Milford chronicle., 1895-02-22
OLD, YET EVER NEW.
REV. DR.. TALMAeE ON 1.-THE eLoRI
GUS GOSPEL"

GUS GOSPEL"
Thousands Turned Away From the Acad
smy of Music In New Yorlx-A Hug,
Building Filled to Overlooking PIair
Gospel Talk.
NEW YORK, Feb. 17.-Seyeral thousand
persons were turned away this afternoon
from the doors of the Academy Of Music
after the huge building had been filed &c
over1owing, the crowds having begun tC
assemble fully two hours before the time
fixed for opening the services Rev. DR..
Talmage took for his subject The Glori-
ous Gospel, - the text chosen being, "Ac-
oording to the glorious gospel of the bless
cd God, which was committed to my
trust Il Timothy !, ID.
The greatest novelty of our time is the
, gospel 1t is so old that it is new. As
potters and artists are now attempting to
fashion pitchers and cups and curious
ware like those Of 1, 300 years ago recently
brought up from buried Pompeii, and
such cups and pitchers and curious ware
are universally admired, so any one who
can unshovel the real gospel from the
mountains Of stuff under which it has
been buried will be able to present some
thing that will attract the gaze and ad-
miration and adoption of all the people.
It is amazing what substitutes have been
Presented for what my text calls the
glorious gospel" There has been hemi-
spherio apostasy.
There are many people in this and all
other large assemblages who have no more
idea of what the gospel really is than they
have Of what is contained in the four
teenth chapter of Zend- Avesta, the Bible
of the Hindoo the first copy Of which /
ever saw / purchased in Calcutta last
September. The old gospel is 80 feet un-
der, and the work has been done by the
shovels Of those who have been trying to
oontrive the philosophy Of religion. There
Is no philosophy about it. 1t is a plain
matter of Bible statement and Of childlike
faith. Some Of the theological seminaries
have been hotbeds of inadelity because
they have tried to teach the philosophy Of
/ religion" By the time that many young
| theological student gets half through his
preparatory course he is so filed with
doubts about plenary inspiration, and the
divinity of Christ, and the questions Of
eternal destiny that he is more fit for the
lowest bench in the infant class of a Sun
day school than to become teacher and
leader of the people. The ablest theolog-
ical professor is a Christian mother who
out Of her own experience can tell the
4 4-year-old how beautiful Christ was on
earth, and how beautiful be now 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, oonseoratss him for
time and eternity to him who said, Suffer !
them to come unto me. What an awful /
work Paul made with the d. D. s, and .
the LII. D. s, and the F. r. S. C when he .
cleared the decks Of the old gospel ship by 4
saying, mot many wise men, not many
noble, are called but God hath chosen the
weak things Of the world to oonfound the
mighty"
The Gospel Light.
There sits the dear old theologian with
his table piled up with all the great books
on inspiration and exegesis and apologet-
ics for the Almighty and writing out.his
own elaborate work on the philosopher
religion, and his little grandchild coming
up to him for a good night kiss he acci-
dentally knocks of 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 suoklings thou
hast perfected praise. All, my friends,
the Bible wants no apologetics. The
throne Of the last judgment wants no
apologetics. Eternity wants no apologet-
ics. 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 luminous
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. Sci
entists may tell us that natural sound is
the effect of an impression made on the
organs Of hearing by an impulse Of the air,
caused by collision of bodies or by other
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-
logial dude unrolls upon the plush Of the
exquisitely carved pulpit a learned dis
course showing that the garden Of Eden
was an allegory, and Solomon's Song a !,
rather indelioate love ditty, and the book
Of Job a drama in which satan was the I
star actor and that Renan was three-quar- !
ters right about the miracles Of Jesus, and :
that the Bible was gradually evoluted and
the best thought Of the different ages,
and David and Paul doing the best !
they could under the circumstances, and
therefore to be encouraged Lord Of heav- !
IN and earth, get us out Of the London :
fog of higher criticism
The night is dark, and the way isrough,
and we have a lantern which God has put !
n our hands, but instead of employing l
hat lantern to show ourselves and others :
ihe right way we are discussing lanterns, )
heir shape, their size, their material and :
which is the better light, kerosene, lamp )
Ill or candle, and while we discuss 1t we =
itand all around the lantern, so that we =
hut out the light from the multitudes who
ire stumbling on the dark mountains of
in and death. Twelve hundred dead birds d
we're found one morning around Barthol-
IFS statue in New York harbor. They
lad dashed their life out against the light 7
louse the night before Poor thingsl And
he great lighthouse Of the gospel-hoW =
many high soaring thinkers have beaten :,
II their religious lifen out against it, while y
t was intended for only one thing, and J,
hat to show all nations the way into the u y
iarbor Of Gods mercy and to the crystal Il
Inc wharves of the heavenly city, where :,
he immortals are waiting for new ar !, =
ivals. Dead skylarks when they might :,
lave been flying seraphs. 4
A False Idea. 4
Here also come, covering up the old gos-
el, some who think they can by law and 9,
xposure of crime save the world, and i
rom Portland, Me-, across TO San Fran !,
isco and back again TO New Orleans and .,
avannah many Of the ministers have :,
one into the detective business. Worldly \,
eform by all means, but unless it be also -
ospel reform it will be dead failure. In Z.
lew York its chief work has been to give u
s a change of bosses. We had a Dem :,
cratic boss, and now It is to be a Repub- =,
can boss, but the quarrel is, Who shall be =,
be Republican, Politics will save the u
tiles the same day that satan evangelizes ~
erdition. AZ
Here comes another class Of people who AZ
D pulpit and outside Of 1t cover up the oe
ospel with the theory that it makes no tb
nal difference what you believe or how be