The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-01
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CHRIST THE IDEAL OF ALL
HE rs TIE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF
THG UNIVERSE.

He Must Be Above All in Our Preeeh-
ing-Sermons the Bridge Between
Almighty God and phe Human Race.
! GOSPEL Themes Brighter Than Any.
thing Else on Earth.
LONDON, July Sl.-Since his return from
Russia DR.. Tslmage has been literally
/ flooded with invitations to address congre-
| cations and lyoeums on the subject of his
Journey to the land OF ths ear, whittier he
won't with Louis KloPsch to direct the
distribution Of the Christian Herald relief
cargo. While expressing his high sppre-
citation OF the cordial welcome and splendid
hospitality extended by the officials Of st.
Petersburg and Moscow, Of the civic honors
heaped upon the American visitors, and
of RussiR's national gratitude to Amer.
ica as personally expressed by the ezaro-
With at Peterhof, where he entertained
them as guests, DR.. Talmage has been COM
pell ID to adhere TO his original programme.
During the week he has beeR preaching in
the leading Scottish cities. His arrange-
ments for next week include services at
Newcastle and Sunderland, aud thereafter
he goss to the Isle of Nan for a few days.
The sermon selected for this week is entitled,
"Pre-eminent, ;" the text being. John ill.,, 81:
81 He that cometh from above Ia above all.
The most conspicuous character of history
steps out upon the platform. The finger
which, diamonded with Light, pointed down
to him from the Bethlehem sky, was only
ratification Of the finger of prophecy, the
finger Of genealogy, the finger OF chro-
nology the finger OF events-alls five fingers
pointing In one direction. Christ is the
overlapping figure OF all time. de is the
por humand in all music, the gracefulest
liue in all sculpture, the most exquisite
mingling of lights and shades 10 all paint
ing, the acme of ell ollmaxes, the dome OK
all cathedraled grandeur, aud the perora-
ton of all splendid language
The Greek alphabet IL made up OF twenty
four letters, and when Christ compared
himself TO the first letter and the last letter,
the alpha and the omega, be appropriated
to himself ali the splsndors that you can
spell out either with those two letters and
all letters between thom. Il am the alpha
aud the omega, the beginning and the end,
the first and the last" Or, il you prefer the
words Of the text, "above oil. ."
1t means, after you have piled up all
Alpine aud Himalayau attitudes, the glory
OF Christ would have to spread its wings
and descend a thousand leagues 10 touch
those SUBMITS. Pelion, high mountain Of
Thessaly, Ossa, high mountain, and Olym-
pus, a high mountain; but mythology tells
US when the giants warred against the gods
they piled up these 6hree mountains, and
| from the top or them proposed Co scale the
heavens; but the hight was not great
enough, and there was a complete failure.
And after ali the Riants-Isaiah and Paul.
| prophetic and apostolic giants; Raphael aud
| Michael Angelo, artistic giants; cherubim
and seraphim and arehangel, celestial gi-
| ants-have failed to climb TO the top of
| Christ's glory, they might all well unite in
| the words of the text and say: "He that
cometh from above Is above ALL"
| First, Christ must be above all else in our
preaching There arc also many books on
| honiiletics scattered through the world that
! all laymen. as we'll as all clergymen, have
made up their minds what sermons ought
| to be. That sermon is etfectual which most
pointedly puts forth Christ as the pardon
| Of all sin and the correction of all evil, in
dividual. social, political, national. There
| is no reason why we should ring the end
less changes on a few phrases. There are
| those who think that il al s1hortation or a
discourse have frequent mention or Justihca-
tion, sanetlication, covenant OF works aud
covenant OF grace. that therefore ID must
be profoundly evangelical, while they
are suspicious of IA discourse which
presents the same truth, but
under different phrasaology. Now, /
says there Is nothing in the opulent realm Of
Anglo-Saxonism or all the word treasurer
that we inherited from the Lat.u and the
Greek aud the lndo-Earopean but ne have
| a right to marshal it Ia religious discussion.
| Christ sets the example. His Illustrations
were from the grass, the flowers, the spittle,
! the salve the barnyard fowl, the crystals OF
salt. as we'll as from from the seas and the
| stars; and we do not propose 10 our Sabbath
| school teaching and in our pulpit addresses
to be put on the limits.
know that there is great deal said in
our day against words, as though they
were nothing. They may be misussd, but
they have an imperial power. They are the
bridge between soul and soul, betwe5a
Almighty God and the human race. What
did God write upon the tables of stonef
Words. What did Christ utter On
Mount Olivet4 Words. Out OF
what did Christ strike the spark
for the illumination of the universe Out
of words "Let there be light" and light
was. or course, thought is the cargo and
| words are only the ship; but how fast would
your cargo get on without abe shipi Whas
| you need my friends, in all your work. ia
| your Sabbath school class, Ia your REFORM
atory institutions. aud what we all need is
to enlarge our vocabulary when we CONS
to speak about God and Christ and heaven.
We ride a few old words to death when
there is such illiruitable resource. Shakes1
peare employed fifteen thousand different
words for dramatic purposes; Milton enl-
ployed eight thousand different words for
poetic purposes; Rufus Choate employed
CNSE eleNou IuOuShuu ulHSfoub HQTuS.kOE
legal purposes; bat the most Of US have less
than thousand words that we can man.
age, less than i've hundred, and that makes
US 80 stupid.
Whom we come to set forth the love OF
Christ We are going TO take the tenderest
phraseology wherever we find it, and il it
has never been used in that direction be-
fore, all the more shall we use 10. When
we come to speak Of the glory of Christ,
the conqueror. we are going to draw our
SMILES from triumphsl arch and orstorio
aud everything grand and ssupendous. The
French navy have eighteen hsgs by which
they give signal; but those eighteen flags
| they can put in 90 sixty-siZ thousand differ
ent combinations. And / have to tell you
that these standards of the cross may oe
lifted into combinations infinite and varie-
| ties everlasting. And let me say to young
men who are after while going TO preach
Jesus Christ. you will have the largest lib
erty and unlimited resource. Yon only
have to present Christ in your own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in the
| severest argument ever penned aud JohR
| Bunyan preached Christ in the sabIimess
| allegory ever composed. Edward PaysoH,
sick and exhausted. leaned up against the
| side of the pulpit end wepb out his discourse,
| while George Whitfield With the manner