St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-05-26
TALMAGE ON CREEDS.
Preacher Would RID Humanity Of
Ecclesiastical Dogma.

Moves for q Greed for All Denonina-
tions Made Osf OF scripture Q.o-
tations-ThinEs That Han.
Per Christsans.'
rCopyrfght. 1890. by Louis klopsch.l
Washington.
At time when the old discussion of
creeds is being vigorously and some
what bitterly revived this discourse
of DIR. Talmage has special interest.
The text is John XII, ~: Loose him
and let him 60"
My Bible is ut the place of this text
written all over with lead pencil
marks made at Bethany on the ruins
Of 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. l 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 l 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 as 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 appe-
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 a
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 traditional
tomb one December day, and it is deep
down and dark. and with torches we
explored it. We found it all quiet
that afternoon of our visit, but the
day spoken of in the Bible there was
present an excited multitude. l won
der what Jesus will do? He orders
the door of the grave removed, and
then he begins to descend the steps.
Mary and Martha close after him. and
the crowd after them. Deeper down
into the shadows and deeper! The
hot tears Of .JessE foil over his cheeks
and plsln upon the back Of His
hands.s We're ever SO many sorrows
compressed into 50 small a space as
HI that group pressing on down after
Christ, all the time bemoaning that
He had not come before?
Now all the whispering and all the
crying and all the sounds of shuf-
fing feet are stopped. 1t is the 81
lence Of expectancy. Death had con-
quered, but now the vanquisher Of
death confronted the scene. Amid the
awful hush of the tomb, the familiar
name which Christ had often had
upon His lips in the hospitalities OF
the village home came back to His
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 slumberer open, and
he rises and comes to the foot OF the
steps and with greet difficulty begins
to ascend. for the csrements OF the
tomb are yet on him. and his feet are
fast and his hands are fast and the
impediments to all his movements are
SO great that Jesus commands: Take
on these cerements! Remove these
kindrances. Unfasten these grave
clothes! Loose him. and let him CO."
Ou. L sttH 50 HA0SA lu0c uAeSA sAa~ ASoA =
raised Lazarus He went on and COM
manded the loosening of the cords
that bound his feet so that he could
walk and the breaking of the cere-
ments that bound his hands SO that
he could stretch out his arms in salu-
tation and the tearing OF Of the band
age from around his jaws SO that he
could speak What would resurrected
life have been to Lazarus il he had
not been freed from all those cripple
ments Of his body? ! am glad that
Christ commanded his complete eman-
cipation. saying: "Loose him. and let
him 60"
The unfortunate thing now is that
SO many Christians cre only half-lib-
Grated. They have been raised from
the death and burial Of sin into spirit
ual life, but they vet have the grave
clothes on them They are, like Lax
arus. hobbling up the stairs of the
tomb bound hand and foot, and the
object of this sermon is to help free
their body and free their souls, and