Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-02-25
DIR. TALMAGE'S CREED
a SERMON SUGGESTED By CURRENT
1 THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSION

iFfGOGOGiCN- OiO1OCotOh
No Matter How Uncertain IL the Belief
Of tho So Called Advanced Clergy. DR..
TAimAge's Faith Is Secure and Easily
Understood by AL
BROOKLYN, Feb. I4-At the Tabernacle
service this morning, after the usual read
Ding Of the Scriptures, the congregation
sang
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run.
The sermon which followed was appar.
emily suggested by the storm OF theological
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 Brooklyn Tabernacle believes
His text was taken from Luke vi. II, "And
he came down with them and stood in the
plain"
Christ on the mountains is frequent
study. We have seen him on the Mount Of
Olives, Mount Of Beatitudes, Mount Mo
riah, Mount Calvary. Mount OF Ascension
and 1t is glorious TO study him on these
great natural elevations But how is it
that never before have we noticed him on
the plaini Amid the rocks, high up on the
mountain, Christ had passed the night, hut
now. at early dawn, he is coming down
with some especial friends, stepping from
shelving to shelving, here and there loos-
ened stone rolling down the steep sides
ahead of him, until he gets in u level place.
so that he can be approached without
climbing from all sides He is on the level
Ny text says, "He came down with them
and stood in the plain"
CHRIST ON THE LEVEL
Now that is what the world wants today
more than anything else-a Christ on the
level, easy to get at, no ascending, no de
scending. approachable from all sides
Christ on the plain. The question among
all consecrated people today is, What is the
matter with the ministersi Many of them
are engaged in picking holes in the Bible
and apologizing 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 fence on the wrong side Of
the road; not on the side where the preci
plCe ~ dIlti Ou WulCL ululbibuucS tI6 ldLl
ing, but on the upper side Of the road, SO
that people will not fall up hill. of which
there is no danger
There is no more danger of Bibliolatry,
or too much reverence for the Scriptures,
than there is that astrology will take the
place of astronomy, or alchemy the place
of chemistry, or the canal boat the place of
the limited express rail train. What a
theological farce it is. Ministers fighting
against too much reverence for the Scrip
lures; ministers making apology for the
Scriptures; ministers pretending to be
friends of the Bible, yet doing the Book
more damage than all the blatant infidels
on all the earth.
The trouble is our theologians are up in
the mountain in fight above the clouds
about things which they do not under
stand. Come down on the plain and stand
beside Christ, who never preached tech
nicality or q didacticism. What do you,
o wise headed ecclesiastic, know about
the DEGREES of Godi Who cares fig about
your sublapsarianism or your supralapsa-
rianismf
What spectacle we have in our denomi-
nations today; committees trying to patch
up an old creed made two or three hundred
years ago SO that it will fit on the Nine
teenth century. Why do not our millinery
establishments take out of the garrets the
coal scuttle hats which your great-grand-
mothers wore and try to fit them on the
head Of the modern maidenf You cannot
fix up a Observation-Disclosures creed SO as
TO fit our time. Princeton will sew on a
little piece. and Union seminary will sew
on little piece, and Allegheny seminary
and Danville seminary will sew on other
pieces, and by the time the creed Is done 1t
will be as variegated as Joseph's coat OF
many colors Think of having to change
an old creed to make it clear that all in
fants dying go to heavenl
am SO glad that the committees are go
ing to let the babies in. Thank you. So
many of them are already in that all the
hills of heaven look like Sunday school
anniversary Now what is the use of fix
ing upa creed which left any doubt on
that subject2 No man ever doubted that
all infants dying go to heaven, unless he be
a Herod or a Charles Guiteau. was OPP
posed to overhauling the old creed at all,
but now that it has been lifted up and its
imperfections set up in the sight of the
world, say, Overheard with it and make
new creed. There are today in our de-
nomination five hundred men who could
make better one. could make 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 expected to believe, could
not wait, and so have made creed of my
4 s,,%a . II. . IL
my life. ] wrote it down in my memoran.
dunn 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 required. To that creed invite all
mankind 7. De Witt Talmage"
THE PEOPLE ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS.
The reason Christianity has not made
more rapid advance is because the people
are asked to believe too many things
There are, believe, today millions oi
good Christians who have never Joined the
church and are not counted among the
Lords friends because they cannot believe
all the things that they are required to
believe. One-half the things man is ex
pected to believe in order to enter the
church and reach heaven have no more tc
= ND WAuh Alho 61AFnpiOh uhdh OhO 4uSSbAOut
How many volcanoes are in the mooni or,
How far apart from each other are the
rings of Saturnf or, How many teeth
there were in the jawbone with which
Samson smote the Philistines2 believe
ten thousand things, but none Of them
have anything to do with my salvation
except these two-I am sinner and Christ
came to save me.
Musicians tell US that the octave consists
only of five tones and two semitones, and
all the Handels and Haydns and Mozarts
and Wagners and Schumanns of all ages
must do their work within the range oi
those five tones and two semitones. So
have to tell you that all the theology that
will be of practical use in our world is
made out of the two facts of human sinful
ness and divine atonement. Within that
octave swing .'The Song of Moses and the