Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-06-01
TALMAGE ON CREEDS.
Preacher Would Rid Humanity Of
Ecclesiastical Dogma.
Moves for n Greed for All DcnOmina-
tlons Made Out of Scripture quo
tations-ThipGs That Ham
per Christians.
copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch, ]
Washington,

what bitterly revived this discourse
of DR.. Talmage has special interest,
The text is John Nj, "A: "Loose him
and let him GO
My Bible is at the place of this text
written all over with lead pencil
marks made at Bethany on the ruins
If the house of Mary and Martha and
Lazarus. We dismounted from our
horses on the way up from Jordan to
the Dead sea. Bethany was the sum-
mer evening retreat of Jesus. After
spending the day in the hot city of
Jerusalem he would come out there al
most every evening to the house of
his three friends. ! think the occu-
pants of that house were orphans,
for the father and mother are not
mentioned. But the son and two
daughters must have inherited prop
erty, for it must have been, judging
from what | saw of the foundations
and the size of the rooms, an opulent
home. Lazarus, the brother was now
at the head of the household, and his
sisters depended on him and were
proud of him, for he was very popular,
and everybody liked him, and these
girls were splendid girls-Martha, a
first-rate housekeeper, and Mary, a
spirituelle, somewhat dreamy, but af-
fectionate and us good girl as could
be found in all Palestine. But one
day Lazarus got sick. The sisters
were in CONSERVATION. Father gone,
and mother gone, they felt very nerv-
ous lest they lose their brother also.
Disease did its quick work. How the
girls hung over his pillow! Not much
sleep about that house-no sleep at
all.
From the characteristics otherwise
developed, l judge that Martha pre-
pared the medicines and made tempt
ing dishes of food for the poor aDpe-
tite of the sufferer, but Mary prayed
and sobbed. Worse and worse gets
Lazarus until the doctor announces
that he can do no more. The shrek
that went up from that household
when the last breath had been drawn
and the two sisters were being led
by sympathizers into the adjoining
room all those of us can imagine who
have had our own hearts broken. But
why was not Jesus there as He had SO
often been? Far away in the country
districts, preaching, healing other
sick, how unfortunate that this ON
nipotent Doctor had not been at that
domestic crisis in Bethany. When
at last Jesus arrived in Bethany, Laz
arus had been buried four days and
dissolution had taken place. In that
climate the breathless body disin
tegrates more rapidly than in ours
If, Immediately after decease, the
body had been awakened into life, un
believers might have said he was only
| in a comatose state or in a sort OF
trance and by some vigorous manipu
lation or powerful stimulant vitality
had been renewed. No! Four days
dead.
At the door of the sepulcher is {
crowd of people, but the three most
memorable are Jesus, who was the
family friend and the two bereft sis
ters. We went into the traditiona
tomb one December day, and it is deeI
down and dark, and with torches We
explored it. We found it all quiet
that afternoon of our visit, but thu
day spoken of in the Bible there wa!
present an excited multitude. | won
der what Jesus will do? He orders
the door of the grave removed, ant
then he'begins to descend the steps
Mary and Martha close after him, ant
the crowd after them. Deeper dow
into the shadows and deeper! Th'
hot tears of Jesus roll over his cheeks
and plash upon the back of Hi
hands. We're ever so many sorrows
compressed into so small space al
in that group pressing on down aftel
Christ, all the time bemoaning tha
He had not come before?
Now all the whispering and all tn,
crying and all the sounds of shut
fling feet are stopped. 1t is the 81
lence of expectancy. Death had con
quered, but now the vanquisher o
death confronted the scene. Amid th
awful hush Of the tomb, the famlia
name which Christ had often ha,
upon His lips in the hospitalities o
the village home came back to Hi
tongue, and with pathos and an al
mightiness of which the resurrection
of the last day shall only be an echo
He cries: Lazarus, come forth
The eyes of the slumbercr open, an,
he rises and comes to the foot of tn
steps and with great difficulty begin
to ascend, for the cerements of tn
tomb are yet on him, and his feet ar
fast and his hands are fast and tn
impediments to all his movements ar
so great that Jesus commands: "Tak
off these cerements! Remove thes
hindrances! Unfasten these grave
clothes! Loose him, and let him go.
Oh, am so glad that after the Lor
raised Lazarus He went on and con
manded the loosening of the cord
that bound his feet so that he coul
walk and the breaking of the cere
ments that bound his hands so tina
he could stretch out his arms in salt
tation and the tearing off of the bant
age from around his jaws so that h
could speak. What would resurrecte
life have been to Lazarus If he ha
not been freed from all those cripple
ments of his body? am glad tina
Christ commanded his complete emar
cipation, saying: "Loose him, and le
him CO."
The unfortunate thing now Is tha
30 many Christians are only half-lil
! Grated, They have been raised iToI