Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-02-19
CHRIST ON THE PLAIN.
DR.. TALMAOE'S CREED AND THE
NEEDS OF THE CHURCH.
Ins tead OF Revision OF Crsods. n New
Creed - The Work to he Done Dy
the Youn. Men OF the MIN
istry--Frss Salvation

JeS Us Buall reign WueTC' Luo sun
Doth his successive journey run.
Tho sermon which followed was appar-
emily suggested by tho storm of theologic-
al controversy now raging in the churches.
In these times when 1t Is quito uncerta in
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 6:17, "And
he camc down with them and stood in the
plain"
Christ on the mountains is a frequent
study. We have seen him on tho Mount
of Olives, Mount of Beatitudes, Mount
Moriah, Mount Calvary, Mount of Ascen-
sion, aud it is glorious to study Him on
these great natural elevations. But how
is it that never before have we noticed
Him on the plant Amid the rocks. high
up on the mountain, Christ had passed tho
night, but no ", at early dawn, He is COM
ing down with some especial friends, step
ping from shelving to shelving. here and
there loose stone rolling down the steep
sides ahead OF Him, until He gets in a
level place. so that He can DO approached
without climbing from all sides. He is on
the level My text says, "He came down
with them and stood in tho plain"
Now, that is what the world wants to-
day more than anything elsa Christ on
the level, easy TO got at no ascending, no
desc nding, appToachable from all sides
Christ on the plain. Tae question among
all consecrated people to-day is, what is
the matter with the ministersl Many of
them are engaged in picking holes in the
Biblo and apOlogizing for this and apollo
giziAg for that. In an age when the wnolo
tendency is to pay too littlo reverence to
the Bible, they are fighting against Bibli-
olatry or too much reverence for tho
Bible. They arc building fence
on the wrong side OF the road;
net on the side where the
precipice is and of which mu.titudes ara
falling, but, on tue upper side OF the road,
so that people will not fall uphill, of
which there is no danger. There is no
more danger CT Bibliolatry. or too much
reverence fer the Scriptures, than there is
that astrology viii take the place OF as
tronomy, or alchemy the place of chem
lstry, or the canal boat the place OF the
limited express rail-train. What a theo-
logical 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 inhdels
on all the earth. The trouble is our theol-
ogians are up in the mountain in a fight
above the clouds about things which they
do not understand Come down on the
plain and stand beside Christ, who never
preached technicality or a didacticism.
What do you, o Wise Headed Ecclesiastic
know about the DEGREES of Godl Who
cares a fig about your sublapsarianism or
you upralapssrianisml
! Wh6t q spectacle We have Of our de-
nomination to-day; committees trying to
patch up an old creed made two or three
hundred years ago, so that it will fit on
the nineteenth century. Why do not our
millinery establishments take out of the
garrets the coal-scuttle bonnets which
your great-grandmothers wore and try
to fit them on the head OF the modern
maidenl You cannot fix mp three hun
dred year old creed so as 10 fit our time
Princeton will sew on little piece, and
Union seminary will sew Cd a little piece,
aud Allegheny seminary and Danvlle
Seminary will sew on other pieces, and by
the time the creed is done it will be as
variegated as Joseph'S coat of many colors.
Think of having to change an old creed
TO make it clear that infants dying go to
heaven L am so glad that the cem-
mittees are going to let the babies in.
/ Thank you. So many of them arc al
ready in that all the hills OF heaven look
like Sunday school anniversary. Now,
what is the use OF fixing up creed which
left any doubt on the subjectl No man
ever doubted that all infants dying go to
heaven, unless be be Herod or a Charles
Giteau. was opposed TO ovorhauling
j 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 il and make new creed
! There are to day in our denomination five
/ hundred men who could make better
one. i could make better one myself. AS
( we are now in progress of changing the
creed and no one knows what we are ex-
| pected to believe, or will two or three
years hence be expected to believe,
could not wait and so 1 have creed OF
my own, which 1 intend TO observe the
rest of my life. / wrote it down in my
| memorandum book some six months ago,
| and it reads as follows: my creed: The
I glorious Lord. TO trust him, love him, and
obey him is all that is required. To that
4 N<COu ny 1(oNAlb
! 1almage.n
The reason Christianity has not made
more rapid advance Is because the people
are asked to believe too many things.
There are, l believe, to-day millions OF
good Christians who have never joined the
church and are not counted among the
/ Lords friends, because they cannot be-
lieve all the things that they are required
to believe One-half the things a man is
/ expected to believe in order to enter the
church and reach heaven have no more TO
do with his salvation than the question,
How many volcanoes are there in the
/ mooni or, How far apart from
/ each other are the rings of Saturn
or, How many teeth there we're
I in the jaw-bone with which Samson
smote the Philistines. / believe ten thou
sand things, but mono Of them have any
4 thing to do with my salvation, except
these two, am sinner and Christ came
\ to save me. Musicians tell US that the
octave consists only OF five tones and two
semi-tones, aud all the Handles and
Haydns and Mozarts and Waguers and
Schumanns Of all ages must do thoir work
within the range Of these ivo tones and
two somi-tones. So have to tell you
that all the theology that will be of practi-
cal use in our world ia made out OF the