The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-08-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Preeminent!"

TEXT: "He that eometh from a6ore &
1bore au."-John i'll, 81.
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 q
ratification OF the finger Of prophecy. the
finger Of genealogy, the finger OF chronology,
the finger Of events-all five fingers pointing
i'm one direction. Christ is the overtoppiug
figure of all time. He is the vo1 humana in
iall music the gracefulest line in all sculp-
Iture. the most exquisite mingling of lights
;climaIes, the dome Of all cathedraled grand
eur and the peroration Of all splendid Ian.
IguaSe.
The Greek alphabet is made up of twenty
four letters, and when Christ compared
himself to the first letter and the last letter.
the s,pha and the omega, He appropriated
to Himself all the splendors that you can
all 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"
1t means, after you have piled up all AL
pine and Himalayan attitudes, the glory OF
Christ would have to spread its wings and
descend thousand leagues to touca those
SUBMITS. Pelion, high mountain OF Tnes.
sally: Ossa, high mountain, and Olympus,
q high mountain; but mythology tells us
when the giants warred against the gods
they piled up these three mountains and
from the top of them proposed 10 scale the
heavens; but the height was not great
enough and there was q complete failure.
And after all the giants-Isaiah and Paul,
prophetic and apostolic giants: Raphael and
Michael Angelo, artistic giants; cherubim
end seraphfm and archangei, celestial
gisnts-have failed to climb to the top OF
Christ's 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
homIetics 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 few phrases. There are
those who think that if an e1hortatiou or q
discourse have frequent mention OF Justln-
cation, sancti6cation, covenant OF WORKS
and covenant OF grace, that therefore IL
must be profoundly evangelical, while they
are suspicious OF q discourse which presents
the same truth, but under different phrase
ology.
Now, say there is nothing in all the opu-
lent realm Of Auglo-Saxonisn or all the
word treasurers that We inherited from the
Latin and the Greek and the 1ndo- European
but we have a right to marshal 1t in relig-
ious discussion. Christ sets the example.
his illustrations were from the grass, the
flowers, the spittle, the salve, the barnyard
fowl, the crystals Of salt, as well as from the
seas and 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 great deal said In
our day against words as though they were
nothing. They may be inisused, 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 stones? Words.
What did Christ utter on Mount OLIVER?
Words. Out Of what did Christ strike the
spark for the Illumination OF the universe!
Ont OF words. Let there be light" and
light was. or 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 few old words TO death
when there is such illimitable resource.
Shakespeare employed fifteen thousand dlf-
ferent words for dramatic purposes. Milton
employed eight thousand different words TOR
poetic purposes, Rufus Choate employed
over eleven thousand different words LOT
lepal purposes but the most OF Us have less
than a thousand words that We can manage,
less than Ave hundred, and that makes Us so
stupid.
When we come to set forth the love OF
fo foHa fho
phraseology wherever we find 1t, and u IL
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
triumphal arch and oratorio and everything
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 I 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 Cnrlst
Won will have the largest liberty ano un-
limited resource. You only have to present
Christ IN your own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ In the
,ssverest argument ever penned, and 9ohn
Bunyan preached Christ in the sublimesr
sisSory ever composed. Edward Payson,
sick and exhausted, leaned up against the
,dde Of the pulpit and weptout his discourse.
While George Whiteaeld, with the manner.
and the voice, aud the start OF an actor,
overwhelmed his auditory. It would have
been different thing II Jonathan Edwards
had tried to write and dream about the pill
lRrim's progress to the celestial city or John
Bunyan had attempted an essay on the
human will.
Brighter than the light, tresher 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. These
harvests or grace spring up quicker than we
can sickle them. kindling pulpits with
their fire, and producing 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. and
they are to the ambassador Of the SKY all en-
thusiasm. Complete pardon for direct
guilt. Sweetest comfort for ghastlies'
agony. Brightest hope for grimmest death
Grandest resurrection for darkest sepulcher.
Oh, what gospel to preach! Christ over
all In it, His birth, His suffering, His mira.
cles, His parallels His sweat, His tears, His
blood, His atone.nent His intercession, what
glorious themese DO we exercise faith;
Christ Is its object Do we have love? II
fastens on Jesus Have We q fondness for
the church? 1t Is because Christ died for it.
Have we hope Of heaven? It is because
Jesus went ahead, the herald and the fore