Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-03-10
CHRIST 4 conc EROR
REV. DR.. TALMAeg PUTS oLpTRuTHs
IN A NEW eAR5.


IN A NEW GAR5.
A Remarkable Sermon Full of the Wen
Known Preachers Apt Metaphors and
Glowing Illustrations A sermon For the
/ Unconvertcd.
BROOKLYN, March 4--From the star
! tling figure of the text chosen by Rev. DR..
I Talmage in his sermon in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle today the preacher brought
ont the radical truths Of the Christian
religion. 1t was sacramental day in the
Tabernacle. The subject os the sermon
/ was ''Christ the Conqueror," the text be-
4 ing Isaiah xiii, /, who is this that
cometh from Edonl, with dyed garments
from Bozrah--this that is glorious in his
apparel, travelling in the greatness of his
strength"
Edom and Bozrah, having been the
scene of fierce battle, when those words
are used here or in any other part of the
Bible they are figures of speech setting
forth scenes of severe conflict As now
we often use the word Waterloo to de-
scribe decisive contest of any kind so
the words Bozrah and Edon in this text
are figures of speech descriptive of
scene of great slaughter Whatever else
the prophet may have meant to describe,
he most certainly meant to depict the
Lord Jesus Christ saying, WHO is this
that cometh from Edom, with dyed gar
ments from Bozrah. travelling in the
greatness of his strength"
GOING TO BATTLE.
When general is about to 20 out to
the wars. a flag and sword are public
ly presented to him, and the maidens
bring flowers, and the young men load
the cannon, and the train starts amid
a huzza that browns The thunder of the
wheels and the shrek of the whistle. But
all this will give no idea Of the excite
ment that there must have been in heav.
en- when Christ started out ON the cam
paign Of the worlds conquest. If they
could have foreseen the siege that would
be laid to him, and the matreatment he
would suffer. and the burdens he would
have to carry, and the battles he would
nave W uSIl, L tililih ltitIt Nbutu nave
been million volunteers in heaven who
would have insisted on coming along
with him. But no; they only accompa-
MED him to the gate; their last shout
heard clear down to the earth; the space
between the two worlds bridged, with
great hosanna,
You know there is wide difference
between mans going of to battle and
coming back again. When he goes off,
ii is with epaulets untangied, with ban
ner unspecked, with horses sleek and
shining from the groom. All that there
is of struggle and pain is to come yet. So
it was with Christ. He had not yet
fought a battle. He was starting out,
and though this world did not give him
warm hearted greeting there was a
gentle mother who folded him in her
arms. And babe finds no difference
between a stable and palace, between
courtiers and camel drivers.
As Jesus stepped on the stage of this
world it was amid angelic shouts in the
galleries and amid the kindest maternal
ministrations. But soon hostile forces
began to gather. They Geployed from
the sanhedrin. They were detailed from
the standing army. They came ont from
the Ciesarean castles. The vagabonds in
the street joined the gentlemen of the
mansion. Spirits rode up from he'll, and
in long array there came a force together
that threatened to put to rout this newly
arrived one from heaven.
Jesus, now seeing the battle gathering,
lifted his own standard. But who gath
cred about it? How feeble the recruits!
A few shoramen, blind beggar, a wom-
an with an alabaster box. another wom-
an with two mites and group of friend
less, moneyless and positionless people
came to his standard. What chance was
there for him? Nazareth against him,
Bethlehem against him. CapernGum
against hin, Jerusalem against him,
Galilee against him, the courts against
him, the army against him, the throne
against him. the world against him, all
hell against him, No wonder they asked
him to surrender.
But he could not surrender, he could
not apologize, he could not take any
back steps. He had come to strike for
the deliverance of an enslaved race, and
he must do the work. Then they sent
ont their picllets to watch him They
saw i'll what house he went and when he
came out. They watched what he ate,
and who with; what he drank, and how
much. They did not dare 70 make their
final assault, for they knew not but that
behind him there might be a reinforce
ment that was not seen,
But at last the battle came 1t was to
be more fierce than Bozrah, more bloody
than Gettysburg, involving more than
Austerlitz, more combatants employed
than at Chalons Il ghastlicr conflict than
all the battles Of the earth put together,
though Edmund Burke's estimate of
thirty-five thousand millions of the slain
be accurate. The day was Friday The
hour was between ~ and 3 o'clock. The
field was a slight hillock northwest of
Jerusalem. The forces engaged were
earth and hell, joined as allies on one
side, and heaven, represented By soil
tary inhabitant, On the other.
HERO OF EARTH AND HEAVEN.
wasl think that that day the universe
looked on. The spirits that could be
spared from the heavenly temple and
could get conveyance Of wing or chariot
came down from above, and spirits get
ting Through from beneath came up;
and they listened, and they looked, and
they watched. Oh, what an uneven bat
tie! Two worlds armed on one side; an
unarmed man on the other. The regi-
ment of the Roman army mt that time
stationed at Jerusalem began the attack
They knew how TO fight, for they be-
longed to the most thoroughly drilled
army Of all the world With spears gilt
tering in the sun they charged up the
hill. The horses prance and rear amid
the excitement of the populace-the heels
Of the riders plunged il the fanks urg-
ing them on.
The wearons begin to tell on Christ