The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1900-12-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
FOR THE WORLDS DISEN-
THRALLMENT
A Sermon Especially Appropriate for
the Christmas Season-The Mission of
the Saviour OF the worid-Proof That
God IL Love.


way the sacrifices made for the worlds
dlsenthralment and deliverance. HIS
text is T. John w., 16. God is love-"
Perilous undertaking would it be to
attempt comparison between the at
tributes of God. They are not like
mountain range, with here and there
a higher peak, nor like the ocean, with
here and there a profounder depth. we
cannot measure infnities. We wouid
not dare to say whether his omnipo-
tence, or omniscience, or omnipresence,
or immutability, or wisdom, or Justice
or love is the greater attribute, but
the one mentioned in my text makes
deeper impression upon us than any
other. 1t was evidently very old
man who wrote the chapter from
which take the text. John was not
| in his dotage, as Prof. Eichhorn assert
| ed but you can tell by the repetitions
in the epistle and the rambling style
and that he called grown people little
children" that the author was probably
an octogenarian. Yet Paul, in mid
life mastering an audience of Athenian
critics on Mars hill, said nothing
stronger or more important than did
the venerable John when he wrote the
three words of my text, God is love-
Indeed the older one gets the more
he appreciates this attribute. The
harshness and the combativeness and
the severity have gone out of the old
man, and he is more lenient and aware
of his own faults, is more disposed to
make excuses for the faults Of others,
and he frequently calculates, Poor
human nature!" The young minister
preached three sermons on the justice
Of God and one on the love of God, but
when he got old he preached three
sermons on the love of God and one on
the justice of God
| Christ's Descent to Earth.
If high intelligences looked down and
saw what was going on, they must have
prophesied determination, complete ex-
termination, of these offenders of Jeho-
yah. But no! Who is that coming
out of the throne room of heaven?
Who is that coming out of the palaces
of the eternal? 1t is the Son Of the
Emperor Of the universe. Down the
stairs of the high heavens he comes
till he reaches the cold air of Deem
Der night in Palestine and amid the
bleatings of sheep and the lowing of
cattle and the moaning of camels and
| the banter of the herdsmen takes his
first sleep on earth and for SO years
invites the wandering race to return
to God and happiness and heaven
They were the longest SO years ever
known in heaven. Among many high
intelligences, what Impotence to get
| him back! The Infinite Father looked
down and saw his Son slapped and
spit on and supperless and homeless,
and then. amid horrors that made the
monday heavens turn black in the
face, his body and soul parted. And
all for what? Why allow the Crown
| Prince to come on such an errand and
endure such sorrows and die such
death? 1t was to invite the human
race to put down It's antipathies and
resistance. 1t was because God is
| love-"
Now, there is nothing beautiful in a
shipwreck. We go down to look at
the battered and split hulk of an old
ship on Long Island or New Jersey
coast. 1t excites our interest. We
wonder when and how 1t came ashore
and whether 1t was the recklessness
of a pilot or a storm before which
nothing could bear up. Human nature
wrecked may interest the inhabitants
of other worlds as curiosity, but
there is nothing lovely in that which
has foundered on the rocks of sin and
sorrow. Yet it was in that condition
Of moral break up that heaven moved
to the rescue. 1t was loneliness hover
ing over deformity. 1t was the life
boat putting out into the surf that at
tempted its demolition. 1t was har-
mony plying discord. 1t was a living
God putting his arms around a re-
creant world.
Our Worlds Wlckedness.
But for this divine feeling I think
our world would long ago have been
demolished. Just think of the organ
lied wickedness Of the nations See
the denominations continental! Behold
the false religions that hoist Moham-
med and Buddha and Confuciusi Look
at the Koran and the Shastra and the
Zend-Avesta that would crowd out of
the world the Holy Scriptures! Look
at war, digging its trenches for the
dead across the hemispheresl See the
grant cities with their holocaust of