The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-09-27
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rHE NOTED DIvINws SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject "The Chleftain.o


sand. "-Cauiicles ". 10.
Tho most conspicuous character a. history
steps ont upon the platform. The finger
which, diamond with light. pointed down ta
Him from the Bethlehem sky was only n ratl.
hehtlon Of tho finger OK prophecy, the nngei
on RonealogY, the finger 20 chronology. The
finger oi events all Eve fingers pointing Ia
one direction. Christ d the OVERCOMING
figure Of oil Time lie Is the "vox humane
In ON music, tho grufefulest line in aI
sculpture, The most eNQuiFte mlnglIng %.
lights and shades IN an painting. the acme
OF nll ellmaXrs the dome Of an cnthcdralef
grandeur aud the perorntion % an language.
The Greek alphabet "a made mp Of twenty.
Tour letter., and when Christ compared Him.
sei 20 The first letter and the last letter. the Al
phh andt Omega. He appropriated 20 Him.
Nell ull the Hplendors that YOU can SMELL out
either with those two letters or all the Lett
tiers between them. az am the Aloha and
the Omega, the beginning and the end"
what does that Scripture mean which saws
OF Christ. che that cometh from above h
above allf. Il means that afteryou have piled
up all Alpine and Hlmalnyan attitudes. the
glory Of Christ would have 10 spread its
wings and descend a thousand leagues 10
touch those submits. Pelion. high noun
tain on Ihessaiy; Ossa, q high mountain
and Olympus. high mountain; but mvthol
ogy tells ms when the giants warred against
the gods they piled up those three noun.
tains, and from the top OF them proposed 10
scale the heavensi but the height was not
great enough, and there was a complete fail.
ure. And after all the giants-Isaiah and
raul prophetic and apostolic giants; Raph-
ael and Michael Angelo, artistic giants.
cheubim and seraphim aud archanQel co.
lestial glants-have failed 20 climb 10 the TOP
Of Chrsts glory they might all well unite 10
the words OF Paul. and cry out. "Aboye
air. "Above all' But Solomon IN nv
text prefers 20 call Chris "the ChleftaIn -
and so to-day hail Hin.
First, Christ must be chief in our preach.
ing. There are so many books on homile-
tics scattered through the country that all
laymen, as we'll as all clergymen, have made
gp their minds what sermons ought 10 be.
mat sermon Is the most effectual 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 reason why we should ring the
endless changes on few phrases
There are those who think that II an exhor.
tation or discourse have frequent mention
OF justification, sanetncation, covenant OF
works and covenant Of grace, therefore Il
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 Anglo-saxonism; of ali
the word treasures that we inherited from
the Latin and the Greek and the Indo-FurO.
pean, but we have q right TO marshalit 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.
and 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
nothing. They may be misused. but thew
have an imperial power. They are the
! bridge between soul and soul, between
| Almighty God and the human race What
| did God write upon the tables Of stonef
! Words What did Christ utter on Mount
/ Olivet2 Words. Out of what did Christ
/ strike the spark for the illumination of the
! uniyerse2 Out Of 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 ship2 What you need, my
/ fnends in all your work, in your Sab
Dath-school class, In your reformatory insti-
tutions, and what we all need, is to enlarge
! our vocabulary when we come to speak
about God and Christ and heaven. We ride
q few old words to death, when there is such
| illimitable resource. Shakespeare employed
! 10000 different words for dramatic purposes;
Milton employed 5000 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 a
! thousand words that we can manage, and
that makes us so stupid.
When we come to set forth the love oil
! Christ, we are going to take the tenderest
| phraseology wherever we find it, and IL II
has never been used in that direction before
all 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. And !
have to tell you that these standards of the
cross may be lifted into combinations infinite
and varieties everlasting. And let me say tc
| the young men who come from the theologi
cal seminaries into our services, and are after
awhile going to preach Jesus Christ, you will
have the largest liberty and 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
| pared with these glorious themes.t These
harvests Of grace spring up quicker than We
can sickle them. Kindling pulpits witt
their fire, and producing revolutions witt
their power, lighting up dying beds witt
their glory, they 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 pmbn sgad mr. Of fha elyU oil anfbt.
siasm. Complete pardon for direst guilt
Sweetest comfort for ghastlest agony
Brightest hope for. grimmest death. Grand
est resurrection for darkest sepucher. On
what gospel to preach! Christ the
Chief. His birth. His suffering, His mir
acles. His parallels. His sweat, His tears, His
blood, His atonement. His ntercesslon-what
glorious themes! Do we exercise faithi
Christ is its object Do we love2 1t fastens