Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-08-20

THE BROOELYN DIfIEE'E Sun
DAY SERMON.

TIKI: HE that cometh from obore L
ubore ~aV."-John iii, 81.
The most Gems 7ictiods character OF histor7
stsps Out upon the platform. The finger
which, diamonde1 with light pointed down
to Him from the Bethlehem sky was only a
ratification Of the finger OF prophecy. the
finger OK genealogy. the finger OF chronology.
the finger OF events-aM Eve fingers pointing.
IN one direction Christ is tbs over soppi,g
figure OF all time He is the vox humans in
all music, the gracesuIest line in all sculp-
ture. the most exquisite mingling OF lights
vand shades in all painting. thu acme OF eli
clsnlaxes the dome OF all cathedraled grand
sur and the pereration Of all splendid lam
suage.
The Greek alphabet /. made UP Of twenty
four letters, aud when Christ compared
Himself TO the first letter and the last letter,
the a:pha and the omega, He appropriated
to Himself all the splendors that. you can
spell cut either with those two letters AMI
all letters between them. II am the Alpha
and the Omega. the beginning and the end,
the first and the last" Or, if YOU prefer the
words of the text. above all"
1t means after you have piled up all al
pine and Hinalayan attitudes, the glory Of
Christ would have to spread its wings and
descend a thousand lea Iues to touca those
SUBMITS. Peiion, a high mountain o. Thes-
sally; Ossa, a high mountain, and Olympus,
a high mountain; but mytho ogy tells us
when tho giants xarred against the gods
they piled up these three mountains. and
from the top OF taem proposed 10 scale the
heavens; but the height was not great
enough and there was q complete failure.
Aud after ali the giants-1saiah and Pau,
prophetic and apostolic giants; Raphael AHA
Michael Angelo, artistic giants; caerubiin
and seraphim and arcaan gel, celestial
giants-asve fa'ied to IMP to the top OF
Christ's glory, they might all well unite IL
| the verbs OF tha text And SaS HHn that
cometh from above is above all"
First, Christ must be above all else in on:
preaching. There are 50 many books OF
hotniletlcs scattered through the world that
all laymeD, as well as all C~iersymen. have
made up their minds what sermons ought to
be. That sermon Is most ~e1fectuai wnl-h
most poiute1ly puts forth Christ as the
,ardom Of all sin and tue correction Of all
evil. individual, social. political, National.
Ih.re Is no reason why We should ring the
tniiess changes on a few phrase. Their are
those who think that if am exhortatio1 or a
discourse have freQusn t ruention OF justii-
cation, sanctificat1on, oIenent of works
and covenant OF grace, that therefor6 it
must be profoundly evangelical, while they
are suspicious OF a discourse which presents
the same truth, but CG1ec different phr ase-
ology.
Now, l say the, a i. nothing in all the opu-
lent realm of Anglo-SAxonisn, Or all tue
word treasurers that We inherit.y1 from tle
dllI dll0 luo vi CT n IL II e
but we have a right to marshal it i'll relig-
ious discussion. Christ sets tho example.
His Illustrations were from the grass, the
flowers, the s%pittle, the salve, tae barnyard
fowl, the crystals OF salt, as we'll 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 i'll
our day against words, as though they vera
nothing. They may be misused, but they
have an imperial power. Tney are the
=, bridge between soul and soul, between Al.
l mighty God and the human race. What die.
/ God write upon the tables of stones? Words.
!, What did Christ utter on Mount Olive:
Words. Out OF what did Christ strike tn
3 spark for the illumination OF the universe.
Out of words. Let there be light" ant
8 light was. Of course thought is the cargc
q and words are only the ship; but how fast
' would your cargo got on without the ship
What you need. my friends, in all YOU
work, in your Sabbath school class, in you,
reformatory institutions, and what We all
need is to enlarge our vocabulary when W.
COM to speak about God and Christ and
heaven. We ride a few old words to death
when there is such illimitable resource.
Shakespeare employed fifteen thousand diff
ferent words for dramatic purposes. Miltou
{ employed eight thousand different words 70
( uoetic purposes, Rufus Choate employee
= pver eleven thousand different words Iol
legal purposes, but thu most OF us have les
= than a thousand words that we can manage
II less than five hundred. and that makes us 81
: stupid.
When we come to set forth the love o.
Christ we are going to take the :enderes
i phraseology wherever we hn3 it. and if i
1 has never been usel In that direction before
1, all the more shall we USE 1t. When we con-
= TO speak Of the glory OF Christ. the Conquer
- or, we are going to draw our Smiles Irol
trlumphal arch and %ora.Orio and everythin
# grand and stnpendous. The French nav
have eighteen flags by which they give sig
nal; but those eighteen flags they can pu
into s~ixty-six thousan different combina
If tons. And l have To tell you that thes
ne standards of toe cross may be lifted lnt
u combinations infinite ami varieties everlas
:; ing. And let me say to young men who al
IL after awhile going to preac.i Jesus Chris
/ you will have the largest liberty ano III
al limited resource. You only have to preseI
Christ IN your own way.
Jonathan E1warts preached Christ in th
severest argument ever penned. an1 job
Bunyan preached Christ in the sublime
ellecory ever composed. Edward Payso'
/. sick and exhausted, leaned up against Il
side OF the pulpit and wept out his discours.
While George Whiteield, with the name
q, ana the voice, and the start OF an acto
overwhelmed his auditory. 1t would ha,
' been a different thing if Jonathan Eiwar.
5 bad tried to write and dream about the ri
r. grlm's progress to the celestial city or job
lt bunyan, had attempted an essay on ii
49, human will.
III Brighter than the light, fresher than II
us fountains. deeper than the seas are all the,
st Gospel themes Song has no melody. fowe
have no sweetness, sunset sky has no coli
compared with these glorious tbamas. The
OIL hsrvests OF grace sprin, up quicker than Y
can sickle them. k.ndllng uuipits wi
il. their fire, AMI producing revolutions W.,
!, their power, lighting up dying beds Wi,
.e their glory. they are the sweetest tiinnrl
IN Tor the poet, and they ara the most thriilin
C, Illustration for the orator, AMI they off,
IA che mos, intense scene for The arSst a.
-. they are 70 the ambassador OF the ssv M :.
ne -austasni- Complete pardon for dire
On sult. Sweetest comfort for chsst.Ia
,is agony. Brightest hope fo- griu NEST deaf.
Irantest resurrection for s.ar6est sauu!cha
" Oh, what a gospel 20 preach Christ oyt
ii "a It His eirth, His suffering, HisS mir
+lese his parallels. his sweat. His teas. II
iood. His atone.nent, His inte-cess.op. VIII,
,lor.ous themes DO We exercise far.
~ hrist Is its object. DO We have love-
- as:ens on Jesus Have We a fonin4s f.
e he church, 1t Il bee ,us. Christ died Tor il
ne Rave we g hope OF heaven II is tecar.
"a Jesus went >1aa. tut herald AMI tn= for