Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-02-20
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject; standing on the Plain with
Christ"

nuDJect' Stahuing on the Plain with
Christi
TEXT; "And He came doy, Nth them
and stood in the PLAN. Luke vi, II.
Christ on the mountains is a frequent
study, 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 nat.
I ural elevations. But how is it that never be-
fore have we noticed Him on the plaius
Amid the rocks, high W on the mountain,
Christ had passed the night but now, at ear
~ dawn, He is coming down with some es-
peclal friends, stepping from shelving to
shelving, here and there a loosened stone
rolling down the steep sides ahead of Him.
until He gets in a level place, SO that He can
be approached without climbing from all
sides. Heis on the level. Ny text says,
"He came down with them and stood in the
plain"
Now that is WI at the world wants to-day
more than anything elsa Christ on the
level, easy TO get at, no ascending, no de-
scendlng, approachable from all sides
Christ on the plain. Thequestion among all
consecrated people to-day is What is the
matter with the ministers? Many of them
are engaged in picking holes in the Bible and
apologizing 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 Bibholatry, 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 more danger of Bibliolatry, or
too much reverence for the Scriptures than
8 asst tCtl fol taa T1la IF
astronomy, or alchemy the place of chemis.
| try, or the canal boat the place of the linn
tied express rail train. What a theological
farce it is; ministers fighting against too
much reverence for the Scriptures; ministers
making apology for the Scriptures, ministers
pretending to be friends of the Bible, vet
doing the Book more damage than all the
blatant infidels on all the earth. The trouble
IS our the0logian5 are up in the mountain
in a fight above the clouds about things
1 which they do not understand Come down
OF the plain and stand beside Christ, who
never preached a technically or didacti-
/ cism. What do you, o wise headed ecclesi-
astic, know about the DEGREES of God? Who
cares fig about your suolapsarianism or
your supralaparianism?
What spectacle we have in our denomi-
nation to-day-committees trying to patch
up an old creed made two or three hundred
years ago so that it will fit on the Nine
teenth century. Why do not our millinery
establishments take out of the garrets the
coal scutte hats which your great-grand.
mothers wore and try to fit them on the head
4 of the modern Madden You cannot fix w
a observation-disclosures creed so as to fit
our time. Princeton will sew on a little
piece. and Union seminary will sew on a lit
tie piece, and Allegheny seminary and Dam
vile seminary will sew on other pieces, and
the time the creed is done it will be as varie-
gated as Joseph's coat of many colors.
Think of having to change an old creed to
/ make it clear that all infants dying 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 all the
hills of heaven look like Sunday-school an-
niversary. Now what is the use of fixing up
a creed which left any doubt on that sub
ject? No man ever doubted that all infants
dying go to heaven, unless he be a Herod or
a Charles Guiteau. | was oppose to over
hauling the old creed at all. but now that it
has been lifted up and its imperfections set
up in the sight of the world, l say, Over
board with it and make a new creed.
There are today in our denomination five
hundred men who could make a better one
could make a better one myself. As we
are now III process OF changing the creed,
and no one knows what we are expected to
believe, or will two or three years hencs be
expected to believe | could not wait, and so
L
tend to observe the rest of my life, l wrote
it down in my memorandum book some six
months ago, and it reads as follows; MY
creed: The glorious Lord. TO trust Him,
love Him and obey Him is all that is re-
CURED To that creed I invite all mankind
4. De Witt Talmage.'
The reason Christianity has not made
more rapid advance is because the people
are asked to believe too many things. There
are, believe, to-day millions Of good Chris
tians who have never Joined the church and
are not counted among the Lords friends
bee use they cannot believe all the things
that they are Tequ red to believe One-halt
the things man is expected to believe in
order to enter the church and reach heaven
have no more to do with his salvation than
/ the question, How many volcanoes are there
in the moon? or, How far apart from each
other are the rings Of Saturn? or, How
many teeth there were in the jawbone with
which Sampson smote the Philistines? | be-
1 Heve ten thousand things, but none OF them
have anything to do vita my salvation ex
cept these two-I am sinner and Christ
/ came to save me.
Musicians tell us that the octave consists
( only of five tones aud two samitones and all
the Handles and Haydns and Mozarts and
I Wagners and Schumanns Of all ages must do
their work within the range of those FIVE
tones and two Semitonas Is. SO [ have to tell
you luht all ble tu5DsO5y Intb Will De o.
practical use in our world is made odt of
the two facts of human sinfulness and
| divine atonenent. Witain that octave
swing The Song OF Moses and the
Lamb the Christmas Giant above
Bethlehem and the Hallelujah of all the
/ Choirs standing on seas OF glass.
Is there not some mode of getting out of
the way of these nonsssentials, these su per-
huitieS, these Emergencies from the main
issue? Is there not some way of bringing the
church down out of the mountain of con-
! troversy and conventionalIsm and to put it
on the plain where Christ stands? The pres
ent attitude of things is like this: In famine
/ struck district a table has been provi led an
is loaded with food enough for all. The
odors of the meats fill the air. Everything
is ready. The platters are full. The chalices
are full. The baskets Of fruit are full Why
( not let the people in? The door is open. Yes,
but there is a cluster of wise men blocking
up the door discussing the contents of the
caster standing midtable. They are shaking
| their fists at each other.
One says there is to- much vinegar in that
caster, and one says there is too much sweet
oil, and another says there is not the proper
proportion of red pepper. say, Get out
of the way and let the hungry people come
! in" Now cur blessed Lord has provided a
great supper. and the oxen and the fatlings
have been killed, and fruits from all the vine.
yards and orchards OF heaven crown the
table. The world has been invited to come,
and they look in. and they are hungry and
the people would pour in by the millions to
this world wide table but the door is blocked
up by controversies, and men with whole
libraries ON their backs are disputing as to
what proportion of sweet oil AMI cayenne
4 pepper should make up the creed. | cry
Get out of the way AMI let the hungry
world come in
The Christian church will have to change
its tack or it will run on the rocks of demo-
ltion. This worlds population annually in
creaseS fifteen millions No one pretends
that half that number of people are con
verted to God. There are more than twice
as many Buddhists as Protestants: more
than twice as many Buddhists as Roman
Catholics. Protestants, 135, 900 000; Catho-
lies, 1875 900, 900; Bu1dhists, 400 600, 900
There ara IT'S 900, 900 Mohammedans and
! 220 100000 Brahmans
Meanwhile, many of the churches are only
religious clu5houses, where few people GO
on Sunday morning, averaging one person:
to pew or one person to a halt dozen pews
AMI leaving ths minister at night to sweat
through sermon with here and there Iona
traveller, unless, by Sunday evening sacred
concert, he can get out an audience Of re-
! specialize size.
1 The vast ajority of the church member
effort for the salvation of men. Did 1 say
there would have to be change l correct
that and say, there will be change. II
there DE fifteen million persons added every
year TO the worlds population then there
will be thirty million ad tel to the church
and .orty million and fifty million and sixty
How - =,