The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-05-30
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ga Cheerful Church"

TEXT: "Behold, thou art fair, my love.
-Solomon's Song iv.. l.
"Higher criticism says that this book Of
Solomon's song Is a love scene, a forlorn
maiden sighing for her beau. If 80, It Is an
unclean and debauched utterance inserted
in the pure word of God and is not fit fol
common reading. My opinion is that 1t is an
inspired ode setting forth the feeling oil
Christ toward the church and of the church
toward Christ. Christ is the bridegroom,
and the church Is the bride. The same
words we can utterto-day truthfully, whether
in regard to the church of God in general OF
this church in particular, "Behold, thou art
fair, my love-"
The past week has been one of prolonged
conRratulation for that we have for twenty.
five years been permitted to associate with
each other in the relation of pastor and peo-
sma5 band OF Christian disciples who from
various causes had become less and less until
they stood upon the very verge Of extinction
as church, and the question was being
aSitated from time to time whether It would
be possible to maintain a church life longer
Indeed. had not those men and women been
consecrated and earnest, they would have
surrendered to the adverse circumstances.
They marshaled congregational meeting,
and gathering up all the forces possible they
cast nineteen votes for pastor, all Of which
am happy to have received.
It was not through any spirit Of personal
courage or reckless adventure that was led
from one Of the warmest and most congenial
pastorates in Philadelphia that man ever
enjoyed to this then most uninvltiEg field,
but It was the feeling that God had called me
to the work, and was sure He would see me
through.
have thought that It might be profitable
TO US to state briefly what Kind Of q church
we have been trying to establish.
In the first place, remark that we have
been trying to build here Christian church
-distInctively such-in other words, q
church where We should preach the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. MYTHOLOGY
Is all gone into five letters-Jesus. Jesus,
the pardon OF all offenses. Jesus, the
foundation for all structures. Jesus, the
balm for all wounds. Jesus, the eye salve
for all blindness. Jesus, the guide through
all perplexities. Jesus, the hope for all dis
couragements. Jesus. the reform for all
wrongs.
have faith to believe that there is more
power in one drop Of the blood OF Jesus
Christ to cure the woes OF the world than
In an ocean full OF human quackery. Jesus
Is the grandest note in any minstrelsy. He
Is the brightest gem in any crown height
overtopping all height; the centre OF every
circumference; the circumference to every
centre; the pacifer of all turbulence the
umpire Of all disputes. Jesus, Jesus. 1t
His table all nations are to sit. Around His
throne all worlds are to revolve. He Is to
be the irradiation of the universe. Jesus,
Jesus! 1t is that truth that we have tried
to preach in this Tabernacle.
DO you ask more minutely what we be-
lieve? I can tell you. We have no dry,
withered, iuiceless theology. We believe in
God, the Father Almighty, maker Of heaven
and earth, the de!iverer OF the distressed,
the home for the homeless, the friend for the
friendless. We believs in Jesus Christ, able
20 save to the uttermost, Pardoning the
guilty, imputing His Righteousness to the
believer. We believe In the Holy Ghost,
the comforter, the sanctifer, cheering up
the heart in life's ills and kindling bright
lights In every dark landing place. We be-
lieve that the whole race Is so sunken in sin
that nothing but the omnipotent arm OF God
can ever lift it out. We believe In grace
free grace, sovereign grace, triumphant
grace, eternal grace. We believe in Bible
authentic in its statements, immaculate
In its teachings, glorious in its promises.
We believe in heaven, the abode Of the
righteous, and in hell, the residence of those
who are soul suicides-of their own free
choice refusing the divine mercy. We be-
lieve IN the salvation Of all men who accept
Christ by faith, be they sprinkled or i'm
mersed, worship they In cathedral or in log
cabin, believe they in Presbyterianism or
Episcopacy. dwell they under Italian skies
or in Siberian snoWstorms, be they Ethiopian
or American. All one in ChriSt. One Lord,
one faith, one baptism, on the way to heaven.
We built this Tabernrcle for the purpose of
setting forth these great theories OF the gos-
pei OF the Son of God. Would that we had
been more faithful In the pulpit Would
that we had been more faithful in the pew
I Iremark, further, that We have tried here
to build church distinctively unconven-
tional. Instead of asking, as some people
are disposed to do. how other people do il,
W. have asked the question how people do
not do it. Inperious custom has decided
that churches Shall be angular, cherries,
gloomy, unsympathetic, forgetting that what
men call pious gloom Is impious, and that
that church has the best architecture where
the people are the most comfortable, and
that that is the most efficient Christian ser
vice where the people are made most sick OF
sin and most anxious after Christ and heaven.
And so we called the architects together for
our first church building and said "Give US
an amphitheater Is, a large family
circle, gathered around fireplace.
For many years We had felt that an amphl-
theater was the only proper shape for an
audience room. The prominent architects
ofthe country said "It cannot be done.
You need church building" And so We
had plan after plan of churchly buildings
presented. but in due time God sent man
who grasped our idea and executed it. So
far from being failure, 1t satisfied our want,
and all our three churches were built on the
amphitheatrical plan, and scores OF churches
all over the country have adopted the same
plan.
And, my brethren and sisters, We fail In
our work Just In proportion as We try to be
like other churches. We believe that God in
tended every church, like every man, to be
individual, gathering up all its peculiarities
and idiosyncracies and hurting them all to-
ward some good and grand object. In other
words, no two churches ought ever to be just
alike Here is church, for instance, whose
object is to prepare philosophers and artists
and critics for heaven. God speed them IN
the difficult work Here is church, on the
other hand, that proposes to bring only the
poor into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, look.
Ing not after the rich. God speed such q
church in its undertaking But there Is a
larger idea that church may ytake-brlnging
in the rich and the poor, the wise and the
ignorant, the high and the low. otnat knsel-
ing beside each other shall be the man faring
sumptuously every day and the man who
could not get his breakfast. God speed such
q church!
Oh, my friends, we need to break away
from slavery to ecclesiastical custom. We
dare not sing If anybody hears US. We dare
not preach unless we have rounded off our
sentences to suit the criticism OF the world.
We dare not dress for church until we have
examined the fashion plates and would rather
stay at home than appear with coat or a
hat not sanctioned By custom. When will
the day OF delivernnce come to the church OF
God, when. instead of a dead religion laid
out in state on a catafalque Of pomp and in
obo1l bo1