Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-08-01
PRE-EMINENT.
he THAT COMETH FROM ABOVE IS ABOVE
ALL"
Chris. the Most Conspicuous Character Of History
Dr.. Talnage's Sermon in London Yesterday.
The Brooklyn Dlyine's Great Popularity
So. T.I.eram o ~ RegllLsr.

subject of his Journey 10 tne Ianu OF Ine
Car. whittier he went with Mr.. Louis
kjopsch to direct the distribution OF
the ChiS.iuu Herald relief cargo. While
expressing his high appreciation OF the
cordial welcome and splendid hOSpltall-
" extended by the officials OF st. Pc
tersburg and Moscow, Of the civic hon
ors heaped upon the American visitors
and OF RusSia's national gratitude TO
America, as personally expressed by
the Czarewitch az PeterhOf, where he
entertained them as guests, DR.. Tai
mage has been compelled TO adhere TO
his original programme. During the
week he has been preaching In the lead
ing Scottish cities. His arrangements
for next week include services at New
castle, and Sunderland, and thereafter
he goes to the Isle Of Man for few
DAYS. The sermon selected for this
week is entitled, "Pre-eminent,' the
text being, John iii, 81, He that com
eth 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 Bethle-
hem sky. was only ratification Of the
finger fgenealogy, the finger Of chrome
logy, the finger OF eventS-aH tive ing
ers pointed in one direction. Christ IS
the overlapping figure Of all time. He
is the y0r bURIud in all music, the
gracefuIlest line in all sculpture, the
most exquisite mingling Of lights an
shades in all painting, the acme Of all
climaxes, the dome Of, cathedralIed
grandeur, and the perOration OF splen-
did language.
TIE GREEK ALPHABET
"a made up Of twenty-iour letters, and
when he compared himself 10 the first
letter and the last letter, the alpha and
omega, he appropriated TO himself all
the SD.endors that you can spell out
either with those two letters and all the
letters between them. Il 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, "a6ove
all'
ItmeauS, after you have piled up all
the Alpine and Himalayan attitudes, the
glory OF Christ would have TO spread us
wings and descend a thousand leagues
20 touch those SUBMITS. Pelion, high
mountain of ThessaIy, OSsa, high
mountain, and Olympus high noun
tain, but mythology tells US when the
giants warred against the gods they
piled up these three mountains, and
from the top of them proposed to scale
the heavens; but the height was not
great enough, and there was complete
failure. And after all the giantS-Isa-
ish aud Paul, prophetic and apostolic
giants; Raphael and Michael Angelo,
artistic giants. cherubim and seraphtm
and archangel, celestial giantS-haye
failed 90 climb 20 the top OF Christ's
glory, they might all well unite in the
words of the text and say, He that
cometh from above is above ALL"
First, Christ must be above all else in
our preaching. There are also many
books ON hOmiletics scattered through
the world that all laymen, as well as all
clerCymeu, have made up their minds
what sermons ought 10 be. That ser
mon is most etfectual which most point
edIy puts forth Christ as the pardon OF
all sin aud the correction Of all evil, in
diyIdual, social, political, national.
There is no reason why we should ring
the endless changes on few phrases.
There are those who think that If an
exhortatiou OF discourse have frequent
mention OF a Justification, sanctttca-
ton, covenant OF works and covenant
OF grace, that therefore it must be pro-
f0uudly evangelical, while they are
suspicious OF u discourse which pre-
SCENTS the same truth, but
UNDER DIFFERENT PHRASEOLOGY.
Now. I say there is nothing in all the
opu'eut realm of Auglo-SaXonism or all
the world treasures that we Inherited
from the Latin and the Greek and the
IDdo.EurOpean but we have q right TO
marshal il in religious discussion.
Christ sets the example. His lllustra-
tlous were from the grass, the flowers,
the spittle. the salve, the barnyard
fowl, the crystals of salt, as vel! as
from the seas and the stars; and we do
not propose in our Sabbath-SChool
teaching and our pulpit address TO be
put on the limits.
I know that there is a great deal said
in our day against words, as though
they were nothing. They may be mis-
used, but they have an imperial power.
They are the bridge between soul and
soul, between Almighty God and the
human race. What did God write upon
the table of stones? Words. What
did Christ utter on Mount Oliyet?
Words. Out Of what did Christ strike
the spark for the illumination OF the
universe? Out OF words. Let there
be light" and light was. OF course,
thoughts the cargo and words are only
the ship; but how fast would your cargo
get on without the ship? What you
need, my friends, in all your work, in
your Sabbath school class, in your re-
f0rmatory institutions, and what we all
need is % enlarge our vocabulary when
we come to speak about God and Christ
and heaven. We ride a few .old words
20 death when there is such illimitable
resource. Shakespeare employed III
teen thousand different words for
dramatic purposes; Milton employed
eight thousand different words for pO-
ettc purposes; Rufus Choste employed
over eleven thousand different words
for legal purposes; but the most OF US
have less than a thousand words that
we can manage, less than five hundred,
aud that makes Us so stupid.
When we come 10 set forth the love
OF Christ we are going to take the ten
derest phraSeoloEy wherever we find it,
and If 10 has never been used in that d.
rection before, all the more we shall
use il. When we come TO speak OF the
glory of Christ, the ConQueror, we are
going to draw our SMILES from triumph
al arch and oratorio and everything
grand and StupendouS. The French
navy have eighteen flags by which they
give signal; but those eighteen flags