The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-02-19
WHAT HE BELIEVES.
A SERMON DETAILING THE CREED
OF DR.. TALMAGE.

BROOKLYN. Feb. IA. 80 AT the Iaber
f1acle service this morning, after the
usual reading of the Scriptures, the
congregation sang
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys rum
The sermon which followed was
apparently suggested by the storm
Of theological controversy now rag
ing in the churches In these times,
when it il quite uncertain what many
of the clergy really do believe. this
sermon makes it very plain what the
pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle
believes. His text was taken from
Luke vi, II. And he came down
with them and stood in the plain"
Christ on the mountains is fire.
auent study. We have seen him on
the Mount of Olives, Mount of Beati.
tutles. Mount Moriah, Mount Calvary,
Mount of Ascension, and it is glOri.
OTIS to study him on these great nat
ufal elevations. But how is it that
never before have we noticed him ON
the plaiu2 Amid the rocks. high up
ON the mountain. Christ had passed
the night. but now, at early dawn,
he in coming down with some espe
cial friends, stepping from shelving
toshelving. here and there loosened
stone rolling down the steep sides
ahead of him. until he gets IN level
place. SO that he can be approached
without climbing from all sides. He
Is on the level. My text says. He
came down with them and stood in
the plain"
WHAT THE WORLD WANTS
Now that is what the world wants
today more than anything else "a
Christ on the level easy to ger at no
ascending no descending, approach
able from all sides Christ ON the
plain. The question among all con.
secrated people today is, What Is the
matter with the ministers? Many of
them are engaged in picking holes in
the Bible and apologlzing for this and
apologizing for that In an age when
the whole tendency is to pay too
little reverence to the Bible. they are
fighting against Bibliolatry, or.too
much reverence for the Bible They
are building fence on the wrong
side of the road; not ON the side
where the precipice is and off which
multituties are falling, but on the
upper side of the road, SO that people
will not fall up hill. of which there is
no danger.
There is no more danger of Bibli-
olatry, or too much reverence for the
Scriptures, than there is that astrol
oyy will take the place of astronomy.
alchemy the place of chemistry.
or the canal boat the place of the
limited express rail train. What
theological farce it Isl ministers
fighting against too much reverence
for the Scriptures; ministers making
apology for the Scriptures; ministers
pretending to be friends of the Bible,
yet doing the Book more damage
than all the blatant infidels on all the |
earth. The trouble is our theologians
are up in the mountain in a fight |
above the clouds about things which !
they do not understand. Come down |
on the plain and stand beside Christ,
who never preached a technicality or
a didacticism, What do you, o wise
headed ecclesiastic, know about the
DEGREES of Code Who cares a fig
about your sublapsarianism or your
Eupralapsarianisin2
What a spectacle we have in our
denomination today committees try
ing to patch up an old creed made
two or three hundred years ago, so
that it will fit on the Nineteenth cen
fury. Why do not our millinery es-
adjustments take out of the garrets
the coal scuttle hats which your
great g1andmothers wore and try to
tit them on the head of the modern
maidenf You cannot fix up a three
hundred year-old creed so as to fit |
our time. Princeton will sew on a
little piece, and Union seminary will
sew on little piece, and Allegheny
seminary and Danville seminary will
sew on other pieces, and by the time
the creed is done it will be as varie
gated as Joseph's coat of many col
ors
Think of having to change an old
creed to make it clear that all infants
dying go to heavenl ] am SO glad
that the committees are going to let
the babies in. Thank you. So many
Of them are already in that all the
hills of heaven look like a Sunday
school anniversary. Now what is
the use of fixing up creed which
left any doubt on that subjects No
man ever doubted that all infants
dying go to heaven, unless he be a
Herod or Charles Guiteau. was
to overhauling the old creed
at all, but now that it has been lifted
up and its imperfections set up in the
sight of the world, say, Overheard
with it and make new creed.
There are today in our denomination
i've hundred men who could make a
better one. could make better one