Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-02-24
SAVING SOULS.
The Christian Church Will Have to
Change Its Tack.
Or IL WIN Run on the Rocks OF Demolition
Trust the Lord. Love Him and
Obey Iiim-Scrmon by Rev.
4. Dewitt TaIniagc.

Il. Dewitt fainiage-
DIR. Talmage's text was taken from
Luke vi. II. "And lie came down with
them and stood in the plain
| Christ on the mountains is a frequent
study. We have seen Him on the
Mount of Olives. Mount of Beatitudes,
Mount Moriah. Mount Calvary. Mount
of Ascension, and it is glorious to study
Him on these great natural elevations.
But, how is it. that never before we
have noticed Him on the plain?
Amid the rocks. high mp on the
mountain, Christ had passed the night,
but now. Mt early dawn. lie is coming
down with some especial friends. step
ping from shelving to shelving, here
and there a loosened stone rolling down
the steep sides ahead of Him. until lie
gets in level place. so that He can be
approached without climbing from all
sides lie is on the level My text
says, "Ic came down with them and
stood on the plain"
Now, that is what the world wants
to-day more than anything elsa
Christ on the level, easy TO get at. no
ascending, no descending, approach
able from all sides-Christo on the plain.
The question among all consecrated peo-
plr to-day is what is the matter with the
min >ie rs? Many of them are engaged
in picking holes in the Bible aud apol-
ogizlng for this and apologizing for
that In an age when the whole ten
dency is TO pay too little reverence to
the Bible, they are fighting against
Bibliolatry. or too much reverence for
the Bible. They are building n fence
! on the wrong side of the road; not on
the side where the precipicc is and off
which multitudcs 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 10 more danger of Bibliol-
airy, or too much reverence for the
scriptures, than there is that astrology
will take the place of astronomy, or al
chemy the place of chemistry, or the
canal boat the place of the limited ex-
press rail train. What n theological
farce IL is; ministers fighting against
too much reverence for the scriptures,
ministers pretending to he friends of
the Bible, yet doing the book more
damage than all the blatant infidels on
all the earth. The trouble is our the
ologians are up in the mountain in
/ fight above the clouds about things
which they do not understand. Come
down on the plain and stand beside
Christ who never preached a technical
ity or didacticism. What do you, O
wise-headed Ecclesiastic, know about
the DEGREES of God? Who cares n fig
about your sublapsaranism or your
supralapsarianism?
What n spectacle we have in our de-
nomination to-day-committees trying
to patch up an old creed made two hun
dred or three hundred years ago, so that
IT will fit on the nineteenth century.
Why do not our millinary establish
ments take out of the garrets the coal
scuttle bonnets which our great-grand-
mothers wore and try to fit them on
the head of the modern maiden? You
can not fix up three acknowledgements
creed so as to fit our time Princeton
will sew on little piece. and Union
seminary will sew on little piece, and
Allegheny seminary and Danville sem
mary will sew other pieces, and bv the
time the creed is done il will be as
variegated as Josephs coat of many
colors. Think of having to change an
old creed to make it clear that all in
fants 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 the hills
of Heaven look like Sunday
school anniversary. Now, what is
the use of fixing up n creed which
left any doubt on that subject? No
man ever doubted that all infants dying
go to Heaven, unless he be a Hcrod or
Charles Giteau. was opposed to over
hauling the old creed at all. but, now
that it has been fitted up, and its inn
projections set up in sight of the world.
/ say, overheard with it and make a
new creed. There are to-day in our de-
nomination 500 men who could make n
better one. / could make n better one
myself. AS we are now in process of
changing the creed, and no one knows
what we are expected to believe, or
will, two or three years hence, be ex-
! pected to believe, | could not wait. and
so have made n creed of nv own.
which intend to observe the rest of
my life. ! wrote il down in my mem
orandum- book some six months ago
and it reads as follows: MY creed;
| The glorious Lord To trust Him, love
Him, and obey Him is all that is re-
nuired. To that creed invite all man
kind. r. DEWITT TA1MAGE."
The reason Christianity has not made
more rapid advance is because the peo-
pic are asked TO believe too many
things. There are, ] believe. to-day,
millions of good Christians who have
never joined the church and are not
counted among the Lords friends. be-
cause they can not believe all the things
they are required 20 believe. One-half
the things man is expected TO be-
licvc in order 90 enter the church and
reach Heaven have no more To- do with
his salvation than the question, How
many volcanoes are there in the
moon?" or How far apart from each
other arc the rings of Saturn?"
or How many teeth were there
| in the jaw-bone with which Sam
son smotc the Philistincs?" / be-
| lieve 10000 things but none Of them
| have anything to do with my salvation.
except these two; ! am a sinner and
/ Christ came to save me. Musicians tell
us that the octave consists OF only five
| tones and two scmi-toncs, and oil the
/ Handles and IIaydns and Mozarts and
.