Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-03-05
DIR. TALMAGE
The Brooklyn Divine's: Sum-
day Sermon.

"'.~ t'' we tf S<1tfH. -LuEc W. ..
Christ on the mountain. is a frequent
study, We have seen F.n on the Mount of
Olives Mount Of Rcatitudes. Mount No{.fL,
Mount Calvary. Mount Of Ascenss-n. and it
r. glorious 70 study Him on these great nat
ural elevations. But bow IS it that never be
fore have SO noticed Him on the pls,a?
Amid the rocks high a. on the nroantain,
: hrist had Tnssed the night. f~.. now, at ear
~ dawn, He is coming de~n with some es-
peclal friends, sterr}nS from shelving t.
shelving, here ana there a loosenet srone
ro!ling down the steep sides aheAt Of Him,
until He gets III a level pfAr, SO that He car
H. approached wttacat climbing from all
sides He is on The level. Nv text SAYS,
he came dann with them and stn~d "a the
plain
No" that is wiat the -.orld wants to-day
more than an ythias elsa Christ on the
i-Vc', easy To - at, no ascending, no de-
scending. :approachable from all stde7-
ChrIse On the plain. The questiu, ar.cais ali
@oisecrated people to-dae y, y nat is the
matter with the minister's Many of them
are engaged IN titking holes in the Bible and
apologtyt-s for this and apologizing for
that In an age when the whole tendency is
- pay too little reverence to the Bible, they
reverence for the Bible. They, ere kpiidins
a fence on the wrong side cf the road; not
on the side where tire precipice is and off
which innltittdce are falling, but on the
upper srfe Of The road, SO that people will
nI fah up hill, Of which there is no danger.
There IS no more danger Of Biblicl.tfI, 81
too much reverence for the ScriptnrrS than
there is that astrologv will teto the place OF
astronomy, or alchemy -Aa place of chenis-
try, or the canal coap the place Of the linn
tied express rnis Train. What a theological
farce ]. IS. ministers fghtins against too
mecf reverence for the Scriptures; ministers
making apology for the Scriptures; ministers
DenfpnIIfD 70 no frianlc ri VIA GifJA 1Af
doing the Book more tanage than Ill the
blatant lntidels on all the earth. p trouble
Is our theoiosians are " II the mountain
IN a fight above The clouds about things
which they do not understand. Come down
on the plain cad stand beside Christ, @.ho
never preached a technicality ~ !. didacti-
cism. What do you, 0 VIZ headed ecclesi-
astic, know about the DEGREES of Gois Who
cares. a Zig abc". your sutiia osarlanisin or
your suprHlaparianlsm?
What a spectacle we have in our dement,.
patton tO-Gay-committees trying te pAtth
up an old creed made two or three hundred
years ago, SO that it will at on the Nine
tenth century, Why do not our millinery
establishments take out Of the garrets the
coal south hats which your great-grani-
mothers wore and try to fit them on the head
oil enc modern maiden? You cannot fS ZIP
q acknowledgement creed &c As to fit
our dine. Princeton wiz tc~ on a little
piece. and Union ec-AHlary will sew on a lit
Tie plece,sapa Aueghany seminary and Dan
Vllle seminary Will sew on other pieces, and
the thine the creed is done it will be as varie-
gated as Joseph's coat OF many colorss
link of having to change an old freed to
make it clear that NIL infants dying 20 to
heaven, am 70 glad that the committees
are going t" lot the babies in. Thank you.
30 many of them are already i'll that all the
htE of heaven look like a Sunday-school an
nlversary. Now what is the use of fixing Mp
a creed which left any doubt on that sub
Ject? No man ever doubted that all infants
dying go to heaven, hnlezs he be a Herod or
Il Charles Gnlteao. | was opposed to over
hauling the old creed at all. but now that it
has Been lifted up and its imperfections set
up in the sight Of the world, l say, Over
board with it and make a new creed.
There are to-day III our denomination five
hundred men who could make @ better one.
| could make a better one myself. AS we
are now IN process a. changing the creed,
and no one knows what WI are expected to
believe, or will two or three years hence be
expected to believe, | could not wait, and SO
! havemade a creed of my own which | in
tend to observe the rest of my life. l wrote
it down in my memorandum book some six
months ago, and it reads as follows: My
creed: The glorious Lord. 70 trust Him,
love Him and obey Him is all that is re-
CURED. To that creed | invite all mankind.
I. De Witt TalmaGe."
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 Of good Chris
tlans who have never joined the church and
are not counted among the Lords friends
bee use they cannot believe all the things
that they are required to believe. Onehalf
8 the things a man is expected to believe in
order to enter the church aud reach heaven
have no more to do with his salvation than
the question. How many volcanoes are there
in the noon or, How far apart from each
other are the rings of Saturn? or, How
many teeth there We're in the. lawbono with
which Sampson smote the Phillstines? be
heve ten thousand things. but none of them
have anything to do with my salvation ex
Cept these twO-I am a sinner and Chris
came to save me.
Musicians tel us that tn, octave consists
only Of five tones AMI two semitones, and al
the Handel and t~lay.lns and Mozarts ant
Wagners and SchumannS Of all ages must e.
then WORK within the range OF those fiv,
tones ami two senttoues. So | have to tel
YOU that all the tl,olosy that will be O
practical use in on; wor!l is made out o
the two facts o. hunan sintulness an
divine atOnennnt. Within that octav
swim, The Som OF Moses and tn
Lamb" the Christmas chant abov
Bethlehem and the Haileluia h OF all tn
cholrS standing On seas of glass.
Is there not some mode OF gettin, out c
the way of these esSentials, these supel
tiuitleS, these EMERGENCIES from the mai
issue Is there not some way of bringing til
church down out OF the mountain OF col
troversy anS conventionallsm and to put
ON TIL plain where Christ stands The pre-
ent attitude OF things is like this: In n famiI
struck district a table has been provided al
is headed with foot enough for all. tt
doors ot the meats iii. tn air. Everythlr
is ready. The pIatters are full. The chalic
are tull. Tn basket OF fruit are full w
not let the people in The door i,open. "
at there Is a cluster o. wise men .blOcaiI
up the door. discussing the contents Of t
caster standing midtab.e. They are shakil
their fist at each other.
One sav> thera l. to much vinegar in tn
caster, AMI one says there Is too much sHe
OF. AMI another SAYS thart is not the prop
proportion OF rel pepper. | say. 'tret o
of the way and let the hungty people cor
in Now our blessed Lo-i has provided
great supper. an the oxen AMI the fsclin
have been kiilai /. an | fruits fro all th@vlI
: varis ana orchards o. heaven crown (
table. The world has been invited to con
an thevilonk III, AMI they ar hangry, 4
tnA people wol4t pour III bv the millions
this worli wide table, but the door is block
- - >z-.~-- -. -