The climax. [volume] (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1887-1897, 1895-02-20
THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL
No Such Thing as the "Philos ophy
of Religion.
Seminaries That Teach II Are InfdeI
Hotbods-The Ablest Theological Pro-
fossor is Christian Mother
Who Teaches Her Child.

Rev DIR. Talmage took for his sub
/ ject last sunday: The Glorious Cos
pei; the text chosen being, Accord
ing to the glorious Gospel of the
blessed God. which was committed to
my trust" /. Tim, l. II.
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 800 years
ago. recently brought mp FROM buried
Pompeii, and such cups and pitchers
and curious ware are universally adj
Inired, SO any one who can uushovel
the real Gospel from the mountains of
stuff under which II has been buried,
will be able TO present something that
! viii attract the gaze, and admiration,
and adoption of all the people. 1t is
amazing what substitutes have been
presented for what my text calls The
Glorious Gospel" There has been
/ hemisphere apostacv. There are
many people in this and every other
| large assemblage who have no more
/ idea OF what the Gospel really is than
they have Of what is contained in the
] fourteenth chapter of Zend-Avesta, the
Bible Of the Hindoo. the first copy Of
which ] ever saw ! purchased in
Calcutta, India, last September. The
old Gospel is fifty feet under, and
the work has been done by the
shovels Of those who have been try
ing 10 contrive the philosophy Of
/ Religion. There is no philosophy about
/ IT. 1t is plain matter of Bible state
uent, and of childli1e faith. Some Of
/ the theological seminarics have been
! hCtbeds of infidelity. because they have
| tried TO teach the philosophy of Re
! ligion. BY the time that many theo-
/ logical student gets half through his
preparatory course ne is so filed with
/ doubts about plenary inspiration. and
/ the Divinity Of Christ, and the ques-
| tons Of eternal destiny, that he is
more fit for the lowest bench in the
/ infant class Of a Sunday-schoOl than
I To become a teacher and leader of
1 the people. The ablest theological
/ profession is Christian mother, who,
/ ont Of her Own experience can tell the
/ f0ur-vcar-Old how beautiful Christ was
] con- earth. and how beautiful he is now
| In Heaven. and how dearly he loves lit
] Tie folks and then she kneels down
/ and puts one arm around the boy. aud
/ with her somewhat faded cheek against
/ the ro>eate cheek of her little one,
| cousecrates him for time and eternity
/ 10 Him who said. suffer them TO come
unto me" What an awful work Paul
made with the u. d.. 5. and the LIDS
and the F.R.S.'s when he cleared the
/ decks of the old Gospel ship by saying:
/ Not 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 Inspirations, and Exc
gesis, and Apologetics for the Al
mighty, and writing out his own elab-
crate work on the Philosophy of Re
! ligion. and his little gyandchild coming
/ up to him for a goodnight kiss, he ac-
/ Cidentallv 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 sucllings thou hast
/ perfected praise" All! my friends,
/ the Bible wants no apologetics. The
Throne of the Last Judgment wants no
apologetics. Eternity wants no apollo
getics. Scientists may tell us that nat
ural light Is the propagation of undu-
/ lations in elastic medium. and thus set
in vibratory motion by the action of
/ luminous bodies" but no one knows
what Gospel Light is until his own
| blind ewes by the touch of the Divine
Spirit have opened to see the noon-day
| OF pardon and peace. Scientists may
/ tell us that natural sound is 1.-The eff
| feet of an impression made on the
organs of hearing by an impulse
of the air, caused by a 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 eNgUisitely 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 a 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 gradually evoluted, and the
best thought of the different ages.
Moses and David and Paul doing the
best they could under the circum-
stances, and, therefore, TO be encour-
aged. Lord Of Heaven and earth. get
us ont of the London fog of higher
criticisml
The night is dark and the way Is
rough, and we have a 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
candle; and while we discuss it we
stand all around the Lantern. so that
we shut out the light from the multi
tudes 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 things, And
the great Lighthouse of the Gospel
how many high-soaring thinkers have
beaten all their religious life out
against, while it was intended for only
one thing. and that to show ali nations
the way into the harhor of Gods
mercy. and TO the CRYSTALLINE wharves
of the Heavenly City, where the i'm
mortals are waiting for new arrivals
Dead skylarls when they might have
been flying seraphs.
Here also comes, covering mp the ole
Gospel. some who think they can by
law and exposure of crime save th'
world. and from Portland, Me, across
to san Francisco. and back again L
New Orleans and Savannah, many O
the ministers have gone into the detec
tive business. Worldly reform. by al
means: but unless it be also Gospel re
form it win be dead failure. In New
York its chief work has been to Civ
us a change Of bosses. We had demo
cratic boss and now 1t is to be repub
iican boss, but the quarrel. Who shall
be the republican? Politics will saw
the cities the same day that Satai
evangeiizes perdition-
Here comes another class of peopi'
who in pulpit and outside Of it cove
up tie Gospel with the theory that
! makes no final difference what you be