The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-12-04
SERMON OF TIE FUTURE
Rev. DR.. Talmage Describes It's
Probable Characteristics.
Il win be Full OF Living Christ ana
VIII Contain No Didactic T-chni-
oaIities-It VIII bs Short, Pop
ular and Powerful.

, Rev. Il. Dewitt lalmaBe, III the ioA
lowing sermon, presents theme that
will be found full of interest to Chris
tian workers. The text is.
Go thou. and preach the kingdom OF Cod
Luke tx, g.
The Gospel is TO be regnant over all
hearts, all circles, oil governments,
and all lands. The kingdom OF God
spoken of in the text is TO be univer-
sal kingdom, and just as wide as that
will be the realm sermonic. TO
thou and preach the kingdom OF God"
We hear a great deal in these days
about the coming man, and the coming
woman, and the coming time. Some
one ought to tell us of the coming SER
mon. 1t is n simple fact that every
body knows that most OF the sermons
of to-day do not reach the world The
vast majority of the people OF our
great cities never enter church.
The sermon of to-day carries along
with it the dead wood of all ages. Hun
drcds of years ago it was decided what
a sermon ought to be, and it is the at
tempt of many theological seminaries
and doctors of divinity to hew the
modern pulpit utterances into the same
old-style proportions. Booksellers will
tell you they dispose Of n hundred his
tories, a hundred novels, hundred
poems, to one book of sermons. What
is the matter? Some say the age is the
worst 81 all ages. 1t is better. Some
say religion is wearing out when 1T is
wearing in. Some say there are SO
many despise the Christian religion. l
answer, there never was an age when
there were so many Christians, or SO
many friends of Christianity as this
age has--our age; as to others a hun
dred to one. What is the matter, then?
1t is simply because our.sermon OF to-
day is not suited to the age. 1t is the
canal boat in an age of locomotive and
electric telegraph. The sermon will
have TO be shaken out OF the old
grooves, or it will not be heard and it
will not be read.
Before the world is converted the
sermon will have to be converted.
You might as well go into modern
Sedan or Gettysburg with bows and
arrows instead of rifles and bomb
shells and parks of artillery as to ex-
pect to conquer the world for God by
the old styles of sermonology. Jona-
than Edwards preached the sermons
best adapted to the age in which he
lived, but il those sermons were
preached now they would divide an
audience into two classes-those sound
asleep and those wanting to go home.
But there is coming sermou-who
will preach it have no idea; in what
what part of the earth it will be born
have no idea; in which denomination
of Christians it will be delivered, can
not guess. That coming sermon may
be born in the country meeting house
on the banks of the st. Lawrence. or
the Oregon. or the Ohio, or the Tom
bigbee, or the Alabama. The person
who shall deliver it may this moment
lie in a cradle under the shadow of the
s.erra Nevadas, or in a New England
farm house, or amid the rice fields OF
southern savannas. Or this moment
there may be some young man
in some of our theological
seminares. in the junior, or middle, or
senior class shaping that weapon of
power. Or there may be coming some
new baptism of the Holy Ghost on the
churches, so that some of US who now
stand in the watch towers Of Zion,
waking 20 the realization of our pres
ent inefiiciency, may preach it our
selves. That coming sermon NAV not
be % wears off. And let Us pray God
that its arrival may be fastened, while
/ announce to you what j think will
be the chief charac te ristics of that SER
mon when it does arrive; and | want
to make the remarks appropriate and
suggestive to all classes of Christian
workers.
First OF all, remark that that com
ing sermon will be full of a living
Ck rist, in cOntradistinction to didactit
te,hnicalties. A sermon may be full
of Christ though hardly mentioning
His name, and sermon may be empt,
of Christ while every sentence is repe
titious of His titles. The world want
living Christ, not a Christ standing a
The head Of formal system of theol
ogg, but n Christ who means pardon
and sympathy and coincidence an,
brotherhood and Heaven. A poo
mans Christ. An overworlked man.
Christ. An invalid's Christ. A farm
er's Christ. A merchants Christ. A
artisans Christ. An every mans Chris
A symmetrical and fnely-worde
system Of theology is well enough fo
theological classes. but it has no NOR
business in a pulpit than have til
technical phrases of an anatomist, or
physician, in the sick room of a patien
The world wants help, immediate an
world-uplifting, and it will com
through a sermon in which Christ sha
walk right down into the immorta
soul and take everlasting possession {
It, filing it as full of light as is tn
MONDAY armament. That sermon {
the future will not deal with men
the threadbare illustrations Of Jesu
Christ. In that coming sermon ther
will be instances of vicarious sacrifice
taken right out of everyday lif'
for there is not day SOM
body is not dying for others.
the physician, saving his diphtheri
patient by sacrificing his own life; {
the ship captain. going down with h
vessel. while he is getting his passeI
4 n