Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-15
Not an Old One, Not a Revised One,
but Simple and Sufficient.
WY SINNERS ARE DRIVEN AWAY.
Tie Church Requires Them to Believe Al
together Too Much.
CBRTST SHOULD BE NET ON THE LEVEL
SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE D1sFArcR.l

Olives NT0r,nr OF Beatitudes Mount Moriah,
Mount Calvary Mount of Ascension, and 1T
Is glorious to study him on these great nat
urg, 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. at
carly dawn, He is coming down with some
especial friends. stepping from shelving To
shelving, here and there ioosened stone
rolling down the steep sides ahead OF ANN
until lie gets in a level place, so that He can
be approached without climbing from All
sides He is on the level. Ny text says. He
came down with them and stood in the
plain.
Now, that is what the world wants to-day
more than anything else-a Christ on the
level easy to get at, no ascending, no
descending. approachable from all sides
Christ on the plain
The question among all consecrated peo-
pie to-day i what is the matter with the
ministers Many of them are engaged IN
picking holes in The Bible and apologizlRg
for this and apologjZing for that. In an age
when the whole tendency is to pay too little
reverence TO the Bible, they are fighting
against BiblioatrY, or too much reverence
fer the Bible They are building fence on
tie wrong side OF the road. not on the SIDE
where the precipice is and off which multi
tudcs are falling, but on the upper side OF
the road. 50 that people VIII not Iall upHlh'
ofwnich there is no danger.
Can't Revere ;he Bible Too Much.
There is no more danger of Bibliolatry, or
TOO much reverence for the scriptures, than
1here is that astrology will take the place of
ASTRONOMY. or alchemy the place of chemis-
.tln or the canal boat the place of the limited
.cxpress rail train. What theological farce
ir is: ministers fighting against too much
reverence for the scriptures; ministers
+fn ~TN ansa.s nfnNl- fnl.G
l1retcuding 10 be friends of the Bible, yet do
la- the Book more damage than all the
blatant intidels on all the earth.
The troEble l. oar theologians are mp IN
mountain in a fight a bove the clouds about
sUfuus which they DO not understand. Come
down on the plain and stand beside Christ,
EEo never preached technlcalty or
,ilIaetici~ls. What do you. o, Wise-Headed
Zee -c~iH~tic, know about the DEGREES. OF
Noa- Who cares liz about your sublapsar'
faIf-m or your supraiap~a rianism?
WHAT q specsacie we nave in our denom!-
uufipu to-day: committees trying TO patch
up AN old creed made 200 or 800 years ago. SO
rlia. T. viii lit on tue Nineteenth century.
Why do rur our millinery establishments
take our Cd, the garrets the coal-scuttIe bon
nets which your eat-Gran dmothers wore
ANA Try TO fit them on the head OF the modern
luuidcu2 You cannot fix up Il 800 year old
creed 80 ~ TO lit cur time Princeton Will
SOW on a little piece. and Union Seminary
VIII -tw ON little piece, and Allegheny
SEMINARY and Danyille Seminary VIII sew
.plI other pieces and by the time the creed Is
dome it VIII be as Nariegated as JQsephs
coat OF many colors- Think OF having to
change an old creed TO make it clear that all
Infants diving 80 TO heaven!
Glad the Babies Have n Chance
lam so glad that the committees are going
20 let the babies III. Thank you. So many
Ef them are already in that all the hills of
heaven look like a sunday school anniver-
s:lTy. VOW, what Is the use of fixing up
creed which left any doubt on that subject?
l., /, all sau
go to heaven. unless he be Herod or a
Charles truitcau.
was opposed to overhaulins the old creed
at all bur. now that it has been lifted up and
liz imprrIcctions set up in the sight of the
world. l say, overheard with it and make a
new creed. There are to-day in our denomi-
nation 800 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 eX-
pecicd to believe, or will two or three years
hence he expected TO believe, l could not
pyslIta and SO 1 nave made Il creed OF my own,
which intend to observe the rest OF my
li5e. I wrote it down in my memorandum
Juoll some six months ago, and 1t reads as
follows:
Gree5: The goriqusm n Lord ord Is To oI, trust Hin
II. DEWITT TALAAGE."
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 Christians
who have never iCined the church and are
mot counted among the Lords friends, be-
,e..u-. tney cannot believe all the things that
-hey are required to believe. One-half the
Things a 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 i'll
the moon?
Nom Essentials to Salvation.
believe 10000 things, but none of them
have anything to do with my salvation, ex-
cent these two, l am q sinner and Christ
came to save Ine.
l. there not some mode of getting out of
thc way these non-essentials, these super
huities. these Emergencies from the main
issue Is there not some way of bringing
the church down ont of the mountain of
controversy and conventionaliSm and to put
il ON the plain where Christ stands? Many
OF the churches are only religious club
hoH~es where a. few people go on Sunday
morning. averaging one person to a pew or
one person TO a half dozen pews, and leaving
tie minister at night to sNeat through
d sermon with here and there a |
lone traveller unless, by a Sunday |
evening sacred concert. he can get out an |
audience OF respectable size. The vast |
majority OF the church membership round |
the world put forth no direct effort for the |
salvation of men. Did l say there would |
have TO be changer ! correct that and saw,
there will be a change If there be Is O0O coo 1
persons added every year TO the worlds |
population. then, there will be 10000 900 |
and 80 O03,GOn- How will it be done? 1t will |
he done when the church will meet Christ |
she plain.
The luH change will have to come from
the rising ministry. We now in the field are 1
too set IN our ways. We are numbered up |
with technicaiiticS. We have too many con- |
cOrdances and dictionaries and encyclo-
pedlas ana systems OF theology on our head |
10 get down on the plain.
Christ Bears the Worlds Troubles,
BY no science has the weight of this
worlds trouble been weighed Now. Christ
standing on the level of our humanity
stands in sympathy with every trouble.
There are so many aching heads; His ached |
under the thoUns. There are so many weary
feet: His were worn with the long iourpey
up and down the lard that received Him
not Ih5rc are so many prosecuted souls.
every hour OF His life was under human |
outrage. The world had no better nlace TO
receive Him than a cattle pen. So ointenseIv |
human was lie that there has not been IN |
all our race grief or inIirmity or exhans
zion or pan@ that did not touch Him onca |
and that does not touch Him now Tbe |
leDpfs 1ne paral lytics, the i;nbecile the |
maniac. CGc cour5esan, the repentant blirand
which one did He turn of, which one did |
He not pity, which one did He not helrp
The universal trouble of :he world is he
Tcavcment. One may escape all the other
iron bIes but that soul escanes ONT of
that bitter cup everyone must take a drink
Christ on the plain. l care not from what
side YOU approach Him, you can touch Him
and get His heiD. Is it mental depression |
YOU suffer- Remember Him who said: "My
God my God. why hast Thou forsaken Me?;,
Is it'a struggle for bread? Remember Him
v ho led the 600 with two minnows and five
IL,