The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1900-04-27
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SuNDAYs DISCOURSE erTHE NOTED
DIVINE
Subject; Religious Creeds-A Plea For the
Doing Away With the DOgmsties aud
For the Substituting OF Greed
founded on Faith in Christ.

wAsHISGToS, d. ca; a time when the
CID discussion % creeis Is being vigorously
and somewhat bitterly revived this dis
course OF Dr. Talmage has special in
hin ana let him go"
Ny Bible Il, az the place ot this text,
written ali over vita lead pencil marks
made al Bethany on the ruiGs OF the house
OF Mary aud Martha aud Lazarus. We dis
mounted from our horses on the way up
from Jordan 10 the Dead Sea. Bethany
was the summer evening" retreat OF Jesus
After spending the day in the hot city OF
Jerusalem He would come out there almost
every evening 10 the house OF His three
friends. | think the occupants OF that
house were orphans, for the father and
mother are not mentioned. But the son
and two daughters must have inherited
property, for IL 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, aud everybody liked him.
and these girls were splendid girls-Martha
ilrst rate housekeeper and Mary a splr-
ituelle, somewhat dreamy, but afiectionate
aud "a good girl as could be found in all
Palestine. But one day Lazarus got sick
The sisters We're In CONSERVATION. Father
gone and mother gone, they feel very ner-
yous lest they lose their brother also. Dis
ease did its quick work. How the girls
hung over his pillow! Not much sleep
about that house-no sleep gt all.
From the characteristics otherwise de-.
yeloped judge that Martha prepared the
medicines and made tempting dishes Of
food for the poor appetite Of the sufferer
but Mary prayed and sobbei. Worse and
worse ge:s Lazarus until the doctor an
nounces that he can DO 10 nore. The
shrek that went up from that household
xVf ha Ia - hra4 haI Irnu a,,l
the two sisters We're being led by SYM
pathizers into the adj Olning room all those
OF US can imagine who have had our own
hearts broken. But why was not Jesus
there. as He so often had beeD2 Far away
in the country districts, preaching healing
other sick. how unfortunate that this omni.
potent doctor had not been at that do
nestle crisis in Bethany. When at last
Jesus arrived ia Bethany, Lazarus had
been buried four days, and dissolution had
taken place. In that climate the breath
less body disintegrates more rapidly than
In ours. IL Immediately after decease the
body had been awakened into life. unbe-
lievers might have said he was only In
comatose state or Ia sort OF trance and
by some vigorous manipulation or power
ful stimulant vitality had been renewed.
No! Four days dead.
At the door OF tho sepulcher is crowd
OF people, but the three most memorable
are Jesus, VINO was the family friend, and
the two berett sisters. We went into the
traditional tomb one December day, and
II Is deep down and dark, aud 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 ex.
cited multitude. | wonder what Jesus will
do? He orders the door OF the grave re-
moved, and then He begins 20 descend the
steps, Mary and Martha close after Him
and the crowd after them. Deeper down
into the shadows and deeperl The hot
tears OF Jesus roll over His cheeks and
plash upon the backs CT His hands. We're
ever so many sorrows compressed into so
small "A space As in that group pressing on
1own after Christ, oil the time bemoaning
Shat He had not come before?
Now all the whispering sud all the cry
ing and all tho sounds OF shuffiiDg feet are
stopped. II is the silence Of expectancy.
Death has conquered but now the van
quisher OF death confronted the scene
Amid the awful hush OF the tomb the fa-
miliar name which C"rist had often had
upon His lips in the bospitalities of the vii
lage home came back TO His tongue, and
with pathos and an almiehtiness of which
the resurrection OF the last day shall only
be "a echo He cries, Lazarus, come forth"
Tbs eyes Of the slumberer open, and he
rises and comes TO the foot OF the steps and
with great difficulty begins to ascend, for
the ,erements OF the tomb are yet on bin,
fast, and the impediments TO all his move
ments are 80 great that Jesus commands:
Take of these cerementsl Remove these
hindrancesl Untasten these graveclothesl
Loose him and let him go!'
Oh, / am so glad that after the Lord
raised Lazarus He went on and commanded
the looseuing OF the cords that bound his
feet, so that be could walk, and the break
ing of OF the cerement that bound his
hands, so that he could stretch out his
arms in salutatiOn, and the tearing of OF
the bandage 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 cripplements Of
his body? / am GLAD that Christ COM
manded his complete emancipation, say
ing, "Loose him and let Ism CO."
, The unfortunate thing now is that so
many Christians are only half liberated.
They have been raised from the death and
burial of sin into spiritual life, but they
yet have the graveclOthes on them. They
are like Lazarus, bobbling up the stairs OF
the tomb bound hand ana foot, and the
object OF this sermon is TO help FREQ their
body and free their soul, and shall try 10
obey the Masters command that comes 10
me aud comes TO every minister OF re-
ligion, loose him and let him 60"
Many are bound hand and foot by re-
ligious creeds. Let no man misinterpret
me as antagonizlng creeds. have eight
or ten OF them-a creed about religion, q
creed about art, a creed abo1t social life,
a creed about government, and so on. A
creed Is something that man believes,
whether Il be written or unvritten. Tho
Presbyterian Church Is now agitnted
about its creed. Some good men In II are
for keeping IL because IL was framed from
the belief Of John Calvin. Other good men
in 1t want revision. / an with neither
party. Instead OF revision | want substi
tuition. was sorry 10 have the question
disturbed at all. The creed Old not hinder
Us from Offering the pardon and the con-
fort of the Gospel TO all men, and the West
minister Confession has not interfered with
me one minute. But now that the electric
lights have been turned on the imperfect
tions OF that creed-and everything that
man fashions Is imperiect-let Us put the
old creed respectfully aside and get BRAID
new one.
1t is impossible that people who lived
hundreds Of years ago should fashion an
appropriate creed for our times. John
Calvin was a great and good man. but he
died $50 years ago. could call the names
OF twenty living Presbyterian ministers Of
religion who could make a better creed
than John Calvin. The nineteenth century
ought not 10 be called 20 sit az the feet OF
the sixteenth.
But" you say. cit "a the same old Bible.
and John Gavin had that ns we'll ne the
present student oi the Scriptures" Yes;
80 Il is the same old sun Ia the heavens.
but in our time IL has gone 20 making
dagucrreotypes and photographs. IL IL
the same old water, but In our century IL
has gone to running steam engines. IL is
the same old electricity. but in cur time IL
has become a lightning footed errand boy.
SO Il is the Old Bible. but new applications,
new uses. new interpretations. 1ou must
remember that during the last 800 years
words have changed their meaning, ana
some Of them now mean % ore aud some