You must remember
that during the last three hundred years
words have changed their meaning and some
of them now mean more and some less dc
not think that John Calvin believed as some
say he did, in the damnation of Infants, al,
though some of the recent hot disputes would
seem to imply that there is such thing rs
the dannation of infants.