Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-02-21

c{odC lily / ter the huge building
SH I'M . had been filled to over
(S)S UE v flowing, the crowds hav-
eV~\NspNC ing begun to assemble
~ L~S0 fully two hours before
tYGS S9,\A the time fixed for open
N0SW ing the services. Rev.
E\Hp DR.. Talmage took for his
VIZ Z subject, "The Glorious
(M Gospel" the text chosen
~ being: According to the
glorious gospel Of the blessed God
which was committed to my trust
Tim, Iii
The greatest novelty of our time Is
the gospel. 1t is so old that it is new.
AS potters and artists are now attempt
ing TO fashion pitchers and cups and
curious ware like those of 1900 years
ago recently brought up from buried
Fompeif, and such cups and pitchers
ana curious ware are universally ad-
iiired, so anyone who can unshovel
the real gospel from the mountains of
SUM under which it has been buried.
VIII be able to present something that
+ VIII attract the gaze and admiration
ana adoption of all the people. 1t is
amazing what substitutes have been
presented for what my text calls "The
Glorious Gospel" There has been an
hemisphere apostasy. There are many
people in this and all other large as
semblages who have no more idea of
what the gospel really is than they
nave OF what is contained in the four
teenth chapter of Zend-Avesta, the BIZ
ole or the Hindoo, the first copy Of
which ever saw 1 purchased in Cal
cutta, India, last September. The old
gospel is fifty feet under and the work
mas been done by the shovels of those
VINO have been trying to contrive the
philosophy of religion. There is no phil
osophy about it. 1t is plain matter of
bible statement and of child-like faith.
some Of the theological seminaries have
been hotbeds Of infidelity, because they
nave tried to teach the philosophy of
religion" By the time that many a
young theological student gets half
through his preparatory course he is
so filled with doubts about plenary in
SEPARATION and the divinity of Christ and
the questions of eternal destiny that
he is more fit for the lowest branch in
the infant class Of a Sunday school
than to become a teacher and leader of
the people. The ablest theological pro-
tessor is Christian mother, who out
OF her own experience can tell the four
year-old how beautiful Christ was on
earth and how beautiful he is in heaven
and how dearly he loves little folks and
then she kneels down and puts one arm
around the boy and with her somewhat
faded cheek against the roseate cheek
OF the little one, consecrates him for
time and eternity to him who said, "Suf-
Ter them to come unto me-" What an
awful work Paul made with the d. DIS
and the LII. DIS and the F. r. SIS when
he cleared the decks of the old gospel
ship by saying: mot many wise men,
not many noble, are called, but God
hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the mighty"
There sits the dear old theologian
with his table piled up with all the
great books on inspiration and eXegesis
and apologetics for the Almighty and
writing out his own elaborate work on
the philosophy of religion, and his little
grandchild coming up to him for good
night kiss, he accidentally knocks off
the biggest book from the table and it
falls on the head of the child. of whom
Christ himself said: "Out of the mouths
of babes and stockings thou hast per-
fected praise" All! my friends, the
bible wants no apologetics. The throne
getics. Eternity wants no apologetics
Scientists may tell us that natural light
is the propagation of undulations in
an elastic medium and thus set in vi
bratory motion by the action of lumin-
Gus bodies" but no one knows what
gospel light is until his own blind eyes
by the touch of the Divine Spirit have
opened to see the MONDAY of pardon
and peace. Scientists may tell us that
natural sound is 1.-The effect of an i'm
preston made on the organs of hearing
by an impulse of the air, caused by
collision of bodies or by other meanS;",
but those only know what the gospel
sound is who have heard the voice of
Christ directly saying: Thy sins are
forgiven thee; go in peace" The theo-
logical dude unrolls upon the plush of
the exquisitely carved pulpit learned
discourse showing that the garden of
Eden was an allegory and Solomon's
song a rather indicate love ditty and
the book of Job drama in which satan
was the star actor and that Renan was
three-quarters right about the miracles
of Jesus and that the bible was gradu-
ally evoluted and the best thought of
the different ages, Moses and David and
Paul doing the best they could under
the circumstances and therefore to be
encouraged. Lord of heaven and earth,
get us out of the London fog of higher
criticismi
The night is dark and the way is
rough and we have lantern which God
has put in our hands; but instead of
employing that lantern to show our
selves and others the right way we are
discussing lanterns, their shape, their
size, their material and which is the
better light-kerosene, lamp oil or can
die; and while we discuss it we stand
all around the lantern so that we shut
out the light from the multitudes who
are stumbling on the dark mountains
of sin and death. Twelve hundred dead
birds were found one morning around
Bartholdis statue in New York harbor.
They had dashed their life out against
the lighthouse the night before. Poor
Is.rltl L. q