News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-02-18
WHAT HE BELIEVES.
A SERMON DETAILING THE CREED
OF DR.. TAlMAGE

His Words Have No Uncertain Sound.
Trust. Love and Obey the Lord
This Is the Beginning. aud the Middle.
and the End.
BROOKLYN. Feb. IA. AT the Taber
nacle service this morning, after the
usual reading of the Scriptures, the
congregation sang
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive Journeys run.
The sermon which followed was
apparently suggested by the storm
of theological controversy now rag
ing in the churches. In these times
when it is quite uncertain what many
of the clergy really do believe, this
sermon makes it very plain what the
pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle
believes. His text was taken from
Luke vi, II. And he came down
with them and stood in the plain"
Christ on the mountains Is fire.
quent study. We have seen him on
the Mount of Olives, Mount of Beati-
tudes, Mount Moriah, Mount Calvary,
Mount of Ascension, and it is glori-
Gus to study him on these great nat
ulal elevations. But how is it that
never before have we noticed him on
the plaln9 Amid the rocks, high up
on the mountain Christ had passed
the night. but now. at early dawn,
he is coming down with some espe
cial friends, stepping from shelving
to shelving, here and there loosened
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. He
is on the level. My text says. He
came down with them and stood III
the plain.
WHAT THE WORLD WANTS.
Now that is what the world wants
= today 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 con
secrated people today is. What Is the
matter with the minister's Many of
them are engaged IN picking holes III
the Bible and apologlzing for this and
apologlzlng for that In an age when
the whole tendency is TO pay too
little reverence to the Bible. they are
fighting against Bibliolatry. 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 Bibli
olatry, or too much reverence for the
Scriptures. than there is that astrol-
ogy will take the place of astronomy,
or alchemy the place of chemistry,
or the canal boat the place of the
limited 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
tlan all the blatant infidels on all the
earth The trouble is our theologians
are up in the mountain in a fight
above the clouds about things which
they do not understand. Come down
on the plain and stand beside Christ,
who never preached techDicalty or
a didactIcism. What do you, o wise
headed ecclesiastic, know about the
DEGREES of Code Who cares a fig
about your sublapsarianism or your
supralapsarianisml
What a spectacle we have in our
denomination today committees try
ing to patch up an old creed made
two or three hundred years ago, SO
that it will lit ON the Nineteenth cen
fury. Why do not our millinery es
Establishments take out of the garrets
the coal scuttle hats which your
great -glandinothers wore and try to
fit them on the head of the modern
maiden2 You cannot fix up 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 Danyille seminary will
sew on other pieces, and by the time
the creed is done it will be as varie
gated as Joseph's coat of many col
orS
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 a Sunday
school anniversary. Now what is
nbe use of fixing up creed which
teft any doubt on that subject2 No
man ever doubted that all infants |
dying go to heaven, unless he be |
Hprod or Charles Guiteau was
opposed to oyerhauling the old creed |
at all. but now that it has been lifted |
mp and its imperfectiOns set up in the
sight of the world say. Overheard
with it and make a new creed.
There are today IN our denomination
FIVE hundred men who could make a
tetter one could make a better one
myself. As we are now ia process of
the creed, and nOone knows
what we are expected to believe, or ]
will two or three years hence be ex
pected to believe. could not wait
and 80 have made a creed of my
own which | intend to observe the
rest of my life ! wrote 1T 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
Ill that is required. To that creed
invite all mankind. T. De Witt Tai
mage -
A DEPLORABLE REASON.
The reason Christianity has not
made more rapid advance is because
the people are asked TO believe too
many things There are, | believe,
today millions of good Christians
who have never joined the church
and are not counted among the Lords
friends because they cannot believe
al the things that they are required
10 believe One-half the things a man
is expected to believe in order to en-
ter the church and reach heaven
have no more to do with his saliva
ton than the question, How many
volcanoes are there in the moon2 or,
How far apart from each other are
the rings of Saturn2 or, How many
teeth there were in the iawbone with
which Samson smOte the PhiliStineS2