The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1892-08-13
CHRIST ABOVE ALL.
DR.. Talmage Demonstrates That
Christ Ranks Above All
Others.
Lessons Drawn From the History Of
Nations to Illustrate Some
Sound Truths.

WooA 40 outiIicu Io-ctilIloIlC, Cilc
text being, John 8: 81, "He that
cometh 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
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 the one direction. Christ
is the overlapping figure of all time.
He is the vox humane in all music,
the most graceful line in oil sculpture,
the most exquisite mingling OF lights
and shades in all painting, the acme
of all climaxes, the dome of all cathc-
dralled grandeur, and the peroration
OF all splendid language.
The Greek alphabet is made up o:
"a letters, and when Christ compared
himself to the first letter and the last
letter, the alpha and the omega, he
appropriated to himself all tho
splendors that you can spell out
either with those two letters and al!
letters between them. II 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, "above ALL"
It means, after you have piled up
all Alphine and Himalayan attitudes.
the glory of Christ would have TO
spreadits wings. and descenda thols-
and leagues to touch those SUBMITS.
Pelion, a high mountain of Thessaly,
Ossa, a high mountain, and Olympus,
a high mountain; but mythology tells
us when the giants wared against the
gods they piled up those three
mountains, and from the top of them
proposed
TO SCALE THE HEAVENS;
but the height vas not great enough,
and there was Il complete failure. And
after all the giants-1saiah ana Paul,
prophetic and apostolic giants;
cherubim and seraphim and arch.
angel, celestial giants-have failed to
climb to the top OF Christ's glorv.:
they might all we'll unitein the words
of the text and say, "He that cometh
from above is above ALL"
know that there is a great deal
said in III day against words, a.
though they were nothing. They may
be misused, but they have an imperial
power.
When we come to set forth the lc ys
Of Christ we are going to take tho
tenderest phraseology wherever we
find it and If it has never been used in
that direction before, all the more we
shall use it.
Brighter than the light, fresher than
the 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.
The royal robe OF Demetrius was So
costly, SO beautiful, that after he hAd
put it off no one ever dared put it On;
but this robe OF Christ, + cher THIN
that, the poorest and the wanest and
the worst may wear.
Christ is above all in dying alleviA.
tions. l have not any sympathy
with the morbidity abroad about oor
demise. The emperor of Constanti-
nople arranged that on the day OF his
the stone mason should
come and consult him about his
tombstone that after e. while he would
need. And there are men who ars.
monomaniacal on the subject of do
piarture from this life by death, AMI
the more they think OF it the less thes
are prepared to 20. This is an ua-
not worthy of you, not
worthy Of me.
- Saladin, the greatest e. 'nqueror OF
his day, while dying, ordered the tunic
he had on him to be caar,ed after his
death or a spear at the head OF his
army, and then tho soldier ever and
anon, should stop and Sly, "Behold.
all that is lett of saladin, the emperor
and conqueror! OF all he states he
conquered, Of all the wealth he accu.
mulated, nothing did he retain but
this shroud." l have no sympathy
with such behavior or such
ABs.1sp DEMONSTRATIONS,
or with mach that we hear uttered i'll
regard to departure from this life to
the next. There is a common.sensi-
cal idea Oh this subject t:'at you and
/ need to consider-that there are
only two styles Of departure.
A Thousand feet underground, by
light Of torch toiling in a miners shaft,
q ledge of rock may fall upon us, and
we may die = miners death: Far out
at sea, falling from the slippery rat.
lines and broken on the halyards, We
may die a sailors death. o. mission
OF mercy in hospital, amid broken
bones and .eeking leprosies and rag
ing ~fevers, we may die q philanthro-
pist's death. On the fed OF battle,
serving God and our country, slugs
through the heart, the gun carriage
may roll over us, and we may die a
patriots death. But. after all, thers
are only two styles of departure-the
death Of the righteous and the death
OF the wicked-and we al! want to die
$ho fopcoor