The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-08-02
ABOVE ALL ELSE.
N. IILMAGE PREACHES Z10TA1R
ELOQUENT SERN0N.
IN Taxes Text from John ''Ho That Com
eth from Above Is Above Au'-Pre-
EminenOe of the 6avioY.s


Russia, DIR. Talmage has been literally
aooded with invitations to address congre-
cations and lyceums on the subject of his
Journey to the land of the car, whittier he
went with Mr.. Louis klopsch to direct the
distribution of the relief cargo. While ex-
pressing his high appreciation of the cor
dial welcome and splendid hospitality ex-
tended by the officials of ST. Petersburg
and Moscow, of the civic honors hcaped
upon the American visitors and of Russia S
national gratitude to America, as personally
expressed by the czarewitch at Peterhof,
where he entertained them as guests, DIR.
Talmage has been compelled to adhere to
dis original programme During the week
he has been preaching in the leading Scot
fish cities. His arrangements for next
week include services at Newcastle and
Sunderland, and thereafter he goes to the
Isle of Man for a few days. The sermon
selected for this week is entitled "Pre
eminent the text being John 3, 81 He
shat cometh from above is above all"
The most conspicuous character Of his
cory steps out upon the platform. The
finger which, diamoHded with light, pointed
down to him from the Bethlehem sky, was
only a ratification of the finger of prophecy,
the finger OF Scnea0@y, the finger of chro-
aoogy, the finger OF eycntS-all five fingers
pointing III one direction. Christ is the
overlapping figure OF all time. He is the
Tox humana in all music, the gracefullest
line III all sculpture. the most exquisite
1nlnGiinS OF lights and shades in all paint
ing, the acme of all climaxes. the dome of
ell cathedralled grandeur, and the perora-
ton of all splendid language.
The Greek alphabet is made up of
tVenty-four letters, and when Christ COM
pared himself to the first letter and the
laSr ipITpr tbn oIIha aud tho 10
appropriated to himself all the splcndors
that You can spell out either with those
tNo letters and all letters between them.
I an The Aipha and the Omega, the be-
last. Or, if YOU prefer the words of the
text above all.
ii means, after you have piled up all
Alpine aud Iinaiayan attitudes. the glory
OF Christ woHid have to spread its wings
and descend a thousand leagues to touch
hose SUBMITS. Peiion. Z high mountain
Of tiessaiy, OsSa, a high mountain and
Olympus, Il high mountain: hat mythology
tells TX when the giants warrcd against the
goGs they piled up these three mountains,
nd from the top of them proposed to scale
lac he&TcES: but the height was not great
oa0a@h, and there was a complete failure
and after ail tie riantS-Isaiah and Paul.
prophcdc avn apostolic giants: Raphael
ord ANchael Angelo, artistic giants; cheru-
eIn and Seraphlm and archangel. celestial
~ 'hrist's glory, they might all wcll unite
in the words of the text and saw "ife that
cometh from above is above all"
First, Christ must be above al else in
our preaching. There are also many books
on honiieticS scattered through the world
that all lavIncu, a. well as all cIergy1nen.
nave made up III air minds what sermons
ought 10 re- That sermon is most effcctual
winch most roiHtedly puts forth Christ as
ny parton IF all sin and the correction of
al evil. individual, social, political ma
1!ohai. Ih"re IS no reason why we should
J;E& The endless changes few phrases
81 here are those who think that if an ey-
horta;lon or discourse have frequent men
sc" % justification, sanctiticaton. cove
TaHt OF works and covenant of grace that
therefore IL must be profoundly evangelical.
Will they axe suSpi aious Of I, discourse
which presents the same truth. but under
different phraseology. Now, | say there is
nothing in all the opulent realm of Anglo
6aXoDlsm or all the word treasures that
1T2 inherited from the Latin and the Greek
n1d the lndO-EuropeaE but we have a right
20 marshal it in religious discussion. Christ
sets The example. His illustrations were
from the grass, the flowers, the spittle, the
sElFe, the barnyard fowl, the CRYSTALS of
salt, as well as from the seas and the
stars; and we do not propose in our Sab
bath school teaching and in our pulpit ad-
dress TO be put on the limits
/ know that there IS great deal said in
nothing. They may be misused, but they
nave 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 table of stones?
Words. What did Christ utter on Mount
oliyet? 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. OF course, thought
IS the cargo and words are only the ship:
out the ship? What you need. my friends.
In all your work, IN your Sabbath school
class. III your reforInatory institutions, and
what we all need is to enlarge our vocabu-
larry when we come to speak about God
nud Christ and heaven. We ride a few old
words to death when there is such illmita-
Die resource. Shakespeare employed 49,
600 different words for dramatic PURPOSES
Milton employed 5000 different words for
poetic purposes; Rufus Choate employe
over eleven thousand different words for
legal purposes; but the most OF liz bave less
than thousand words that we can manage
less than five hundred, and that makes us
80 stupid.
When we come to set forth the love of
Christ we are going to take the tpnderest
phraSeology wherever we find it. and if it
has never been used III that direction before
all the more shall we use it. When we
come to speak of the glory of Christ, the
ronquerer, we are going to draw our SINH
At9 al III anu OldtOllo anu
everything grand and stupendous. The
French navy have eighteen flags by which
obey give signal; but those eighteen flags they
can put into siXty-six thousand different COM
hinatiOns. And i have to tell you that
Shese standards of the cross may be lifted
into combinations infinite and varieties ev-
erlasting. And let me say 10 young men
Ayho are after q while going to preach Je-
sus Christ. you will have the largest lbcr-
" and unlimited resource. You only have
50 present Christ in your own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ In
9hc severest argument ever penned, and John
Bunyau preached Christ IN the sullirnest
allegOry ever composed. Edward lays on
sick and exhausted, leaned up against the
side of the pulpit and wept out his dis
course, while George Whitefeld, with the
manner aud voice and the start Of an &C
gor overwhelmed his auditory. 1t would
liave been a different thing if Jonathan Ed
Wards had tried 70 write and dream about
she pilgrims progress 20 the CELESTIAL city
ssr John Bunyan mad attempted essay OF
ale human Will.
Brighter than Ire light, fresher than the
CONTAINS, deeper :han II ; seas arc Ill tbeSt
gospel themes. Song has no melody. flow
.rs have no sweetness, sunset sky has M
cn!or compared with these glorious themes
These harvests of grace spring IN Tuickel
,ltan we can sickle them. NntllinS pull
otis with their fire, and producing revelations
with their power, lighting up dying tod
with their glory, they are the sweates
no thpv the