The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-02-26
ALPHA AND OMEGA.
THE MOST CONSPICUOUS CHARAC.
TER OF HISTORY.

S1HV AHS GNU-<hA GNU"F4S w. I
On Sunday morning the Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, D. D., preached on The
Glorious Christ" His text was: "ae
that cometh from above is above ALL
John iii, 81. The preacher said:
The most conspicuous character of
history steps out upon tie plsstorH.
The fnger ws!ch, diamooded with light,
pointed down 20 a;n from the De:hle'
hem sky, was cnly a ratification o: the
finger Of prophecy, ehe fSger of gene
alogy, the finger of chronology, the fn-
ger Of even:s-sli ave fingers pointed in
one direction. Christ IS the ove7top-
ping figure OF al sine. He is tie vo1-
hunana in all music, the gracctuieat line
in ali sculpture, the most exquisite ming
ling of lights and shades 10 all psins-
ings, the acmo.of all slimaze., the dome
Of al catbsdrsl grandeur, and the psro
ration of all splendid language.
The Greek alphabet is made up OF
twenty-fonr letters. srd when Christ
compared himself to the trss letter scd
the last letter, the alph. snd the omega,
be appropriated to himself all the splen-
dors that you can spell out either with
thoss two letters or al the letters be-
tween them. II am the Alpha and the
Omega, the begianiog and the end,
the hrit and the last" Or, If YOU pre-
fer the wordssof the text above all. "
~ What does it meant 1t means after
ycu h:ve piled up all Alpine mud Him
alayan attitudes, the glory Of Christ
would have to spread its wings and de-
sceAd thousand leagues TO touch those
sumnits. Pelion. nigh mountain, Of
Thessasy; Oss., high mountain, and
Olympus, high mountain; but my.hol-
ogy tells US Whea the giants warred
against the gods they piled up these
three mountains, and from the top of
them proposed to scale the hesvess;
bat the height was not great eaough,
and there wss a complete failure. Aud
after al the giants-Isaiah aad Paul,
prophetic and apostolic giants; Raphael
and Michael Angelo, artistic giants;
cherabiu and sersphiu and arshangels,
celestial giants-have failed to climb to
the Top of Christ's glory. They might all
well uoite iu the words Of be tex, aud
say: '>He that conesh.-irom above is
First, Christ nuat be above all else in
our preaching. There are so many
books on homilcsics scattered through
the country that all laynen, as we'll as
all clecs5men, have made up their min Is
what ssemons ought to be. That SER
Ron IS most efectual which mos: peint-
edly puts forth Christ as the pardon Of
all sin and the correction Of all c7il-in-
divi1usl, social, political and national
There is NO reason why we should ling
the endless changes on few phrases.
There sre those who think that if an ex-
horsatioa or discourse have frequent
mention of ius:i6cstios, sancti6cation,
covenant OF works and covenant Of
grace, that therefore It must be pro-
foundly evangelical, while they are sus-
plclous ofa discourse which presests the
same truth, but under different phrase
ology. Now, say there is nothing in
all the opnlent realm Of Anglo, ,sazonism
OF all the word treasures that We Inherit
60 from from the Latin and the Greek,
aad the Inoo-Europesn, but We have a
night to narahal It in religious discus.
sions. Christ sets the example. His
ss1pssssstions were from the grass, the
flowers, the spittle, the salve, the barn
yard fowl the cEystsls o. salt. as well
as from thc seas and the .tsrs;~aadws
do not propose in our Sunday school
teaching and in our pulpit address to be
put on the limits.
J know that there i, great deal said
in our day against words. as though
they were nothing. They may be mis-
used, but they have al iaperisl power.
They are the bridge between soul and
soul, between Almisht, God aud the
human race. What did God write upon
the tables of ssones Words. What did
Christ utter on Mount Oliveta Words.
Oet of what did Christ strike the spark
for the illumination of the universe?
Out Of Words. "Les there be light, -
and light was. OF course, thought is
the cargo and words are only the ship;
but how fast would our cargo get on
without the shiPs What you need, my
friends, in all your work, il your Sab
bath school class, in your seformatory
Institutions, and what we all need is TO
enlarge our vocabulary when we como to
ssoak about God and Christ and heaven.
We ride few old words to death len
there is such an illimitable resources.
: Shakespere employed $4,000 different
words for dramatic purposes; Milton
employed 5000 different words for po-
etic purposes; Rufus Choate employed
over II, 900 different words for legal
purposes; but the most of US have less
thar 1000 words that VIC can manage,
less than 500, aud that makes US 50 stu
pid.
Whe2 We come TO set forah the love of
Christ we are going to take the tenderest
phrassology whenever We find it, and if
it has never been used in that direction
before, all the more shall we use it.
When we come to speak Of the glory OF
Christ, the Conquerer, we are going to
draw our SMILES from triumpaal arch
and oratorio, and everything grand and
stupendous. The French navy have
eighteen fsga by which they give sig
mails, but those eighteen flags they crn
put into sixty-six thousand different
combinations.
And I hav. to tell you that these
standards of the cross may be lifted into
combinations Infinite and varieties e7e::-
lasting. And let me say to these young
men who come frcm the theological semi
naries into our services every Sabbath,
and are after while going to preach
Jesus Christ, you will have the largest
liberty and unlimited resources. You
only have to present Christ in your own
way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in
the severest argument ever penned, and
John Bunyan preached Christ in the sub
lines allegory ever composed. Edward
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