The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-03-25
SAVING SOULS.
The Christian Church Win Have to
Change Its Tack,
Or u win Run on the Rocks of Demolition
Trust the Lord. Love Him aud
Obey Him-Sermon by Rev.
n. dewitt Talmage.

Luke vi. II. And lie came down with
them and stood in the plain"
Christ on the mountains is a frequent
stndy. We have seen Him on the
Mount of Olives, Mount OF Beatitudes,
Mount Moriah, Mount Calvary. Mount
of Ascension, and it is glorious to study
Him on these great natural elevations.
But. how is it, that never before we
have noticed Him on the plain?
Amid the rocks high up on the
mountain. Christ had passed the night,
but now. ut early dawn, lie is coming
down with some especial friends, step
ping from shelving to shelving, here
and there loosencd 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. lie is on the level. My text
saws, "lIc came down with them and
stood on the plain"
Now, that is what the world wants
to-day more than anything elsa
Christ on the level, easy to get at, no
ascending, no descending, approach
able from all sides Christ on the plain.
The question among all consecrated peo-
pie to-day is what is the matter with the
ministersP Many of them are engaged
in picking holes in the Bible and apol-
ogizlng for this and apologizing for
that In an age when the whole ten
dcncy is to pay too little reverence to
the Bible, they are fighting against
Biblolatry, 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 ,multitudes 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 moro danger OF Bibliol-
airy, or too much reverence for the
scriptures, than there is that astrology
will take the place of astronomy, or al
chcmy the place of chemistry, or the
canal boat the place of the limited ex-
press rail train. What a theological
farce IL is; ministers fighting against
too much reverence for the scriptures,
minister's pretending to be friends of
the Bible, yet doing the book more
damage than all the blatant intidels on
all the earth The trouble is our the
ologians are up in the mountain in
fight above the clouds about things
which they do not understand. Come
down on the plain and stand beside
Christ who never preached technical
itv or a didacticism. What do you, o
wise. headed Ecclesiastic, know about
the DEGREES of God? Who cares fig
about your sublapsarianism or your
supralapsarianismp
What a spectacle we have in our de-
nomination to-day-committecs trying
to patch up an old creed made two hun.
dred or three hundred years ago, so that
il will fit on the nineteenth century.
Why do not our millinary establish.
mcnts take out of the garrets the coal
scuttle bonnets which our greatgrand-
mothers wore and try to fit them on
the head of the modern maiden? You
can not fix up n three. hundred-year-old
creed so as to fit our time. Princeton
will sew on a little piece, and Union
seminary will sew on a little piece, and
Allegheny seminary and Danville SEM
mary will sew other pieces, and by the
time the creed is done it will be as
variegated as Joseph's coat of many
colors. Think of having to change an
old creed TO make it clear that all in
fants diving go to Heaven! am so glad
that the committees are going to let
the babies in. Thank you. So many
Of them are already in that the hills
of Heaven look like Sunday
school anniversary. Now, what is
the use of fixing up a creed which
left any doubt on that subject? No
man ever doubted that all infants dying
go 10 Heaven, unless he be Hcrod or
Charles Giteau. Twas opposed to over
hauling the old creed ut all, but, now
that it has been fitted up and its inn
projections set up in sight of the world,
say, overheard with it and make n
new creed. There are to-day in our de-
nomination 500 men who could make a
better one. / could make a better one
myself. AS we are now in process of
changing the creed, and no one knows
what we are expected to believe, or
will. two or three years hence, be ex-
pected TO believe, could not wait, and
so | have made creed of my own,
which intend to observe the rest of
my life. / wrote it down in my mem
orandum- book some six months ago,
and il reads as follows: MY creed;
The glorious Lord; TO trust Him, love
Him, and obey Him is all that is re-
oured. To that creed invite all man
kind. Il. DEWITT TALMAGE."
The reason Christianity has not made
more rapid advance is because the peo-
pie are asked to believe too many
things There are, l believe, to-day,
millions of good Christians who have
navar ioina1 tha church and are not