Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-02-28
REE7DR. TAEMAGE.
THE-SROOKLYN DTVI MES SIN
DAY SERMON
Subject; :. The Glorious { !st.r

TEXT: "Re that comeh from a6Vre Is
ADORE du"-John ill.,, 81.
The most conspicuous character Of history
steps out upon the platform. Tho finger
which, diamonded with light pointed down
to Him from the Bethlehem SKY, was only a
ratification Of the finger Of prophecy, tho
finger OF genealoey, the finger OF chronology,
the finger of events-ail five fingers pointing
in one direction Christ is the overlapping
figure OF all time. He is the voK humanr N
all music, the gracefuest line in all sCulp-
ture, the most exquisite minglng OF lights
and shades in all painting the acme Of all
climaxes, the dome OF all cathedral~i gram
deur, and the peroratlon Of all splendid Ian
guage
The Greek alphabet is made up OF twenty
four letters and when Christ compared HIM
salf to the first letter and the last letter the
alpha and the omega, lIc Appropriated
to Himself all tho Spl"ndols that YOU
can spell out either with those two let
ters and all the letters between them. Il
am tho Alphn and the Omega, the LcginniuE
and the end, the first and the last Or, (
you prefer the words uf the text above
all"
What does it mean' Ii means. after vou
have piled mp all Alpine and Hmllaynu
attitudes the glory Of Christ would have TO
spread its wings and descend a thousand
leagues 10 touch those SUBMITS. Pellon. a
high mountain Of Thcssaly, OsSa n high
mountain, and Olympus, a high mountain;
but mythology tells Us when tho giants
warred against the gods they piled up these
three mountains, and from the top Of them
proposal 10 scale tho heavens. but tho height
was not great enough, and there was a com
plete faillre And after all the giants
Isaiah aud Paul, prophetic and apostolic
giants; Raphael and Michael Angelo, artistic
giants; Chcruhm and s.raphim and arch
angel, celestial giants have failed to climb
to the top Of Christ's glory they might all
well unite in the words of the text and say.
"l.e that cometh from aboveis above all. ~
First Christ must he above all else in our
preaching. There ara 50 many books on
homiletics scattered through the country
that oil laymen MS well AS all Clergymcn,
have made up their minds what sermons
ought to be. That sermon is most electual
which mosU pointedy puts forth Christ as
the pardon Of all sin and the correction OF all
evil-individual, social, political, national.
There is no reason why wo should ring the
endless changes on a few phrases There are
those who think that it an exhortation or a
discourse have frequent mention of juStl-
fcation, anctliicatlon, covenant ot
works and covenant Of grace, that
therefore it must be profoundly evangelical.
WHO luey hTb huhpU lONs Oh u Nl~IftuESo
which presents the Same truth, but under
different phraseology. Now, | say there Is
nothing in all tho opulont realm of Anglo.
SaxonisIn, Of all the word treasures that wc
inherited from the Latin and the Greek anil
the Indo-European, but we have n right to
marshal it in religious discussion. Christ
sets the example. His illustrations were from
the grass, the flowers, tho Spttle, the Salvc
the barnyard fowl, the crystals II salt, as
II H.. 1
do not propose IN our Sabbath-scbool teach.
ing and In our pulpit address to he put on the
limits.
know that there Is a great deal said IN our
day against words, as though they wer0
nothing. They may be mISused, but they
have an imperial power. They are the
bridge between soul and SOUL between Al.
mighty God and the human race What did
God write upon the tables Of stones? Word
What did Christ utter on Mount Olivct;
Words. Out OF what did Christ strike the
spark for the illumination OF the universe
Out OF words "I.et there be light and
light was OF course, thought Is the cargo,
and words are only the ship; but how fast
would your cargo get on without the
ship H.hat you need, my friends
in all your work, in your Sabbath.
school class, in your reformatory
institutions, and what we all need Is TO en-.
large our vocabulary when we come to speak
about God and Christ and heaven We ride
a few old words to death when there Is such
illimitable resource. Shakespeare employed
fifteen thousand different words for dra.
matte purposes; Milton employed eight thou.
sand different words for poetic purposes;
Rufus Choate employed over eleven thou,
sand different words for legal purposes; but
the most of us have less than thousand
words that we can manage, less than five
hundred, and that makes lis so stupid.
When we come to set forth the love Of
! Christ we are going to take tenderest
phraseology wherever we find it, and il IL
has never been used in that direction before,
all the more shall we uso it. When We
come to speak of the glory of Christ, the
| Conqueror, we are going to draw our simies
from triumphal arch and oratorio and
everything grand and stupendous. The
French navy have eighteen flags 10y
which they give signal, but thost
eighteen flags they can put into sixty-siS
| thousand different combinations. Aud
have to tell you that these standards of the
cross may be lifted into combinations infinite
and varieties everlasting, And let me say
to these young men who come from the the
| illogical seminariea into our services every
Sabbath, and are after while going tc
preach Jesus Christ you will have the
largest liberty and unlimited resource You
only have to present Christ in your own way
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in th,
seyerest argument ever pepped, and Johl