Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1895-09-05


ton to Christians Everywherc-C Christ
the Object of Faith and Love and Hope.
Treasures In Heaven.
NEW YORK. Sept. For his sermon for
this forenoon, Rev. DIR. Talmngc selects a
topic which must prove full of inspiration
TO Christians everywhere. The title of his
discourse is, "Tho Chicftain," and tho
text, "The chiefest among ten thousand,
Canticlos V, 10.
The most conspicuous character of his
tory steps out upon the platform. Tho fin
ger which, diamonded with light, pointed
down to him from the Bethlehem sky, was
only a ratification of the finger of prophc-
cy, the finger of gcncalogy, the finger of
chronology the flngeT of events--all five
fingers pointing in one direction. Christ
is the overlapping figure Of all time. He
is the "vox humana' in all music, the
Rraccfulcst line in all sculpture, the most
exquisite mingling Of lights and shades in
all painting, the acme of all climaxcs, the
dome of all cathcdraled grandeur and the
peroration of all language
The Greek alphabet is made up of 81 let
tiers, and when Christ compared himself
to the first letter and the last letter, the
Alpha and the Omega, he appropriated TO
himself all the splendors that you can
spell out either with those two letters or
all tho letters between thcm, Il am tho
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and
the end"
The Chieftain.
What does that Scripture mean which
SAYS of Christ, "He that cometh from
above Is above all?' 1t means after you
have piled up oil Alpine and Himalayan
attitudes the glory OF Christ would have
to spread its wings and descend II thousand
leagues to touch those SUBMITS Pelion,
a high mountain of Thessaly; Ossa, high
mountain, and Olympus n high noun
tain but mythology tells us when tho Fi-
ants warred against the gods they piled
up these three mountains, and from tho
top of them proposed to scale the heavens,
but the height was not great enough, and
there was n complete failure. And after
all the giants-Isaiah and Paul, prophetic
and apostolic giants; Raphael and Michael
Angelo, artistic giants; cherubim and Sc
raphim and archangel, celestial giants
have failed to climb 10 the top of Christs
glory they might all we'll unto in the
words of Paul and cry out, above all!'
above all!" But Solomon in my text
prefers to call Christ Tho Chieftain,
and so today hail him.
First, Christ must be chief in our preach
ing There are s many books on homlet-
les scattered through the country that all
laymen, as well as all clergymen, have
made up their minds what sermons ought
to be. That sermon is the most cffectual
which most pointedly puts forth Christ as
the pardon of all sin and tho correction of
all evil-individual, social, political, ma
tionsl. There is no reason why we should
ring the endless changes on a few phrases.
There are those who think that if an ex-
hortation or discourse have frequent
mention Of justification, sanctificaton,
covenant of works and covenant of grace,
therefore it must DO profoundly evangel
ical, while they are suspicious of a discourse
which presents tho same truth, but under
different phraseoogy. Now I say there is
nothing in all the opulcnt realm of Anglo
Saxonism, of all the word treasures that
we inherited from the Latin and the Greek
and the Indo- European, but we have a
right to marshal it in religious discussion
Christ sets the example. His illustrations
were from the grass, the flowers, the barn
yard fowl, the crystals of salt, as we'll al
from the seas and the stars and we do not
propose in our Sunday school teaching an q
in our pulpit address TO be put on tho
limits.
Words and Their Power.
l know that there is a great deal said in
our day against words, as though they
We're nothing, They may be misused, bus
they have an imperial power. They are the
bridge between soul and soul, between Al
mighty God and the human race. What
did Christ write upon the tables Of stone?
Words. What did Christ utter on Mount
Olivet? Words Out Of what did Christ
strike the spark for the illumination of
the universe? Out of words Let there
hA 1irxIt IL.
thought is the cargo, and words are only
the ship; but how fast would your cargo
get on without the ship? What you need,
my friends, in all your work, in your sab
bath school class, in your reformatory in
situations and what we all need is to en-
large our vocabulary when we como to
speak about God and Christ and heaven.
We ride few old words to death, when
there is such illilnitable resource. Shakes
peare employed II, 600 different words for
dramatic purposes; Milton employed s, 0OG
different words for poetic purposes; Ru-
fus Choate employed over II 900 different
words for legal purposes, but the most Of
us have less than 200 words that we can
manage, and that makes us so stupid.
When we como to set forth the love of
Christ we are going to take the tenderest
phraseology wherever we find it, and if it
fore all the moro shall we use it, When we
come to speak of the glory of Christ the
conqucror we are going to draw our SINH
les from triumphal arch and oratoro and
everything grand and stupendous The
French navy have 1S flags by which they
give signal, bug those Is flags thcy can
put into $4,000 different combinations.
And have to tell you that these standards
of the cross may be lifted into combina
tions infinite and varieties everlasting.
And let me say to these young men who
come from the theological scminarios into
our services and are after awhile, going
TO preach Jesus Christ: You will have the
largest liberty and unlimited resource
You only have to present Christ in your
own way.
Christ's Power.
Brighter than tho light fresher than
the fountains, deeper than the seas, are
all these gospel themes Song has no mel
ody, flowers no sweetness, sunset sky no
color compared with these glorious themes
These lnrvests of grace spring up quicker
than We can sickle them. Kindling pulpits
with their fire and producing revolutions
with their power, lighting up dying beds
with their glory, they are the sweetest
thought for the poet and they are the
most thrilling illustration for the orator
and they offer tho most intense scene for
the artist and they are to the ambassador
of the sky all enthusiasm. Complete par