Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1900-05-10
'Dr.TALMAGE SERMON
THE GREAT DIVlNE'S ELOQUENT
MESSAGE.
subjeck Religious Crecds-A Plea For the
Doing Awsv With the Dug,natics and
Fer the Substituting Of a Greed
Rounded on Faith in Christ.
fCopvFlght i4a.i

old discussion Of creeds Is being vigorously
and somewhat bitterly revived tbir dis
course Of DR. Talmeee las a special In
terest. The text is John XII. il. Loose
Lin ard let him go"
Ny Bible Il. at the place OF this text,
written all over with lead pencils marks
made at Bethany CT the rains 81 the house
Of Nary ard Martha and Lazarus. We dis
mounted rom our horses On the way up
IRON jordan to the Dead Sea. Bethany
was the summer evening retreat Cf Jesus.
After spending the day in the hot city OF
Jeru3alem He would come our there almost
every evening to the house Of His three
friends. ] think the occupants Of that
house were orphans. for the father md
/ mother are not mentioned. But the son
AMI tive daughters must have Inherited
property, for it must have been. judging
from what ! saw III the foundations and
the size Of the rooms, An opuient home.
Lazarus, the brother. was nov at the head
d tie household. aud his sisters depended
on him and were proud of him, for he was
very popular, and everybody liked him,
and these girl. We're sIleadIG ririS-Nartha
d frs rate Iouseheeper and Mary II SUR
~ltuelle, emewhat dreamy. bat ufIrcti0nute,
and n good IA girl "a could be found in all
Palestine. Bat one day Lazarus got sick.
lie sisters We're III conoternati0n. Father
gone and mother gone, they feel very ner-
vous lest they lose their brother also. Dis
ease did its quick work. How tho g,rIs
hung over his pillow, Not much sleep
about that hOuse-nO sleep at all.
From tho characteristic. otherwise de-
veioped Judge that Martha prepared the
medicines and made tempting dishes Of
food Tor the poor appetite of the ,uG.rer.
but Mary prayed and sobbed. Worse and
worse ge:s Lazarus unit! tho doctor an
hounces that he can do no more. The
shrek that went UP from thai household
wien the last trptth ir,t t..,t lr.,v, nrI
tho two sisters werc being led by sym
pathizers into the adjoining room al those
OF Us can imagine who have had oar own
hearts broken. But why Was not Jesus
! there. rs He 50 often had been: Far way
In the country district>. preaching, healing
other sick, how un~fortunatethat this omni-
potent doctor had not been ut tuHt 10.
nestle crisis III Bethany. When at last
Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had
been buried fOnr days, and dissolution had
taken pace. III that climate til" breath
less body d~isintcgrates more rapidly than
III our-. II Immediately after 1ecease the
DoiE had been awakened into life, unhe-
levers might have said he was only in Il
cOmatOse state or ia Il sort Of trance and
by some vigorous manipulation or power
lui stlmulant vitality had been renewed.
! NO, Four days dead.
Al the door Of the sepulcher is a crowd
OF people, but the three most memorable
are Jesus, VINO was the family friend, and
the two berctt sisters. We went into the
traditional tomb one December 1av. and
it is deep down and DART, and with torches
we explored il. We found it al! Qniet that
afternoon Of our visit, bu. the day spoken
Of In the Bible there was present an ex-
cited mu!titute. | 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 tlcn. Deeper down
into the shadows and deeper rhe hot
tears Of Jesus roll over His cheeks and
pIash Upon the backs Ct His hands. We're
ever so many sorrows compressed into 50
small Il space as in that group pressing on
down after Christ, all the time b~emoaning
that He had not come before?
Now all the whispering and all the cry
ing and all the sounds Of shuffling feet are
stopped. 1t is the silence Of expectancy.
Death has conquered, but now the van
quisher of death confronted the scene.
Amid the awful hush 90 the tomb the ia
miliar name which Christ had often had
upon His lips in the hospitalitics Of the VIII
llCh home came nack to His tongue, and
with a pathos aud IN ainiiSltfuess Of which
the resurrection Of the last day Shall only
he an echo He cries. Lazarus. come forth'"
The eyes Of the slunberer open. and he
rises and comes 10 the foot OF the steps and
with great difficulty begins to ascend, for
the cerements OF the tomb are vet on him,
ana his feet are fast, and his hands are
fast, and the impediments to all his move
ments are 50 great that Jesus commands:
'Ihke oil these cerementst Remove these
hlndrance-! Cnfasten these gravpclothes!
! Loose him and let him co.
Oh, | am 30 glad that after the Lord
raised Lazarus He went or aud commanded
the locSening Of the cords that h0und his
feet, 50 that he could walk, and the break
ing of Of the cerement that bound his
hands, SO that he could stretch out his
arms III salutation. and the tearing off Of
the bandage from around his Jaws. so that
tie could speak. What would resurrected
life have been to Lazarus if be had not
been freed from all those. cripp!emeEts of
his body? | am glaI that Christ con-
mannea his complete emancipation, say
ing, Loose him and let him GO
Tie unfortunate thing now is that 50
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 sraveclothes on them. They
are like Lazarus, h0lbling up the stairs OF
the tomb bound han and foot. and the
object Of this sermon is to help free their
body and free their soul. and l shall try to
obey the Masters command that comes to
me and comes to every minister Of re-
ligion, Loose him and let him GO
Many are bound hand and foot by re-
liGions crtels. Let no man misinterpret
me as aniaSODiIlnS creeIS. L nave Gig [
or ten Of them-a creed about religion, q
creed about art, II creed about social life,
n cree! about government. aud 50 on. A
creed is something that Il man believes,
whether 1t be written or unwritten. The
Presbyterian Church is now agitated
about its creed. Some good men in ii are
for keeping it because it was framed from
tho belief OF John Calvin. Other good men
in II want revision. l anu with neither
party. Instead Of revision I want substi-
tuition. was sorry to nave the question
disturbed at all. The creed did not hinder
US from Offering the pardon and the com.
fort Of the Gospel to all men, and the West.
minister Confession has uo: interfered with
me one minute. But now that the ele :tric
lights have been turned on the i'm perfec-
tions OF that creed-and everything thai
man fashions Is i'm perfect-let US pu. the
old creed respectfully aside and get a trald
new one.
1t is impossible that people who llvo1
hundreds OF years agO SAoQId fashion M
appropriate creed for our times. john
Calvin was a great and good man. but he
died $50 years ago. c0ali call the name.
OF twenty living Presbyterian ministers Of
religion who could make a better creed
than John Calvin. The nineteenth ceutur,
ought not to be called TO sit AZ the feet ci
the sixteenth.
'sEllt = ynn any ~ (. .fa % ,, IA p,bt,