The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-03-15
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE NOTED DIVINRs SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject. "rho Glorious Gospel"

OF the blessed God which was committed 30 |
my trust. II Timothy l., II.
Tho greatest novelty Of our time "a the COS
pei. ft "a so old that Is a new. As pottors
and artists are now attempting 20 faslson
pitchers and cups and curious ware like
those Of 1900 years ago recently brought up
from buried POmpeil, and such cups and
pitchers and curious ware are universally
admired, 80 anyone who can unshovel tho
real gospel from The mountains of stuff UNI
der which Il has been buried will be able 10
present something that viii attract the gaze
and admiration and adoption Of all the poo
pie. Il Is amazing what substitutes have
been presented for what my text calls "the
glorious gospel" There has boen hemi-
spherio apOstasy.
There are many people In this and all other
large ns3emblnges who have no more idea Of
what the gospel really is than they have OF
what Is contained In the fourteenth chapter
OF Iend-AYesta, the Bible Of the Hindoo, the
first copy OF which / ever saw purchased In
Calcutta last September. The old gospel
Il fifty feet under, and the work has been
done by the shoves Of those who have been
trying to contrive the philosophy Of religion.
There lie no philosophy aboutit Il is a plain
matter OF Bible statement and Of childlike
iaithl Some OF the theological seminaries
have been hotbeds OF inhdelity because they
have tried 10 teach the PHILOSOPHY Of reli-
gon." By the time that many a young
theological student gets half through his
preparatory course he Is 80 filed with
doubts about plenary inspection. and
the divinity Of Christ, and the questions
Of eternal destiny, that he Ia more at
for the lowest bench In the infant class
OF a Sunday-school than to become a teacher
and leader Of the people. The ablest theo-
| logical professor Is a Christian mother, who
out of her own experience can tell the 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
| kneels down and puts one arm around the
/ boy, and with her somewhat faded cheek
against the roseate cheek Of the little one
| consecrates him for time and eternity to Him
who said "Suffer them to come unto Me-"
What an awful work Paul made with the d.
| ID. and the LIDS, and the +, r. s. 8,
| when he cleared the decks Of the old gospel
/ ship by saying, mot 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 In.
spiration and exegesis and apologetics foT
the Almighty and writing out his own elab.
crate work on the philosophy OF religion, and
hts little grandchild coming up to him for
good night kiss he accidentally knocks of
the biggest book from the table, and It falls
on the head of the child, OF whom Christ Him
self said, "Out Of the mouths Of babes and
Buckllngs thou hast perfected praise" All,
my friends, the Bible wants no apologetics.
The throne OF the last Judgment wants no
apologetics. Eternity wants no sapologetics.
Scientists may tell US that natural light is
the propagation Of fluctuations In an 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 eyes BY the touch
Of the Divine Spirit have opened to
see the MONDAY Of pardon and peace. Scien-
lists 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 means,
but those only know what the gospel sound
Is who have heard the voice of Christ direct
ly, saying: "Thy sins are forgiven thee.
Go in peace" The theological dude unrolla
upon the plush of the exquisitely carved pull
pit a learned discourse showing that the
garden OF Eden was an allegory, and Solo
mons Song a rather indelcate love ditty,
and the book Of Job drama in which satan
was the star actor, and that Renan was three.
quarters right about 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 circumstances, and therefore
to be encouraged. Lord Of heaven and
earth, 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 Ii
our hands, but instead Of employing that
lantern to show ourselves and others thu
right way we are discussing lanterns, Their
shape, their SIZE their material, and which Il
the better light-kerosene, lamp oil or can
dle-and while we discuss It we stand al
around the lantern, so that we shut out thu
light from the multitudes who are stumbling
on the dark mountains Of sin and death
Twelve hundred dead birds were found on,
morning around Bartholdi's statue In New
York Harbor. They had dashed their liz
out against the lighthouse the night before
Poor things And the great lighthouse o
the gospel-how many high soaring thinker
have beaten all their religious life GU
against it, while it was intended for only on
thing, and that to show all Nations the wa,
into the harbor Of Gods mercy and to thu
crystalline wharves Of the heavenly city
where the immortals are waiting for nev
arrivals. Dead skylarks, when they Nigh
have been flying seraphs.
Here also come, covering up the old COS
pei some who think they can by law and eZ
posture Of crimes save the world, and fror
Portland, Me-, across to San Francisco, an
back again to New Orleans and Savannah
many Of the ministers have gone into the dc
tective business. Worldly reform by a
means, but unless it be also gospel reforr
1t will be dead failure. In New York its chic
| work has been to give us change of bosses
We had a Democratic boss, and now it is t
be a Republican boss, but the quarrel il
Who shall be the Republican? Politics wi
save the cities the same day that satan eva1
: gelizes perdition.
The glorious gospel of the blessed God a
spoken Of in my text win have more drawn
power, and when that gospel gets full swim
, 1t will have q momentum and q poWt
mlghtier than that Of the Atlantic Ocea
: when under the force Of the September equ
nox it strikes the Highlands Of the Navesinl
The meaning Of the word gospel" is "goo
e news" and my text says it ID glorious goo
news, and we must tell II in our ehnrehe