The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1890-02-28
GLORIOUS CHRIST.
Discourse Preached by the
Rev. Dr.. Talmage ut
Brooklyn.

He That Cometh From Above.
Is Above all. Taken US
The Text.
BROOKLYN. Especial. lat the Tabernacle,
Rev. I. De Witt Talmage, u. D., preached
OIL 1.-The Glorious Christ" His text was:
'lle that colneth rom al'ove is above all.'-
John iii, 81. The preacher said:
The most conspicuous character of history
steps out upon the plat orm. The fngcr
which, dinmonde,l with light, poin ted down to
lin from the Bethlehem sky wus only rat.
ficntion of he finger of Prophecy, the finger
of genealogy, the finger of chronology, the
finger ofevents-all five fingers pointing in
one direction. Christ IL tho ovcrtorping
| figure Of all time. lie liz the vox llumana in
nli music, the gracesulest line in all sculpture,
the most exquisite mingling Of lights nn.l
shades in all painting, the acm, Of all eli
| makes, the dome OF all cathetlrnlcl grun,l
eur, mud the pcroration of all splendid lnn-
gnnge.
| The Greek alplInhrt is made upnf ~ let.
| ters, mud when Christ compared himself to
the first letter and the last letter. the alpha
nn,l the omega. he appropriated to himself
all splendnrs hat you c;ln spell out either
with those two letters md all the letters ln.
tween them. II nm I lie alpha and The Omr.,,,
the i,rginning and the end. the first nn,l the
last Or: ifyouprefcr the words OF the text,
"ahuve all"
What does it mean? 1t means, after you
have piled np all Alpine and liimalnyan nlti-
tnrs., th" glory "f Christ would have to
Il ttS, a.
Leagues to touch those summits Pelion, IL
high mountain of Thcssnly: Ossn. II high
mountain. and Olympus IL high mountnin:
In: mythology tells ns when the ginn,s
wnrrrd against the gods they piled up these
three mountnins. and from the top of them
was not great enough. and there was II coin-
rlete failure: Aud ter nll tho giants
lsninll and Paul, prophetic and apostolic
gians; Raphael anh Mirllael Angelo, artistic
ginnts clerul,im and seraphim and archangrl,
rrlestinl giants-have taile,l to climb to The
top of Christ 'sgory they might all well unite
in the words "f the text ami say: lie that
comcth from above is above all.
| FIRST. Christ must he above nil else in our
| preaching There nre SO many books on
homietirs scattered through the country
that all laymcu. ns well ns all clrrgymcn,
ought To bo That sermon IL most enrrtual
which most rontcdly puts forth Christ as
| the pardon af all sin and the correction of
| all rvil-indiviiua social. political national
There is no reason why weshonld ring theend
less changes on n few phrases. Thcpurr thOsr
who think that ii an eXhprtation or Il dis
course have frequent mention of lust iiicuti0n
| snnctit'ra:lnn. covenant oi works and coven-
| ant of grace. that therefore il must be pro.
| .pundlY evangelical. while they are susp.
rions of II discourse which presrnts..tl,e snma
truth. hut under different phrascology. Now,
| tt,, :,
realm ot Anglo-Saxonism, Of all tho word
and treasures hat weinhrritr,l from the Latin
the Greek and The lnlu- European. hut welilva
right to marshal it in religious discussion
Christ sets the example. Ills illustrations
were from the grass, thu flowers, the spit,lc
| the salve. the lmrnynrd fowl ths crystals at
salt, as well ns from he seas aud the stars:
and We do not propose in our Sunday school
trarliing and in our pu pit address to I've put
on the limits.
| know that there is IL great denl said in
our 'iny against words. mr. though they were
have an imlmrial power. They are the bridge
bet wcrn soul and soul, l,rt wcen. Almighty God
and the human race. Whit did God write
upon the tables OF stones? Words. Wi,nt
did Christ utter on Mount Olivct? Words.
Ont Of what did Christ strike the spark for
| discrimination of he universe Out 0fw0rls
':I."t there be light. nnl light was. Ofco,irsc,
thought is the cargo and words are only the
ship: hut liuw fast would your cnrgn get an
without the slip" What you need my friends
in all your work, in your Snhbnth school
class, in your rformatory institutions, aud
what we all need is toenlargc our vocn nhunry
| when We come Ia speak uhnut God and Christ
and heaven. We riue II few olt! words to
irnth when there liz such illimitnbIe resource.
