Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-01
JESUS IS ABOVE ALL.
He Should Be the Supreme Topic of
the Preacher and Teacher,
WORTHY OF A FULL VOCABULARY,
Re 10 the Foremost in the Alienation of
Ones Dying Hours.
TALN4GE'S LATEST SUNDAY SERMON

IALAAuEs Latest SUNDAY SERMON
LONDON, July 3L-Dr Talmace's SER
mon selected for publication this week is
entitled 'Pre-eminent, the text being
John 3-31. "He that cometh from above is
above all"
The most conspicuous character OF history
steps out upon the platform. The finger
which, diamonded with light. pointed down
to him from the Bethlehem sky, was only a
ratification of the finger of prophecy, the
finger of genealogy, the finger of chronol-
ogy, the finger OF events-aI five fingers
pointing in one direction. Christ is the over
topping figure of all time. He is the yox
humana in all music, the most graceful line in
all sculpture, the most exquisite mingling of
lights and shades in all painting, the acme
of all climaxes, the dome of all cathedraled
grandeur,and the peroration of all splendid
language.
The Greek alphabet is made up of "a let
tiers, and when Christ compared himself to
the first letter and the Hast letter the alpha
and the omega, He appropriated to Himself
all the splendors that you can spell out
either with those two letters and all let
tiers between them. 81 am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last" Or, il you prefer the words of
the text, above ALL
Christ the Supreme Topic of Preaching.
1t means, after you have piled up all Al
pine and Himalayan attitudes the glory of
Christ would have to spread its wings and
descend thousand leagues to touch those
SUBMITS.
First, Christ must be above all else in our
preaching. That sermon is most effectual
(which most pointedly puts forth Christ as
the pardon ofall sin and the correction of all
evil, inei7idual, social political, ma
tional.
There is no reason why we should ring the
endless changes on a few phrases. There are
those who think that IL an exhortation or a
discourse nave frequent mention of justifi-
cation, sanctifcation, covenant of works
and covenant of grace, that therefore it
must be profoundly evangelical, while they
are suspicious OF discourse which presents
the same truth but under different phraseol-
ogy. Now, say there is nothing in all the
opulent realm of Anglo-Saxonism or all the
Latin and the Greek and the o-European
but we have right to marshal it in reli-
Eious discussion. Christ sets the example
His illustrations were from the grass, the
flowers, the spittle, the salve, the BARNARD
fowl the crystals of salt, as well as from the
seas and the stars; and we do not propose in
our sabbath school teaching and in our pull
pit address to be put on the limits.
know that there is a great deal said in
our day against words as though they were
nothing. They may be misused but they
between soul and soul, between Almighty
God and the human race. What did God
write upon the tables OF stone? Words.
What did Christ utter on Mount Olivet?
WordsA Out OF what did Christ strike the
spark for the illumination of the universe?
Out of words LET there be light" and
light was.
Wanted-A Good, Full vocabuIar-.
Of course thought is the cargo and words
are only the ship; but how fast would your
need, my friends, in all your work. in your
Sabbath school class, in your reformatory
institutions and what we all need is to en-
large our vocabulary when we come to speak
about God and Christ and heaven. We ride
a few old words to death when there is such
ilimita BILE resource.
When we come TO set forth the love of
Christ We are going to take the tenderest
phraseology wherever we find it, and if it
has never been used in that direction before
all the more shall we use 1t. When We come
to speak of the glory of Christ, the Con-
Queror, we are going to dra W our SMILES from
tliumphal arch and oratorio and everything
grand and stupendous. And let me say to
:'sr awhile going to
Seach Jesus Lhr.p viii have the larg-
est liberty and unS~ s>oed resource. You
only have to present Christ in your own way.
Brighter than the light, fresher than the
fountains, deeper than the seas are all these
gospel themes. Song has no melody, flowers
Lave no sweetness, sunset sky has no color
compared with these glorious themes. These
hRryests of grace spring up quicker than we
can sickle them. hindling pulpits with
their power, lighting up dying beds with
their glory, they are the sweetest thought
1or the poet, and 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 sky all enthus-
iasm. Complete pardon for direst guilt.
Sweetest comfort for ghastliest agony.
Brigh test hope for grimmest death. Grand
est resurrection for darkest sepulchle.
The Scriptures a Faithful Mirror.
Can it be that you are so desperately
egotistical that you feel yourself in first
rate spiritual trim, and that from the root
of the hair TO the tip of the.toe you are scar
less and immaculate? What you need is a
lookingglass, and here it is in the Bible.
Poor, and wretched, and miserable, and
blind, and naked from the crown of the head
to the sole of the foot, full of wounds and
Dutrefying sores. No health in US. And
then take the fact that Christ gathered UP
all the notes against us and paid them, and
then offered us the receipt.
And how much We need Him in our sor-
rows! We are independent of circum-
stances if We have His grace. Why. He made
Paul sing in the dungeon, and under that
grace ST. John from desolate Patmos heard
the blast of the apocalyptic trumpets. After
all other candles have been snuffed out, this
is the light that gets brighter and brighter
unto the perfect day; and after, under the
hard hoofs of calamity, all the pools OF
worldly enjoyment have been trampled into
deep mlre, at the foot of the eternal rock
the Christian, from cups of granite, lily
trimmed and vine covered, puts out the
thirst of his soul.
Again, 1 remark, that Christ is above all in
dying alleviations. ! have not any sympathy
with the morbidity abroad a bout our demise.
There are men who are monomanical on the
subject OF departure from this life by death,
ana the more they think Of it the less they
are prepared to go. This is an unmanliness
not worthy of you, not worthy OF me. God
grant that when that hour comes YOU NAV
be at home! You want the hand OF your
kindred in your hand. You want your
children tc surround you.
A More Than Human Friend Wanted.
I think that is the wish of all of us. But is
that ali? Can earthly friends hole us when
the pillows of death come up to the girdle?
Can human voice charm open heavens gate?
Can human hands pilot us through the mar
rows of death into heavens harbor? Can an
earthly frien dship shield us from the ar
>To-s q deaTh and in the hour when Satan
shall practice upon us his internal archeryP
No. no. no, noH Alas! poor soul, if that is
all. Better die in the wilderness, lar from
tree shadow and from fountain, alone, vul-
lures circling through the air waiting for
our body, unknown to men, and to have no
burial, ii only Christ could say through the
solitudes, 81 will never leave thee 1 will
never forsake thee" From that pillow of
stone a ladder would soar heavenward,
angels coming and going; and across the
solitude and the barrenness would come the
sweet notes af heavenly minstrelsy.
Gordon Hall, far from home, dying in the
door of a heather temple, said: GLORY to
Thee, o God!" What did dying wilberiorce
say to his wife? "Come and sit beside me,
and let us talk of heaven. L never knew
what happiness was until found Christ"
What did dying Hannah More say? ITO 20
TO heaven, think what that isl To 20 to
Christ, who died that / might live! Oh,