The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-03-06
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS SERMON IN THE NEW
YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
Subject: ssThe Glorious Gospel"


' TEXT: According 20 the glorious gospel
OF the blessed God, which was committed to
my trust. II Timothy l.. II.
:. The greatest noTelty Of our time is the COS
pei. It is so old that it Is new. Az pottcrs
and artists arc now attempting - fashion
pitchers and .:.;pS ana curious ware like
those Of 1900 yeacs a,a rH"eutly brought up
from buried Ponlpci. and such cups and
pitchers and curious ware arc universally
admired, so anyone who can unshovel the
real gospel from the mountains OF stuff un-
der which it has been buried will be able to
present something that vii! attract the gaze
and admiration aud adoption Of all the peo-
gle. It Is amazing what substitutes have
been presented for what my text calls the
glorious gospel. Iaera has been Is hemi-
Spieric apostasy.
There are many people in this and all other
large assemblages who have no mors idea OF
what the gospel really Is than they havo OF
what is contained in the fourteenth chapter
of 2end-Avesta, the Bible of the Hndoo, the
first copy of which ever saw purchased in
Calcutta last September. The old gospel
is fifty feet under. and the work has been
done By the shoyels OF those who have been
trying to contrive the philosophy of religion
There is no philosophy aboutit. 1t is plain
faith! Some of the theological seminaries
have been hotbeds OF iutldelity. because they
have tried to teach the philosophy OF reli-
cion:" By the tins that many a young
theological student gets half through his
preparatory course he Is so filled with
doubts about plenary inspection. and
the divinity Of Christ. end the questions
OF eternal destiny, that he is more fit
for the lowest bench in the infant class
of Sunday-school than to become teachor
and leader OF the people. The ahlcst theo-
logical professor is a Christian MOTHER VINO
out of her own experience can tell tho four
year-old how beautiful Christ Was on earth,
and how beautiful He now is in heaven, and
how dearly He loves little folks. and then she
kueels down and puts oae arm around the
boy, and with her somewhat faded cheek
against the rosease cheek of the little ono
consecrates him for time and eternity to dim
who said, '!Suffer them to come unto Ale.
What an awful work Paul made with tue ID.
DIS, and the LIDS. and the F. t. SIS.
when he cleared the decks OF the old gospel
ship by saying, Not man. wise men. not
many noble, are called. but God hath chosen
the weak things Of the world to contound the
smighty."
There sits the dear Old thaoloSian with his
table piled up with all the great books on in
spiratiou and exaSesis aud apologeticS for
the Almighty and writing out his Own elaG-
orate work or the philosophy Of religion, and
his little grandcbi.d coming up to him foT
Eood night kiss he accidentally knocks OH
the biggest book from the table, and it falls
on the head OF the child. OF whom Christ Him
self seid. :.Out OF tho mouths of babes and
euciSlincs thou hast perfected praise" All,
my friends. the Bibie wants no apologesics.
The throne Of the ia5t Judgment wants no
apologetics. Eternity wants no apologctlcs.
Scientists may tell us that natural light IS
The .'propagation of undulRtlcES in IN elastic
medii.cl, and thus snt in yibratorJ motion by
the action Of luminous bodies but
no ono knows what gospel light Is
until mis- own blind eyes by the touch
see the MONDAY Of pardon and peace. Scien-
lists may tell us that natural sound is 1.-The
effect of an impression uiade 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 tho gospel sound
Is who have heard the voice OF Christ direct
ly, saving: "Thy sins ars forgi"en tdoe.
Go in peace" The theological dude unrolls
upon the plush of the eyquisitely carved pull
pit learned discourse showing that the
harden OF Eden WAS an ailegory, and Solo
mons Song q rathec tndelicate love ditty,
and the book Of Job a drama in which satan
was the star actor, and that Renan was three
nuarters right about miracles OF Jesus. and
That ths Bible was gradually evoiuted and
the best thought Of the different ages, Moses
aud David and Paul doing the best they
sould under the circumstances, and therefore
to be encouraged. Lord OF heaven aad
sarth, get US out of the London fog Of higher
criticism!
; 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 ourselves and others the
right way We are discussing lanterns, their
shape, their size, their material, and which is
hhe better light-Serosene. lamp oil or can
Me-and while We discuss it We stand all
around the lantern, so that we shut out the
light from the multtUdes who arc stumbling
On the dark mountains OF sin end death.
Twelve hundred dead birds were found one
morning around BarthOidi's statue in New
York Harhor. They had dashed their life
out against the lighthouse the night before.
Poor things And the great lighthouse OF
the gospel--how MAN. high soaring thinkers
have beaten ali their religious lie out
against It, while 1t was intended for only one
ching, and that to show oil Nations the way
into the harbor Of Gods mercy and to the
crystalline wharves Of the heavenly city,
where the immortals are waiting for new
arrivals. Dead skylarks. when they might
have been flying eeraphs.
Hero also come. covering up tho old Sos-
pei. some who think they can by law and eX-
posure Of crimes savs tha world, and from
Portland, Me-, across 20 San Francisco, and
back again to New Orleans and Savannah,
many Of the ministers have gone into tho de-
tective business. Worldly reform by all
means. but unless it be also gospel reform
It will be dead failure. In New York its chief
work has been to give uj change OF bosses
We had q Democratic boss and now 1t Is to
be Republican boss, but the quarrel is,
Who shall be the Republican? Politics will
save the cities the same day that satan evan
gelizes perdition.
Here comes another class OF people
who In pulpit and outside OF it cover UP the
gospel with the theory that 1t makes no tinal
difference what you believe or how You act,
you are bound for heaven anyhow. There
ehey slt side by side. in heaven: Garfield,
and Guiteau, who shot hlm; Lincoln, aud
John Wilkes Booth. who assassinatsd him;
Washington, and Thomas Paine. who SLAM
dered him; Mana Sahib. and the mission
aries whom he dubbed to death at Gavin
pur; Herod, and the children whom he
iuassacred; Paul. and Nero, who beheaded
him. As result Of the PRONUNCIATION 0i
such O nongrel and ,onSiOmeraie heaven
there are millions Of people in Chris
tendon who expect to 60 straight to heaven
from their seraSlios. and their inebrlatlon
and their suicides, when among the loudest
thunders that break over the basaltir Island
to which st. John was eypasriated WAS the
one in which God announced that ''the
Rbominable and the nurderers and who're
mongers and sorcerers and idolaters nnt
all liars. shall have their place in tho Lake
which burneth with fire and birthstone
which is the second DEATH / correct wha,
seid when declared the oospci was buried
fifty feet deep. It is buried 1000 feet deep
Had the glorious gospel 'been given full op
portunity, think before this the WORLD
would have had no need Of pulpit Or sermon