SHAKESPEARE employed 1000 diilrrcntlwur,ls
for dramatic purposes; Milton employed
5000 different words for poetic purposes;
Rufus th"nte employed over 900 different
words for legal purposes: but the most of us
| have less than 1000 words that we rnn
manage less than 500. md that makes us 40
| stupid.
| When come o set forth the loveot Christ
| We are going to take tentlefrat phrnscoluEy
wherever we find it. aud ifit has never been
| used III that direction helprr, MI the more
shall We use il. When We come to speak of
the glory of Christ. the ConTucror. arc
| going to draw 0ursmilcs from trump phnlurch
and oratorio and everything grand aud stu.
p"ndons The FRENCH navy has ~ ha=s by
which j, gives sisnal but those Is flags it
cannot put into GG,0O0 different cunbina-
ti"ns. And have 4" tell you that thrsc
standards of the cross may hp lifted onto
| combinations intimate :tn, varieties evprlaSt-
| ing. And let ne say to th,ke young men
who come frum ilir Theological srminarirs III
To our srr.irrsrrrry sabbath, and are II ter II
| while going To preach Jesus Christ. you will
have the largest liberty un'l unlimited re-
source. You only hive to present Christ in
| your own way
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in the
severrst argument ever prnncd, and John
Bunyan preached Christ in the subimcst
nllcsory ever composed. Edward Pay
son. sick and exhausted lcnn"d up against
the side Of the pulpit and wrpt out his dis
course, while George White. with the mnnn"r
and til" voice and the start Of an nrtor
o,'erwhrme his auditory Y would have
been n different thing if Jonathan Edwards
/ had tried to write aud drcnm about the pill
grim's progress to the celestial city, or John
bunynn Ind attempted an essay an the
| human will.
brighter than llo light, frrshor lllnn the
tuuntnins. derlcr than the seas. ar" nll llrs"
guspe themes. Song has no melody, flowers
| have no tweetnrss, sunset sky has no color
coInpnr"tl with these glorious themes. These
farvcsts of grace spring up quicker than we
ran sickle them. KndIins pulpits with their
fire, and producing revolutions with their
power. lighting up dying beds with
for the poet. and they are the most thrilling
illustration ior the nrator and they offer tlia
most intense scene for tie artist, and they
ure to the ernl';lssn"r Of The sky all eutliusi.
nsm Compl"tc pardon for drpst guilt.
Sweetest comfort for CHASTITY agnny. Bright,
, urreetinn Tor dnrkest s"pnrher. Oh what n
gospel to prrach Christ NIL over in it. His
birth, his suffering, his miracles. his parallels,
4, his sweat, his tears. his isblooh, his isntoncmrnt,
his intercssiOn-whnt glorious thcmesl DO
! we exercise faith? Christ is it's object. DO
We have love: 1t fastcus on Jesus. Have We
fonhncss for the church: Is it because
Christ died for it, Have We hope Uf thea s.i,?
Is it because Jesus went ahead, the herald
md the fOrcr,inner.
| Tile royal role OF Delnrtrius was so costly,
so beautiful that after he had put il of no
one ever dared put it on; hut this rohe at
Christ, richer than that, the poorest nmi the
wannest and the wurse may wear. Where
sin nl,n,lnded grace may much more
abound.
"Oh, my sins, my sins" said Martin I.u.
thcr to Stnuritz, my sins. my sins The
fact is, that the brawny Gcrnnns ldent had
found II Latin Bible that made him quake,
and nothing else ever did make linn quake;
and when he tuund how. through Christ he
was pardoneti and saved, Ii" wrotcto IL friend.
saying. Come over and join us great and
nwful sinners saved hy the grace o. Col
You seem to be only n slender sinner, and
you don't much "x,0l the grace Of Cod but
we that have b"ri sncl very awful sinners
praise his grace the more now that We have
been redeemed" Can it I,e that yon are so
desperately cgotstirnl that you feel yourself
t,,rt r,t I Vii ~