The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-09-07
JESUS. CHIEFTAIN.
DIR. yALMAGE'S SUNDAY THEME.
Christ the Alpha and Omega OF the
Christians Life.

TEXT: "The chiefest among ten thou
sand ;-Cantices v. 10.
The most conspicuous character Of history
steps out upon the platform. The finger
which. diamond with light pointed down to
Him from the Bethlehem skv was only q rsti-
fcation Of the finger Of prophecy, tkc lnger
of genealo:y. the finger Of chronology, the
finger Of cvents-all Eve fingers pointing in
one direction. Christ Is the overlapping
figure Of all time. II" is the ''roX humnna'
in all music the --atefulest line in al!
sculpture. the most exquisite minSlinS o.
Iigh:s and shades in all painting. the acme
vi all climaycs. the dome OF all cathedraied/
grandeur and the peroration Of all language
The Greek alphabet is made up Of tgeIlty-
four letters end when Christ cOmpHed Him
self 70 the lrsi letter and the last Letter tho Al
pha anlthc Omega. He appropriated TO Him
SELF all the splendors that you can spell out
either with those two lcttcrs or all the let
the Omega. the beginning and the end"
What does that Scripture mean which says
Of Christ. He that cometh from above is
ahov'' III: Ii means that after you have piled
up al|Alrine and HimalayaE attitudes. the
cLfry Of Christ would have TO spread It's
>tTincs and descent Il thousand leagues to
to:i"h those SUBMITS Pelion. 4 high mcrn-
fa;n OF Thessaly: Ossa. = high mountain.
Hnl OLYMPUS. a high mountain; but mythol~
OGy tells us when the giants warred against
the gofls they piled up those three noun
tains. and from tn" top Of them proposed 10
scale the heavens: but the height was not
great enough. and there was 4 complete fail
Ur". An.l after ai the gian!s-Isaiah and
rau'. prophetic and apostolic giants: Raph-
a"' and Michael AuSc!o. artistic giants;
"h"rIhim AMI S.raphjm and archangel. CO.
icStiG! yjant.-have fii",l to climb TO thatop
IF Christ'S glory they might all we'll unite in
he words OF Paul and cry OFT. "Ahove
EHr' "atoye all But Solomon in my
text prefers 70 raii Christ ''the Chieftain."
2nl 50 to-r:av hal Hin.
First Christ mpst BE- chief in our preach
ing. There IRE :" many books on homiIe-
tics S"HttHrHd through the country that all
laymeN. rs we'll as all cl"r@rnen. have male
IN their minds what sermons ought to be.
That sermon is the most etfectual which
most p1intetiy puts forth Christ rs the par
don Of nj sin and III. correction of all evil
individual. social. political. national. There
is no reason why we should ring the
endless; changes on Il few phrases.
There are those who think that If m exhor-
tation or a discourse have frequent mention
OF justification. sam"tiii"ation. covenant Of
works and covenant If grace. therefore It
must be profoundly evangelical. while they
are suspicious Of a discourse which presents
the same truth. but under different phrase
ology. Now. ] say there is nothing in all
the opulent realm Of AnSlo-Saxonism: Of all
the word treasures that we inherited from
the Latin and the Greek AMI the Indo-Euro-
pean hut We have right TO marsha! it in
religious discussion. Christ sets the exam
Pile. His illas rations were from the grass.
the flowers. the hnrEvarl fowl. th" crystals
Of salt, As we'll rs from the seas anil the stars;
AMI we d" not propose in onr S'lnday-school
teaching and in our pulpi address to be put
on the limits.
know that ther" is great ical said in
OUriay against words. as though they wero
nothing. They may be ms,!se:l. hut they
have an imperial power. They ara tho
bridge between soul anil soul between
Almighty God and the human race. What
did God writ. unon the tables of stonr?
Words What dill Christ litter on Mount
Olvet? Words Out CT what did Christ
strike the spar; for thu illumination OF the
universe? Out nf words. Let there be
light" and light was. OF course 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-s"hocl class. in your rcformatory iusti-
tutions. ana what we ali ncc1. is to enlarge
our vocabulary when wa come to speak
about God and C1rist aud heaven. We ride
few old words 10 death. when there is such
illimitabe resource. Shakespeare employed
5000 different words for dramatic purposes;
Milton employed 5000 different words for
poetic purposes: Rufus Choate employed
ever II coo different words for legal pur-
poses but the most of us have less than 4
thousand words that we can manage. and
that makes Us so stupid.
When we cone 10 set forth the love of
Christ. We are going 70 take the tenderest
phraseologr wherever we fird it, and if it
has never been used in that direction before
all the more shall we useit. When We come
10 speak Of the glory Of Christ the conquer
or. we are going to draw our similics from
triumphal arch and oratOrio and everything
grand and stupendous. TIL" French navy
have eighteen flags by which they give sig
nal. but those eighteen flags they can put
into &C. .0G3 different combinations. Aud I
have to tell Won that these stan!lrlS Of the
cross NAV be- lifted into combinations infinite
and varieties everlasting. And let me say TO
the Young men who come from the theoloGi-
cal saminaricS into our services. anI are after
awhile going to preach Jesus Christ. YOU will
have the largest liberty ana unlimited re-
source. You only have to present Christ in
your own way.
Brighter than the light. freSher than the
fountains. deeper than the seas. are all these
gospel themes. Song has no melody. flow
ers no sweetness, sunset sky no color COM
;arco with these glorious themes. These
harvests Of grace spring up quicker than wc
can sickle them. Kindling pulpits with
their Are. and producing revolutions with
their power. lighting up dying beds with
their glory. thev are the sweetest thought
for the poet. and they are the most thrilling
illustration for the orator. and they offer the
most intense scene for the artist, and they
are to the ambassador of the sky all enthu-
siasm. Complete pardon for direst guilt.
Sweetest comfort for ghastlieSt agony.
Brightest hope for srimmest death. Grand
est resurrection for darkest sapulcher Oh,
what a gospel to preach! Christ the
Chief. His birth, His suffering, His mir
acles. His parallels. His sweat. His tears. His
blood. His atonement. His sintereessioD-wha
glorious themes! Do we exercise faith?
Christ is its object. Do we love? 1t fistens
on Jesus. Have we Il fondness for the
church? It is because Christ died for it.
Have we hope of heaven? It is because
Jesus went there. the herald and the fore
runner. The royal robe of Demetrius was
so costly. so beautiful, that after ne had put
it off no one ever dared to put it on. but this
robe Of Christ, richer than that, the poorest
and the weakest. and the worst may wear,
"Where sin 'abounded, grace may much
more abound"
"Oh. my sins, my snsr' said Martin Luther
to Staupitz. my sins. my sinS!' The cict is
that the brawny German student had found
a Latin Bible that made him quake. and
nothing else ever did make him quak., and
when he found how, through Christ, lie was
pardoned and saved he wrote to u friend,
saying. "Come over and Join us great and
awful sinners saved by the grace OF God,
You seem to be only a slender sinner, and
You don't much extol the mercy Of God. hut
we that have been such very awful sinners
praise His .Graec tho moro now that we
have been redeemed Can it be that You
are 50 desperately esotistira! that YOU
feel yourself In first rate spiritual trim,
and that from the roc: of thu hair to tho