The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-04-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvINE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
SUI 60. -.eliglcus Crecds-A Plea For the
Doing Away with the D0gmatics and
For the Substituting of II Greed
rounded on Faith In Chtist.


Copyright iaOoI
W4sHiNGToN, u. Cat n time when the
Did discussion OF creeds is being vigorously
and somewhat bitterly revived this dis.
course OF DR.. Talmage has II special in.
crest. The text Is John Xi., A, loose
aim and let him co.
My Bible is, nt the place OF this toxt,
written oil over with lead pencil marks
made at Bethany on the ruins of the house
Of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We dis.
mounted from our horses on the way up
from Jordan to the Dead Sea- Bethany
was the summer evening retreat OF Jesus.
After spending the day I'm the hot city of
Jerusalem He would come out there almost
svery evening to the house OF His three
friends. l 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 It must have been, Judging
from what l saw of the foundations and
tho size OF the rooms, an opulent home.
Lazarus, the brother, was now Mt the head
ot the household, and his sisters depended
on him and were proud of him, for he was
very popular, and everybody liked him,
and these glrls were splendid girls-Marlha
first rate housckeeper and Mary a splr-
Uuelle, somewhat dreamy, but aiGectionate,
aud rs good girl as could be found in all
Palestine. But one day Lazarus got elk.
The sisters were in constornatinn Fa her
gone and mother gone, they feel very ler-
vous lest they lose their brother also. Dis
ease did its quick work. How the girls
hung over his pillowl Not much sleep
about that house-no sleep at all.
From the characteristics otherwise de.
veloped judge that Martha prepared the
medicines and made tempting dishes OF
food Tor the poor appetite of the sufferer,
but Mary prayed and sobbed. Worse and
worse gets Lazarus until tho doctor an-
nounccs that he can do no more. The
shrek that went up from that household
Wien the last breath had been drawn and
the two sisters were being led by sym.
pathzers into the adjoining room all those
of us can imagine who have had our own
hearts broken. But why was not Jesus
there. rs He so often had been? Far away
in the country districts, preaching healing
other sick, how unfortunate that this omni.
potent toptor had not been at that do.
nestle crisis in Bethany. When at last
Jesus arrived in 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 dccease the
body had been awakened into life, unbe-
levers might have said he was only in
comutose state or in II sort of trance and
bysome vigorous manipulation or power
lul stimulnnt vitality had been renewed.
Mol -Four days dead
At the door of the sepulcher Is n crowd
Of people, but the three most memorable
are Jesus, who was the family friend, and
the two bereft sisters. We went into the
traditional tomb one December day, and
1t Is deep down and dark and with torches
we explored 1t. We found it ali'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
dop He orders the door of the grave re-
moved, and then lie begins to descend tho
steps, Mary and Martha close after Him
and tho crowd after them. Deeper down
into the shadows and deeperl The hot
tears Of Jesus roll over His cheeks and
plash upon the backs Of His hands Were
ever so many sorrows compressed into 80
small space as in that group pressing on
down after Christ, all tho time bemoaning
that He had not come before?
Now all the whispering aud all the cry
ing and all the sounds of shul1ling feet are
stopped. 1t is the silence of expectancy.
Death has conquered, but now the van
quisher of death confronted tho scene.
Amid the awful hush OF tho tomb the la-
iniliar name which Christ had often had
upon His lips in the hosptnlties of the viii
lage home came back to His tongue, and
with pathos and IN aimightincss of which
the resurrection of the last day shall only
be an echo He cries, Lazarus, como forth!"
The eyes of the slumberor open, and he
rises and comes to the foot OF the steps and
with great difficulty begins to uscend, for
the cerement3 of the tomb are yet on MIN,
and his feet are fnst, and his hands arc
fast, and the impadiments TO all his move
ments are SO great that Jesus commands:
"Tuke Off these cerementsl Remove these
hindrauccsl Uninsten these grayeclothesl
Loose him and let him got"
oh, | am so glad that after the Lord
raised Lazarus He went on and commanded
the loosenng of the cords that bound his
feet, so that he could walk, and the break
ing of Of the cerement that hound his
hands, so that he could stretch out his
arms in salutatiOn, and the tearing Off Of
the bandaSe 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 crlpplements OF
his body? L am glad that Christ COM
mnnded his complete emancipation, say
ing, Loose him and let him GO"
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, hobbllng 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 soul, and | 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.
lgious creeds. Let no man mlslnterpret
MS us lNHOHlIluB CTttAHs uuNt tlRul
or ten OF them--a creed about religion Il
creed about art, Il creed about social life,
Il creed about government and so on. A
creed Is something that Il man believes,
whether It be written or unwritten. The
Presbyterian Church Is now agtated
about its creed. Some good men in it are
for keeping it because 1t was framed from
the belief Of John Calvin. Other good mon
in II want revision. | am with neither
party. Instead Of revision want substi-
tuition. WAS sorry to have tho 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 not lnterfered with
me one minute. But now thnt the electric
lights have been turned on the imperfec-
tlons o. that creed-and everything that
man fashions is imperfect-let us put the
old creed respectfully aside and get brand
new one.
II Is impossible that people who lived
hundreds OF years ago should fashion an
appropriate creed for our times. John
Calvin was great and good man. but he
died 336 years ago. i could call the names
OF twenty living Presbyterian ministers of
religion who could make n better creed
than John Calvin. The nineteenth century
ought nos to be called to sit at the feet Of
tho sixteenth.
"But," you say, sit Is the same old Bible,
and John Calvin had that as we'll us the
present student Of tho Scriptures" Yes;
so 1t is the same old sun in the heavens,
4.