Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-13
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent New York Divlne's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "The Chieftain."


winch, diamond with light, pointed down t.
Him from the Bethlehem sky was only rati
ncation OF the finger Of prophecy, the flnge
OF genealogy, the finger of chronology, thu
finger Of events-all five fingers pointing il
one direction. Christ is the ovartoppins
figure of all time. He is the ''vox humana'
In all music, the gracefulest line in al
sculpture, the most exquisite mingling o
lights and shades in all painting. the acme
OF all climaxes. the dome of all cathedralet
grandeur and the peroration of all language
The Greek alphabet is made up of twenty
four letters. and when Christ compared Him.
self 10 the first letter and the last letter, the Al
pha and the Omega. He appropriated to Him.
self all the splendors that you can spell out
either with those two letters or all the let
tiers between them. ri am the Alpha and
the Omega, the beginning and the end"
What does that Scripture mean which saws
OF Christ. "He that compth from above is
above alp" IT means that after You have piled
up all Alpine and IIimalayan attitudes. the
glory OF Christ would have TO spread IFS
wings and descend thousand leagues to
touch those SUBMITS. Pelion, high noun
tain OF TheSsaly; Ossa, a high mountain.
and olympus. a high mountain: but myihol-
Ogy tells us when the giants warred against
the gois they piled up those three noun
tains, and from the top of them proposed to
scale the heavens; but the height was not
great enough, and there was a complete fail
ure. And after all tine giants-Isaah and
Paul, prophetic and apostolic giants; Raph-
ael and Michael Angelo, artistic giants:
cherubim and seraphjm and archangel, &C.
leStial giants-have failel to climb TO the top
of Christ's glory they might all well unite in
the words Of Paul. and cry out, "Above
'all.' "Above alIv' But Solomon in nv
text prefers to call Christ "the Chleftain,"
and so to-day hail Him.
First. Christ must be chief in our preacl.-
Ing. There are 50 many books on homilc-
tics scattered through the country that all
laymen, as we'll as all clergymen, have made
M their minds what sermons ought to be.
That sermon is the most eifectual which
most pOintedly puts forth Christ as the par
don OF all sin and the correction of all evil
individual, social. political, national, There
is no reaN OF why we should ring the
endless changes on few phrases.
There are those who think that il an exhor-
tation or discourse have frequent mention
OF justification. sanctlncation, covenant of
works and covenant of grace, therefore Il
must be profoundly evangelical. while they
are suspicious OF discourse which presents
the same truth, but under different phrase
ology. Now, l say there is nothing in all
the Opulent realm Of Anglo-Saxonism, of all
the wOrd treasures that we inherited from
the Latin aud the Greek AMI the IndO-Euro-
rean. but we have right to marshal 1t in
religious discussion. Christ sets the exam
pie. His illustrations were from the grass
the flowers. the barnyard fowl, the CRYSTALS
OF salt. as well as from the seas and the stars:
anil we do not propose in our Sunday-school
teaching and in our pulpit address to be put
on the limits.
know that there is great deal said in
our day against words, as though they were
They may be misused. but they
have IN imperial power. They arc The
bridge between soul and soul between
Almighty God and the human race. What
did God write upon the tables Of stone?
Words. What did Christ utter on Mount
Olvet? Words. Out of what did Christ
strike the spark for the illumination of the
Out of words. ''Let there be
light" and light was. or 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-sch0ol class, in your reformatory insti-
tutlons, and what we all need, is to enlarge
our vocabulary when we come to speak
about God and Christ and heaven. We ride
a few old words to death, when there is such
illimitable resource. Shakespeare employed
$4,000 different words for dramatic purposes;
Milton employed 1000 different words for
poetic purposes; Rufus Choate employed
over II 900 different words for legal pur-
poses, but the most of us have less than q
thousand words that we can manage, and
that makes us SO stupid.
When we come to set forth the love of
Christ, we are going 10 take the tenderest
wherever we find it, and If it
has never been used In that direction before
nil the more shall we useit. When we come
to speak of the glory of Christ the conquer
or, we are going to draw our SMILES from
triumphal arch and oratorio and everything
grand and stupendous. The French navy
have eighteen flags by which they give sig
nal, but those eighteen flags they can put
into $4,000 different combinations. Aud L
have to tell you that these standards of the
cross may be lifted into combinations infinite
and varieties everlasting. And let me say TO
heyOung men who come from the theologi-
.al seminares into our services, and are after
awhile going to preach Jesus Christ, you will
lave the largest liberty and unlimited re-
ource. You only have to present Christ in
TOur own way.
Brighter than the light, fresher than tho
ountains, deeper than the seas, are all these
gospel themes. Song has no melody, flow
rs no sweetness, sunset sky no color COM
,2rod with these glorious themes. Those
larTests of grace spring up quicker than we
AN sickle them. Klndling pulpits with
heir fire, and producing revolutions with |
heir power, lighting up dying beds with |
heir glory, they are the sweetest thought |
or the poet. and they are the most thrilling |
Illustration for the orator. and they offer the |!
most Intense scene for the artist, and they |
re 10 the ambassador Of the sky all enthu- |
iasm. Complete pardon for direst guilt, |
weetcst comfort for ghastiest agony. |
brightest hope for grmmest delth. Grand
st resurrection for darkest sepucher. Oh, |
hat gospel to preachl Christ tbs
hief. His BIRTH MS suffering, His mir.
cles. His parallels, His sweat. His tears, His
lood, His atonement, His intercessiOn-what
loriOus themesl Do we exercise faith? |
hrlst is its object. Do we love? 1t fastens
n Jesus. Have we fondness for the
lurch2 1t is because Christ del for it.
ave we hope of heaven? 1t Is because
esus went there, the herald and the fore
inner. The royal robe of Demetrius was
, costly, so beautiful that after he hal put
of no one ever dared TO put it on, but this
)be of Christ, richer than that, the poorest
nd the weakest, and the worst may wear,
Where sin abounded, grace may mu,i
orc abound"
"Oh, my sins, my sinsI" said Martin Lutinc-:
Staupitz, "my sins, my SINS" The fact is
at the brawny German student had found
Latin Bible that made him quake, And
)thing else ever did make him quake, and
hen he found how, through Christ, he was
lrdoned and saved he wrote to friend,
ying, "Come over and join us great anl
yful sinners saved by the grace of God,
au seem to be only slender sinner. nm
III don't much extoi the mercy OF God, but
g that have been such very awful sinners
-aise His Grace tho more now that we
I'VE been redeemed" Can it be that you
. 50 desperately egotistical that you