The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-03-20
'REVlSIOH Or CREEDS. "
TIE SUBJECT OF DIR. TALNAGE'S
DISCOURSE.

iHOuHutA UPON Tue blNluS pt
Visit to this Spot Whore Lazarus Live
aud Died.
At the Tabernacle Sunday morning
the Rev. T. De Witt Talm.go. d. ID.
said he thought the uev Brooklyn taber
naclc would be dedicated ia September
The sub ject OF his discourse was IRE
vision Of Creeds," and he took for hi
text John XII, A: "Loose him, aud le
him go" DR.. Talmagc said:
My Bible is, at tho place Of this text
written all over with the lead pencil mark
made last December at Bethany on the
ruins Of the house Of Mary and Martha
aud Lazarus. We dismounted from our
horses on the way up from Jordan to the
Dead Sea. Bethany was tho summer
evening retreat Of Jssus. After spend
ing the day in the bot city of jerusalem
he would come ont there almost every
evening TO the house Of his thee friends
think the occupants OF the house were
orphans, for the father and mother were
not mentioned. But The son and two
daughters muat have inh, ri,ed property
for it must have been, ju1giug from
what | saw OF tho foundations and the
S'''' ~ 80" '''ii'ES oA 'l'hiShS hOthN. lLaLh-
rus, the brother, was now the head Of
the household, and his sisters depended
on him and were proud Of him, for he
was very popular and everybody liked
him, aud these girls were splendid girls
Martha, iirst.ratc housckcspcr, and
Mary, y spirituelle, somewhat dreamy
bnt alrectl"nate, and as good girl as
could be found in all Palcstine. But
one day Lrzlrus got sick. The sisters
were III c"nsteruatio,. Father gono and
mother gone, they feel very nervous lest
they lose their brother also. Disease did
its quick work. How the girls hung
over his pillow! Not much sleep about
that house, no sleep at all. From the
characteristics otherwise developed, +
judge that Martha prepared tho mcdi.
clncs and mads tempting dishes OF food
for the poor appetite of the sufferer, but
Mary prayed and sobbed. WorAe and
worse gets Lazarus, until the doctor
annuuaccs that he can do no more The
shrek that went up from that household
whcu the last breath had been drawn
and the two sisters were being led by
sympn'hzers into the adjoining room,
all those Of Us can inagiue who have
haC our own hearts broken. But why
days and dissolution hadt aiken place.
In that climate the bieathless body dis
lnteSratcA more iapidly than in ours. If,
immediately after dcceasc, that body
had been awakened into life, unDcliev-
ers might have said that he was only in
a comatosc state, or in sort Of trance,
and by some vigorous manipulation or
powerful s!imulant vitality had been
renewed. No! Four days dead. At
the door Of the sepulchre is crowd of
l,,Is hA hr<, ~.
are Jesus, who was the family friend,
and the two bcrcft sisters. We went
into the traditional tomb in December,
and it is deep down and dark, and with
torches wc explored it. We found it
all quiet that afternoon Of our visit, but
the day talked of in the Bible there was
present. an excited multitude. Iwonder
what Jesus will DO. He orders the door
of the grave removed, and then he be-
gins to descend the steps, Mary and
Martha close after them. Deeper down
into the shadows and dccper The hot
tears of J~sus roll over his checks and
splash upon the backs OF his hands. Were
ever so many sorrows compressed into
30 small place as in that group pressing
on down after Christ, all the time be-
moanihG that he had not come befere2
Now all vhe whispering and all tho cry
ing anu ali the sounds Of shufiling feet
are stopped. 1t is the silence Of ex-
pcctancy. Death had conquered, but
now tho vanquisher Of death confronted
tie scene Amid the awful hush Of the
tomb the familiar name which Christ
had often hid upon his lips in the hos
pltalitics of the village home came back
to his tongue and with pathos and an
almightinrss Of which the resurrection
OF the last day shall be only an echo, he
cries: ''Lazarus! c"ne forthm The
eyes ofthe slumberEr open and with
great. ilirul,y he begins to ascend for the
ceremcn's Of the tomb are yet on him
and his feet are fast and his hands are
fast and the impeaimcnts to all his move
ments nic so great that Jesus commands:
'lake OIL these ccrcmonts; remove tht Sc
h'ndranccs; unfasten these grave clethes:
loose him and let him go!" Oh. / am
80 s lad that after the Lord raised Lazs.
rus he went on and commanded the
looscning OF the cords that bound his
fcctsso that he could walk, and the
breaking off the cercmcnt that bound
hi hauds so that he could stretch out
h " a'"E In salutation, and the tearing
Oh -. pandage from around his laws 40
thlt he could speak. What would re.
. surrectcd life have been to Lazarus if he
had not been freed from all those Grip
elements of his body? am glad that
Christ commanded his complete emanci-
patton, saying: "Loose him, and let
dim 60"
The unfortunate thing now is that so
many Christians sre only half liberated,
They have been raised from the death
and burial Of sin into spiritual life, but
they yet have the grave clothes on them.
They arc like Lazarus, hobbling ND the
stairs OF the tomb, bound hand and foot.
and the object OF this sermon is to help
free their body and free their soul, and
shall try to obey the Masters commend
that conca to inc and comes TO everv
minister Of religion. "Loosc him, and let
him GO" First, many are bound hand
and foot by religious creeds. Let no
maR m:s'ntcrprct me as antaeonizinp
creeds. have eight or ten of them; 9
creed about religion, creed about art.
creed about social life creed about
government, and so on. A creed is some
tning that man believes, " whether it be
written or uuwritten. The PRESBYTERIAN
c'nrch is now agtated about its creed.
some good men in it are for keeping if