Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-01-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL AND ITS
HEAVENLY LIGHT.
The Text Chosen Being: According to
tho Glorious Gospel OF the Most
blessed God which Was Committed
to MY Trust"-Tim. i:lI.

The greatest novelty OF our time Is
the gospel. 1t is so old that il is new.
AS potters and artists are now attempt
ing to fashion pitchers and cups and
curious ware like those of 1900 years
ago recently brought up from buried
Pompeii, and such cups and pitchers
and curious ware are universally ad-
mired. SO any one who can unshovel
the real gospel from the mountains OF
stun under which it has been buried.
will be able to present something that
Will attract the gaze and admiration
and adoption Of all the people. 1t is
amazing what substitutes have been
presented for what my text calls The
Glorious Gospel" There has been a
hemisphere apostasy. There are many
people in this and all other large as
semblages who have no more idea OF
what the gospel really is than they
have of what is contained in the four
teenth chapter of Zend-Avesta. the BIZ
BILE OF the Hindoo, the first copy of
which | ever saw ! purchased in CAL
cutta, India, last September. The old
gospel is fifty feet under and the work
has been done by the shoyels OF those
who have been trying to contrive the
philosophy of religion. There is no
philosophy about it. 1t is plain mat
ter of bible statement and of child-like
faith. Some of the theological semi
naries have been hotbeds OF infidelity.
because they have tried to teach the
philosophy of religion" BY the time
that many a theological student gets
half through his preparatory course
he is SO filled with doubts about plen-
airy inspiration and the divinity OF
Christ and the questions of eternal
destiny that he is more 1T for the low
est branch in the infant class of Sun
day school than to become a teach
er and leader of the people. The
ablest theological professor is a
Christian mother. who. out OF her
own experience. can tell the 4-year-
old how beautiful Christ was on
earth and how beautiful he is in
heaven and how dearly he loves lit
tie folks, and then she kneels down and
puts one arm around the boy, and with
her somewhat faded cheek against the
roseate cheek of the little one, con-
socrates him for time and eternity to
Him who said. Suffer them to come
unto me-" What an awful work Paul
made with the d. DIS and the LII. DIS
and the F. r. SIS when he cleared the
decks OF the old gospel ship by saying:
Not many wise men. not many noble,
are called. but God hath chosen the
weak things OF the world to confound
the mighty"
There sits the dear old theologian
with his table piled up with all the
great books on inspiration and exegesis
and apologetics for the Almighty and
writing out his own elaborate work on
the philosophy Of religion. and his lit
tie grandchild. coming up to him for
q goodnight kiss. he accidentally
knocks on the biggest book from the
table and 1t falls on the head OF the
child, of whom Christ himself said:
"Out Of the mouths of babes and suck
lings thou hast perfected praise" All!
my friends, the bible wants no apclo-
ment wants no apologetics. Eternity
wants no apologetics. Scientists may
tell us that the natural light is the
propagation of undulations in an
elastic medium, and thus set in vibra-
tory motion by the action of luminous
bodies; but no one knows what gos-
pei light is until his own blind eyes.
hv tho tonah of tho nivfna Shirt haya
opened to see the MONDAY OF pardon
and peace. Scientists may tell US that
natural sound is the effect of an i'm
preston made on the organs of hearing
by an impulse of the air. caused by
collision Of bodies or by some other
means; but those only know what
the gospel sound is who have heard
the voice of Christ directly saying:
Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in
peace" The theological dude unrolls
upon the plush Of an exquisitely carved
pulpit a learned discourse showing that
the garden of Eden was an allegory.
and Solomon's song rather an indeli-
cate love ditty, and the book of Job
a drama in which Satan was the star
actor, and that Renan was three-quar-
tiers right about the miracles OF Jesus.
and that the bible was gradually evo-
luted and the best thought Of the diff
ferent ages, Moses and David and Paul
doing the best they could under the
circumstances. and therefore to be en-
couraged. Lord of heaven and earth.
get us out of the London fog of higher
criticism!
The night is dark and the way is
rough, and We have a lantern which
God has put in our hands; but instead
Of employing the lantern to show our
selves and others the right way we
are discussing lanterns, their shape.
their size. their material and which
Is the better light-kerosene. lamp oil
or candle; and while we discuss 1t. we
stand all around the lantern so that
we shut out the light from the multi
tudes who are stumbling on in the
dark mountains of sin and death.
Twelve hundred dead birds were found
one morning around Bartholdis statue
in New York harbor. They had dashed
their life out against the lighthouse
the night before. Poor things! And
the great lighthouse of the gospel
how many high-soaring thinkers have
beaten all their religious life out
against 1t. while 1t was intended for
only one thing. and that to show all
nations the way into the harbor OF
Gods mercy, and to the crystalline
wharves of the heavenly city. where
the immortals are waiting for new ar
rivals. Dead skylarks. when they
might have been flying seraphs.
Here also come, covering up the old
gospel. some who think they can by
law and exposure OF crime save the