Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-08-06
REV. DR.. 7ALNAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn DivinsS Sum-
day Sermon.
Subject: "Pre-eminent." preached in
Londop.l

Inc most cons lcuous character of history
steps out upon the platform. The finger
which. diamonded with light, pointed down
to Him from the Bethlehem sky was only a
ratification Of the finger of prophecy, the
finger OF genealogy, the finger OF Chronology
the finger of events-all five fingers pointing
in one direction. Christ is the oyertoppiny
figure OF all time. He is the vox hunana in
all music, the gracefuleSt line in all seup.
ture. the most exquisite mingiing of light,
and shades in all painting. the acme OF all
cllmaxes, the dome of all cathedraled grand
eur and the peroration of all splendid lam
guage.
The Greek alphabet is made up Of twenty
four letters, and when Christ compared
himself to the first letter and the last letter.
the alpha and the omega, He appropriated
70 Himself all the splendors that YOU can
spell out either with thoss two letters an
all letters between them 81 am the Alpha
snd the Omega. the beginning and the end
The first and the lastn Or, if you prefer the
words Of the text above ALL"
1t means, after you have piled up all AL
Dine and himalayan altitu les, the glory OF
Christ would have to spread its wings ami
descend Thousand lea 1uas to toacl taose
nmmits, Pelion, high mo1atain OF Thes-
ally; Oss3, high mountain, and Olympus,
high mountain; but mytho ogY tells us
when the giants warred against the gods
hey piled up these three mountains and
rom the top OF then proposel 10 scale the
EeaveDs; but the height was not great
enough and there was a complete failure.
Aud after all the giants-Isa;ah and Paul,
prophetic and apostolic giants: Raphael ami
Michael Angelo artistic giants; cherubim
end seraphim and archan gel calestial
.iants-have failed to Climb to the top of
Christs 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 so many books on
Eomietics scattered through the world that
all laymen, as well as all clergymen, have
made up their minds what sermons ought to
be. That sermon is most effectual which
most pointedly puts forth Christ as the
pardon of all sin and the correction of all
evil, individual, social, political, National.
There is no reason why we should ring the
endless changes on a few phrases. There ara
those who think that il an exhortation or
discourse have frequent mention of justii-
cation, sanctification, covenant of works
and covenant of grace, that therefore it
must be profoundly evangelical, while they
are suspicious OF discourse which presents
the same truth, but under different phrase
ology.
Now, I say there is rothing in all the opu-
lent realm of Anglo-Saxonism or all the
word treasurers that we inherited from the
Latin and the Greek and the Indo-Europeau
Tut we have right to marshal it in relig-
ious discussion. Christ sets the example.
His Illustrations were from the grass, the
towers, the spittle, the salve, the barnyard
fowl, the crystals OF salt, as well as from the
seas aud 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 in
our day against words, as though they were
nothing, They may be lnisu Sed, but they
have an imperial power. They are the
bridge between soul and soul, between AL
mighty God and the human race. What did
God write upon the tables of stoness Words.
What did Christ utter on Mount Olive?
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 thought is 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
reformatory institutions, and what we all
need is to enlarge our vocabulary when we
come TO speak about God and Christ and
heaven We ride a few old words to death
when there is such illimitabl9 resource.
Shakespeare employed fifteen thousand diff
ferent words for dramatic purposes. Milton
employed eight thousand different words for
poetic purposes, RUFUS Choate employed
legal purposes, but the most of US have less
than a thousand words that we can manage
less than five hundred, and that makes us SO
stupid.
When we come to set forth the love Of
Christ we are going to take the tenierest
phraseoiogy wherever we find it. aud If it
has never been used in that direction before
all the more shall we use it. When we come
to speak of the glory of Christ, the Conquer
or, we are going to draw our SMILES from
;riumphal arch and Nratorio and every thing
grand and stupendouS. The French navy
have eighteen flags by which they give sig
nal; but those eighteen flags they can put
into sixty-six THOUSAND different combina-
lions. And | have to tell you that these
standards of the cross may be lifted into
combinations infinite and varieties everlast-
ing. And let me say to young men who are
after awhile going TO preach Jesus Christ
you will have the largest liberty and I'M
limited resource. You only have to present
Christ in your own way.
Jonathan 4 iwazis preached Christ in the
severest argument ever penned, and John
Bunyan preached Christ in the sublimest
nlegory ever composed. Edward Payson,
SICK ami exhausted, leaned up against the
side of the pulpit and wspt out his discourse.
While George Whitefield, with the manner
and the voice, and the start of an actor
overwhe med his au titory. 1t would havs
been different thing if Jonathan lwar,ls
had tried to write AMI dream about the pill
grim's progress to the celestial city or john
Bunyan had attempted an essay on the
human will.
Brighter than the light, frasher than thu
fountains, deeper than the seas are all these
Gospel themes Song has no melody. flowers
have no sweetness, sunset sky has no color
compared with these glorious themes. These
harvests of grace spring up quicker than we
can sickle them. Kindling pulpits with
their fire, and pro iucing revolutions with
their power, lighting up dying beds with
their glory, they are the sweetest thought
for the poet, and they are the most thrilling
illustration for the orator, and they offer
the most intense scene for the artist aud
they are to the ambassador of the sky all en-
thusiasm. Complete pardon for direct
guilt. Sweetest comfort for ghastlest
agony. Brightest hope for grimmest death.
Grandest resurrection for darkest sepulcher.
Oh, what gospel TO preachi Christ over
all IN it. His birth His suffering, His mira
cles His parallels, His sweat, His tears, His
blood, His atone.nent, His ntercession what
glorious themes? DO we exercise faith?
Christ is its object. Do we have love- 1t
fastens on Jesus. Have we fondness for
the church, 1t Is because Christ died for it.
Have we a hope of heaven IL is because
Jesus went ahead, the herald and the fore
runner.
The royal robe of Dsnetrius was 50 cost
ly, so beautiful, that after he ha1 put it OF
no one ever dared put it on; but this robe OF
Christ, richer than that, the poorest AMI thu
wanest and the worst may wear. "Where
sin abounded grace may much mora
abound"
'Oh, my sins, my sins" sail Martin
Luther to Staupitz; my SINS my sins"
The fact is that the brawny German student
had found a Latin Bible that had made him
quake, and nothing else ever did make him
quake; and when he found how, through
Christ he was parloned aud saved he wrote
to friend, saying; Come over and Join
US great and awful sinners saved by the
grace of God. You seem to be only a
slender sinner and You don't much extol the
mercy of God; but we who have been such
very awful sinners praise His grace the mora
now that we have been redeem ID
Can 1t be that you ara so desperately
egotistical that you feel yourself fu first rate
spiritual trim, and that fro n ther of the
hair to the tip of the toe you are scarless
and immaculate? What you need is a look
ing-glass, and here it is in ths Bible Poor
and wretched and miserable and blind and
naked from the crown of ths head to the
sole of the foot, full of wounds and putrefy-
ing sores. No health in US. And then take
the fact that Christ gathered up all the
notes against us and paid them AMI then
offered us the receipt,
And how much we need Him in our sor-
rows! We are Independent OF circumstances
il we have His grace. Why, He made