Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-05-02
SERMON
Rev. DR.. Calfnage

subject: Religious Creeds-A Plea For the
Doing Away with the D"g,naiic. and
For the Substituting at Crccd
rounded on Faith In Ch,ist.
copyright lsool
WASHINGTON, d. Cat time when the
old discussion Of creeds Is being vigorously
and somewhat bitterly revived this dis
course OF DIR. Talmage has special in
terest. The text Is John xi., A, "Loose
him and let him co.
My Bible is, at 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 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 In the hot city OF
Jerusalem He would come OUT there almost
every evening to the house OF His three
friends. 1 think the occupants OF that
house were orphans, for the father aud
mother are not mentioned. But the son
and two daughters must have inherited
property, for It must have been, Judging
from what I 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
and these girls were splendid girls-Martha
a first rate housekeeper and Mary spir-
ituelle, somewhat dreamy, but affectionate,
and as good a 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 feel very ner1
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.
h.. 49, t.Al al 40
veloped judge that Martha prepared the
medicines and made tempting dishes Of
food for the poor appetite OF the sufferer,
but Mary prayed and sobbed. Worse and
worse gets Lazarus until the doctor an
nounces 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
pathizers 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 so often had been? 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 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. II Immediately after decease the
body had been awakened into life, unbe-
levers might have said he was only in a
comatoSe state or In sort OF trance and
by some vigorous manipulation or power
full stimulant vitality had been renewed.
No! Four days dead.
At the door of the sepulcher is q crowd
of people, but the three most memorable
are Jesus, vino was the family friend, and
the two bereft sisters. We went into the
traditional tomb one December day, and
| it is deep down and dark, and will torches
we explored 1t. We found 1t all quiet that
afternoon Of our visit, but the day spoken
Of in the Bible there was present an ex
cited multitude. l wonder what Jesus will
| do? He orders the door Of the grave re-
moved, 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 deeperl The hot
tears OF Jesus roll over His cheeks and
plash upon the backs Gf His hands. We're
| ever so many sorrows compressed into so
small space as in that group pressing on
| down after Christ, all the time bemoaning
| 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 OF the tomb the IA
miliar name which Christ had often had
upon His lips in the hospitalities of the vii
lage home came back to His tongue, aud
! with a pathos and IN aimightiness OF which
the resurrection OF the last day shall only
| be an echo He cries, Lazarus, come forthl''
| The eyes Of the slumberer open, and Ind
rises and comes to the foot OF the steps and
with great difficulty begins to ascend, for
| the cerements OF the tomb are yet on him,
and his feet are fast, aud his hands are
fast, and the impediments to all his move
ments are so great that Jesus commands:
| "Take of these cerements! Remove these
! hindrancesl Unfasten these graveclothes!
Loose him and let him gol''
Oh, / am so glad that after the Lord
| raised Lazarus He went on and commanded
| the loosening OF the cords that bound his
feet, so that he could walk, and the '>reaK-
| 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 oI
| his body? 7 am gla that Christ com.
manded his complete emancipation. say.
ing, "Loose him and let him CO."
| The unfortunate thing now Is that SC
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, hobbling up the stairs o
the tomb bound hand and foot, and til,
| object Of this sermon is to help free theiI
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 CO."
Many are bound hand and foot by re-
ligious creeds. Let no man misinterpret
me rs antagonizing creeds. 1 have eig II
or ten OF them-a creed nbout religion, d
I creed about art, a creed about social life
a creed about government, and SO on. A
! creed Is something that man believes
| yvh vhaf II bp wrfffan nnwriffaD THE
/ Presbyterian Church is now agitated
| about its creed. Some good men In Ii are
! for keeping 1t because 1t WAS framed from
| the belief Of John Calvin. Other good mef
| In 1t want revision. 1 am with neither
| party. Instead of revision want substi-
| tution. was sorry to have 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 not int erfered with
| lights have been turned on the iInperfec
| tions of that creed-and everything that
man fashions Is imperfect-iet us put the
! old creed respectfully aside and get bra I'D
| new one.
1t is impossible that people who lived
| hundreds OF years ago should fashion al
appropriate creed for our times. John
Calvin was great and good man, but III
died 1876 years ago. 1 could call the name,
| Of twenty living Presbyterian ministers o
religion who could make better cree
| than John Calvin. The nineteenth century
| ought not to be called to sit ut the feet o
! the sixteenth.
"But," you say, sit is the same old Bible
and John Calvin had that as we'll rs til,
present student Of the Scriptures Yes
so 1t is the same old sun In the heavens
but in our time 1t has gone to making
dagucrreotypes and photographs. 1t d
the same old water, but in our century i
A<- IT,. -. III
the same old electricity, but Ia cur time i
has become II lightning footed errand boy
So it is the old Bible, but new applications
new uses, new interpretations. You mus
remember that during the last 800 year
words have changed their meaning, an