The Penn's Grove record., 1892-08-05
RM. DR. TALMAGG


ADORE an."-John ILL, 81.
Ths most coma icuous character of history
steps out upon the platform. The fngeq
which, diamonded with light, pointed down
to Him from the Bsthlehem sky was only {
ratification Of the finger OF prophecy, thu
anger OF gsnsalogy, the finger Of chronology,
the finger Of svehts-all i've fngers pofntfng
in one dirsctiou. Christ Il the overtoppine
hgureof all time. He 10 the vox humana IA
all music b Gracsfulest line IN ali sculp-
Y the most exquisite miugling OF lights
and shades in all painting. the acme OF Ill
cltmaxea the dome Of all cathsdraIed grand
eur and the psroration Of all splendid Ian
guage.
The Greek alphabst Il made mn Of twenty
four letter., and when Christ compared
Himself to the first letter and the last isttsr,
the alpha and the omega, He appropriated
to Himself all the splendors that you can
spell out either with those two letter. and
al letters between Them II am the Alpha
md the omsga, the beginning and the end,
words Of the text s'abovs ali.s
1t means, after you a ' piled up al Al.
pine and Himalayan attitudes, the glory ct
Christ would have to spread Ii wings and
descend . thounanf ieaxuss to touch thoss
SUBMITS. Pslion, a high mountain OF Thes-
sally; Osss. . high mountain, and Olympus
. high mountain; but mythology tells us
- - 83@ UsAA0& 8A0tAtb " kOI1
they piled up these three mountains and
from the top of them proposed to scale the
heavens; but the height was not great
enough and there was . complete failure.
And after all the ~giants-Isaiah and Paul,
prophetic and apostolic giants: Raphael and
Michael Angelo. artistic eiants; chsrublm
giants-havs failed 10 climb g the tor Of
Chfists glory, thsy might all well unite in
the words Of the tsxt and say, "Hs that
cometh from above 10 above all,S
FIRST, Christ must be above ali else in our
preaching. There are 70 many boom on
homiletics scattered through the world that
all laymen, as well As all clergymen, have
made up their minds what sermons ought to
be-. That sermon il most edectuai which
most pointedly puts forth Christ q the
pardon OF all sin and the correction Of ali
evil, individual, social, political, National.
There 10 no reason why We should ring the
endless changes on . few phrases. There are
those who think that II an authorization or .
discourse nave frequsnt mention OF 5ustid-
cation, s~anctihcation, covenant Of works
and covenant of grace that therefore II
must be profoundly evangelical, while they
ere suspicious OF . discourse which presents
the same truth. but under different phrase
ology.
Now, I say there IL nothing in all the opu-
lent realm of Anglo-Saxonism or all the
Will " SMuUI6LB tuat We luUcflt60 II04 A00
Latin and the Greek and the Indo-Europsan
but we have q right TO marshal Il in rslig.
ious discussion. Christ sets the example.
His illustrations were from the grass the
flowers the spittie. the salve, the harnyard
fowl, the crystals Of salt, As we'll - from the
seas and the stars, and We do not propose in
our S~abhath-school teaching n In our pull
pit address TO be put on the limits.
1 know that there il q great deal said in
our day against words a. though thsy wsrs
nothing. They may be misused, but thsy
an imperial power. They are the
bridge between soul and soul, between Al
mighty God aud the human race. What did
God write upon the tables Of stonesf Words.
What did Christ utter on Mount Oiiverf
Words. Out Of what did Christ strike the
spark for the illumination OF the universal
Out of words. Let there be light" a
light was. or course thought 10 the cargo
and words are only the ship; but how fast
would your cargo get on without the shipf
What you need, my friends, In all your
work, in your Sabbath school ciass. in your
reformstory institutions, and what We all
need Is TO enlarge our vocabulary when we
come to speak about God and Christ and
heaven. We ride a few old words to death
when there II such illimitable resource.
