The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-02-25

Talmage's Faith Is Secure and Easily
Understood by All.
BROOKLYN, Feb. l4.-At the Taber-
nacle service this morning, after the
usual reading Of the Scriptures, the con-
gregation sang
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run.
The sermon which followed was APP
parently suggested by the storm OF the
illogical controversy now raging 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 Brook
lyn Tabernacle believes. His text was
taken from Lake vi, II, "And he came
down with them aud stood In the plain. -
Christ on &c mountains is frequent
study. We have seen hiM on the Mount
Of Olives, Mount Of Beatitudcs, Mount
B1oriah, Mount Calvary, Mount OF AS
cention, and il is glorious TO study him
ON these great natural elevations. But
how Is 1t that never before have we no.
ticed him on the plain? Amid the rocks,
high up on the mountain, Christ had
passed the night, but pow, at early
dawn, he is coming down with some cs-
peclal friends, Stepping from shelving to
shelving, here and there a loosened
stone rolling down the steep sides ahead
OF him, until he gets in a level place, so
that he can beappro' chcd without climb
ing from all sides. He is on the level.
My text says, "IIc came down with
them and stood in the plain.n
Now that IS what the world wants to-
day more In III anything clsc-a Christ
Oh the level, easy TO get at, no ascend
ing, no descending, approachable from
all sldes-CErlst on the PLAIN. The
question among all consecrated peope
today Is, What is the matter with the
ministers? Many Of them arc engaged
III picking holes in the Bible and apollo
glZ!ng tor this and apolOgizlng for that,
In an age when the whole tendency is
TO pay too little reverence to the Bible,
they are lighting against Bibliolatry, or
TOO much reverence for the Bible. They
are building fence on the wrong side
OF the road; not Ont the side where the
preclpice IS aud Off which multitudes are
falling, but on the ura)er side of tho road
so that people will NOT fall up hill, Of
which there is no danger,
What Il spectacle we have IN our dc.
nominations today: committees irving
to patch up an old creed made two or
three hundred years ago so that it will
tit on the Nineteenth century. Why do
not our millinery establishments take
out OF the garrcts the coal scuttle hats
which your grcat-grandmothers wore
and try to fit them on the head OF the
modern maiden? You cannot fix up a
thitc-hundred-ycar-old hi creed so as TO fit
our time. Princeton will sew on a lit
tie piece. and Union seminary will sew
on little piece, and Alleghany sc nj.
nary and Danvillc seminary will sew en-
other pieces, and by the time the creed
ls done it will be as varieeated as Jos
eph's coat Of many cOlors. Think of
having to change an old creed 10 make
u clear that all Infants dying 60 to heav-
en-!
AS VIC arc now in process of chang
ing the creed, and no one knows what
we are expected to believe, or will two
or three years hence be expected to be-
lleve, could not &ajt, and so | have
made creed Ct NY swn which intend
to observe the rest of my life. | wrote
1t down III my memorandum book some
Blk months ago. and 1t reads as follows:
MY creed: The glorious Lord. To
trust him, love him and obey him is all
that is required. TO that creed invite
all mankind. II. De Witt Talmagc.n
The reason Christianity has not made
moro rapid advance is because the pco.
pie are asked to believe to many things.
There are, believe, toIav millions of
good Christians who have never ioined
the church and arc not counted among
the Lords friends because thew cannot
believe all the things that they arc re.
CURED to believe. Onc-half the things
man is expected to believe in order 70
enter the church and reach heaven have
no more to do with his salvation Than
the question, How many volcanoes are
in the moon? or, How far apart from
each ether arc the rings OF Saturn? or.
How many teeth there were in the law.
bone with which Samson smote the
Philistincs? | believe ten thousand
things, but none OF them have nythng
TO 90 with my salvation, except these
tWo-l am sinner and Christ came to
save me.
Musicians tell us that the octave con-
slsts only Of five tones and two semi.
tones, and all the Handles and Haydns
and Mozarts and Wagncrs and $chu.
manns OF all ages must do their work
within the range Of those five tones and
TWO semltones. SO / have TO tell Won
that all the theology that will be of
practical use in our world is made ont
OF the two facts of human sinlulness and
divine atoncmcnt. Within that octave
swing 1.-The Song of Moses and the
Lamb" the Christmas chant above
Bethlehem aud the lIallelujah OF all the
choirs standing on seas of glass.
ls there not some mode ofgetting out
OF the way these noncsscntials, these
superiiuities, these divergencics from the
main issue? Is there not some way of
bringing the church down out Of the
mountain Of controversy and convcn-
tlonalism and to put it on the plain
where Christ stands? The present atti.
tude OF things is like this: In famine
stfuck district table has been provided
an ana 1t IS loaded with food enough for all.
Inc odors Of the meats fiji the mir.
Everything is ready. The platters are
iaii. The chahces are full. The bask-
Gus OF irut are full. Why not let the