The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-11-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subjects The Coming Sermon-Inspiration
For the Future Religious Exhortation
VIII BE Drawn From the Living Christ
Theology Must Take "a Back Seat.

For the Future Religious Exhortation
Will BE Drawn From the Living Christ
Theology Must Take n Back Seat.
copyright. Louis Klopscb. 1891
WASHINGTON, ID. C.-In this discourse DR.,
Taimage addresses all Christian workers
and describes what he thinks will be the
modes Of preaching the gospel in the future;
text, Romans Kill, Z, "Or ministry, let US
walt on our ministerlng."
Whilo | was seated on piazza OF n hotel
Mt Lexington, KY, one summer evening n
gentleman asked me, "What do YOU thInl;
of the coming sermon" l supposed he was
asking me In regard to some new discourse
OF DR.. Cumming OF London, who some-
times preached startling sermons. and I
replied, III have not seen It," But found
out afterwnrd that he meant to ask what [
thought would be the characteristics OF
the coming sermon OF the world the SER
mons OF the future, the word "Cumming"
as noun pronounced tho same ns tho
word coming" as mn adjective. But my
mistake suggested to me u very important
and practical theme, "The Coming Ser
mon."
Before the world is converted the stvle OF
religious discourse will have to be con-
verted. You might as well go into the
modern Sedan or Gettysburg with bows
and arrows, instead OF rifles and bombsbells
and parks OF artillery, as to expect TO con-
quer this world for God by the old STYLES
OF eXhortntlon and sermonolopy Jonn-
than Edwards preached the sermons most
adapted to the age in which he lived. but
II those sermons were preached now they
would divide nm audience into two classes
those sound asleep and those wanting to
go home.
But there is n discourse OF the future
Who VIII preach 1t have no idea. In what
part OF the earth It will be born have no
tdea. In which denomination OF Christians
II VIII DO delivered cannot guess. That
discourse OF exhortation may be born in
the country meeting house on tho banks OF
the ST. Lawrence orthe Oregon or the Ohio
or the Tombigbeo or the Alabama, The
person who shall deliver It may this mo-
ment be In cradle under the shadow of
the Sierra Nevadas or In n New England
farmhouse or amid the ricenelds Of South.
orn savannas, or this moment there NAV be
some young man In ono OF our theological
Summaries, In the junior or middle or sem
ior clnss, shipping that weapon OF power.
or there may be coming some now baptism
OF the Holy Ghost on the churches, so that
some OF us who now stand In the watch-
towers OF Zion, waking to n realization of
our present efficiency, may preach 1t our
selves. That coming discourse may not bo
fifty yenrs or. And let us prny God that
its arrival may bo hastened while / nn-
nounce to you what Ithink will be the chief
characteristics OF that discourse or exhor-
make my remarks appropriate and sug.
gestive to all classes OF Christian workers.
First OF all remark that TINT future re-
liglous discourse will be full of living
Christ In contradlstlnction to dldactie
technlcallties. A discourse may be full OF
Christ though hardly mentioning His name,
ana sermon may be Ompty OF Christ while
every sentence is repettious OF His titles.
The world wants living Christ, not a
Christ standing at the head OF q formal sys-
tenn OF theology, but Christ who means
| pardon and sympathy and coincidence and
brotherhood ana life and heaven, II poor
mans Christ, rich mans Christ an over.
worked mans Christ, an invalld's Christ, u
farmers Christ, merchants Christ, an ar.
| tisan's Christ, an every mans Christ.
symmetrical and fine worded system ol
theology Is well enough for the theological
classes, but 1t has no more business In u
| pulpit than have the technical phrases OF
I'm anatomist or psychologist or n physl.
clan In the slckroom OF patient. The
world wants help, immediate and world
uplifting, and 1t will come through n dis.
| course in which Christ shall walk right
down into the immortal soul and take ever.
lasting possession OF 1t, filling it rs full Of
light as Is this MONDAY armament.
That sermon OF exhortntion OF the future
| will not deal with men In the threadbare
Illustrations OF Jesus Christ. In that com :
ing address there will be instances ol
vicarious suffering taken right out oi
everyday lie, for there Is not day when
somebody is not dying for others-as the
| physician saving his dlphtheritic patient
by sacrificing his own life; rs the ship cap
| tain going down with his vessel while lie
Is getting .4is passengers into tho lifeboat;
as the fireman consuming In the burning
building whilo he is taking child out OF n
| fourth story window; rs In summer the
! strong swimmer at East Hampton or Long
Branch or Cape May or Lake George HIM
| self perlshed trying to rescue the drown
| ing; as the newspaper boy one summer,
/ supporting his mother for some years, his
| invalid mother, when offered by gentle
| man fifty cents to get some special paper.
| and he got 1t and rushed up In his anxiety
| to deliver 1t and was crushed under the
| wheels OF the train and lay ON the grnss
| with only strength enough to say, "Oh
| what will become OF my poor, sick mother
now?" Vicarlous sufferlng-tho world Is
| full OF 1t. An engineer said to me on II
| locomotive In Dakota: "We men seem to
be coming to a better appreciation than
we used to. Did you see that account tho
| other day OF an engineer who to save his
| passengers stuck to his post, and when he
was found dead in tho locomotive which
| was upside down, he was found still smil-
| ing, his hand on the ir-brake?" And as
the enGineer said 1t to me he put his hand
on the alr-bfake to illustrate his meaning,
| and looked at me and thought: "You
would be just MS much hero in the same
crisis"
Oh, in that religious discourse OF tho
| future there will be living Illustrations
taken out from everyday life OF vicarlous
| suffering-illustrations that will ering to
mind the ghastlier sacrifice OF Him, who in
the high places OF the lleld. ON the cross,
fought our battles, and endured our strug-
} gle and died our death. German sculp-
/ tor made an image of Christ, ana he asked
| his little child, two years old, who 1t was,
aud che said, "That must be some very
| great man." The sculptor was dlspleasod
| with the criticism, so he got another block
| OF marble and chiseled away on 1t two or
three years, and then he brought In his
little child four or Ave years of age, and
said to her, "Who do you think that is?"
| She said, "That must be the One who took
| little children In His arms and blessed
them" Then the sculptor was satisfied.
Oh, my friends, what the world wants il
not n cold Christ, not m intellectual
Christ, not severely maglsterlal Christ,
but n loving Christ, spreading out His
arms OF sympathy to press the whole world
to His loving heart.
But remark again that the religious
discourse OF the future will have to be
short. Condensation Is demanded by the
| nge in which we live. No more need OF
long introductions and long applications
and so many divisions to discourse that
1t may be said to be hydra -headed. In
| from the pulpit. There were few books,
and there were no newspapers, and there
was little travel from place to place, and
| all nd iaka a t..la