Shakespeare employed fifteen thousand diff
fersnt words for dramatic urposes. Milton
employed eight thousand different words for
poetic purposes. Rufus Choats employed
over eleven thousand different words for
than . thousand words that we can manage.
less than i've hundred, and that makes US 70
stupid.
Christ We are going to take the tenderest
phrassology wherever We find II, and il it
has never been used in that direction before
all the more shall we use It. When we como
fo aw~.b ~ tho rIORU ~ Edriaf thA Gt0nnnRr-
or, we are going to draw our SMILES from
triumphai arch and oratorio and everything
grand and s~tupsndous. The French navy
have eighteen flags by which they give sig-
nal; but thoss eighteen dags they can put
into sixty-six thousand different combina
tions. And I have to tell you that these
standards Of the cross may BE- lifted into
combinations infinite and varieties svsrlast-
ing. And let mo say to young men who are
after awhile going TO preach Jesus Christ.
you will have the largest liberty and un-
limited resource. You only have to pressnt
Christ IN your own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ In thu
; Fssr.a . u1sscsss a.: Ssr,.E Ps m s. az. subli soas
alisgory ever composed. Edward Payson,
aek md exhausted, leaned mp against th,
ade Of the pulpit and wept out his discourse.
While George Whitsfeld, with the manner.
and ths voica and the start Of an actor,
overwhelmed his auditory. 1t would hava
been . different thing IL Jonathan Edwards
grim'sprogress to the celestial city or John
Bunyan had attempted an essay on tina
human will.
Brighter than the light, fresher than the
fountainA deeper than the seas are all these
Gospel themes. Song has no melody. flowers
q ' mo sweetness, sunset sky has no color
compared with these glorious themes Thess
huHH8ufa nj 0runo unrin0 nm UnflQEaE than Uo
can stckle them. Kindling pulpits with
their fire. and producing revolutions with
their power, lighting up dying beds with
their glory, they are the sweetest Thought
for the poet q they are the most thrilling
illustration for the orator, and they offer
the most intense scene for the artist, and
they are to the ambassador of the say all en-
tbusiasm. Complete pardon for direct
guilt. Sweetest comfort for ghastliest
agony. Brightest hope for grimmest death.
Grandsst resurrection for darkest sepulcher.
Oh, what a gospel to preachi Christ over
all IN il. His birth, His suffering, His mira
cles, His parallels His sweat, His tears, His
glorious themesi DO we exercise faithf
Christ Is its object Do we have love, 1t
fastens on Jesus. Have we a fondness for
the church, 1t Is because Christ died for 1t.
Have we n hope Of heavenf 1t is because
Jesus went ahead, the herald and the fore
runner.
The royal robe Of Demetrius was so cost
", so beautiful, that after he had put it of
no one eve dared put 1t on; bnt this robe of
Christ, richer than that, the poorest and tbs
wanest IND the worst may wear. "Where
sin aboundsd grace may much more
abound"
sOh, my sins my SINS" said Martin
Luther to Staupifx; my sins, my sins. !"
The fact IL that the brawny German student
had found a Latin Bible that had mads him
quake. and nothing else ever did make him
quake; and when be found how, through
Christ, he was pardoned and saved he wrote
: Q friend, saying: Come over and join
us great and awful sinners saved by the
grace OF God. You seem to be only .
slender sinner, and you don't much extcl the
mercy Of God; but we who have besn such
very awful sinners praise His grace the more
now that we hAvs bean redesmsd.n
Can Il Be hat you are 50 desperately
sxotistical that you feel yourself in first rate
spiritual trim, and that from the root of the
hair 70 the tip Of the toe you are scarlsss
and i~mmaculatss What you need is . look
ing-glas1 and here IL 70 In the BEbls. Poor
and wrstchsd and miserable and blind, and
naksd from the crow Of the head TO thu
sole Of ths foot full of wounds and putrsfy-
ing soresL No health in n And ths1 taxa