The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-05-04
CHRIST AND CREEDS.
DR.. TALMAGE'S TIMELY DISCOURSE ON
RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES.
Would Free Humanity From the
G~raveclothes of Old Ecclesiastical
Dogmas-Simple Faith in Christ the
Test Of Christianity.

AT a time when the old discussion
of creeds is being vigorously and some
what bitterly received this discourse
IF Dr Talmage has a special interest.
The text is John X, A: Loose him n
let him 60" |
NV Bible is at h place OF lnls text
written all over with lead pencll marhs
made at Bethany on the ruins Oh lhe
house of Mary and Martha and Laza-
rms We dismounted from our horSeo
on the way up from Jordan 10 lhe
nead sea. Bethany was h summer
evening retreat of Jesus. After speno-
ing the day in the hot city or Jerusd-
lem he would come out there Amos
every evening to the house Oh MS three
friends. / think he Oh tndt
house were orphans, for the fatner
- motbar are not mentioned. But
the son and two daughters u nave
inherited property, for IL must nave
been. Judging from what l saw OF the
foundations and the size OF the rooms
an opulent home. Lazarus the orotner
was now al the head of the householu;
and his sisters depended on him ana
were proud of him, for ne was very
popular, and everybody liked MIN, ana
these girls were splendid giris-Mar-
tina a first rate ~housekeeper and Mary
a spirituelle, somewhat Dreamy, put
affectionate and "a good a girl as coulo
be found in all Palestine. But one
day Lazarus got sick. The sisters
were in CONSERVATION. Father gone.
and mother gone, they feel very ner-
vous lest they lose their brother also
Disease did it's quick work. HOW the
girls hung over his pillow! NOT mucn
sleep about that house-no sleep at an.
From the characteristics otherwise
developed. I Judge that Martha pre-
pared the medicines and made tempt
ing dishes of food for the poor appe
title of the sufferer, but Mary prayed
and sobbed. Worse n worse gets
Lazarus until the doctor announces
that he can do no more. The snrlek
that went up from that household
when the last breath had been drawn
and the two sisters were being led Dy
sympathizers into the adjoining room
all those of us can imagine VINO nave
had our own hearts broken But why
was not Jesus there as he so often
had been2 Far away in the country
districts. preaching, healing other SICK
how unfortunate that this ~omnipoten
doctor had not been at that domestic
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
breathless body disintegrates more
RAPIDLY than in ours. If, immediately
after decese, he body had been
awakened into life, unbelievers might
have aid he was only in a comatose
state or in a sort of trance and by
some vigorous manipulation of power
full stimulant vitality had been re-
newed. Mo- Four lays dead.
THE SEPUULCHER OF CHRIST.
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
tiers. We went into the traditional
tomb one December day, n 1t 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. 1 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 deeperi The hot tears
of Jesus roll over his cheeks and plash
upon the back of his hands. Were
ever so many SorrOwS compressed into
so small a space as in that group pres
sing on down after Christ, all h time
bemoaning that he had not come be-
fore?
Now all the whispering and all the
crying and all the sounds of shutting
AStl u NoppC IL 10 NbN 0AA@A~ ~
expectancy. Death had conquered, but
now the vanquisher of death confront
ed the scene Amid the awful hush
Of the tomb, the familiar name which
Christ had often a pon his lips
in the Inequalities of the village home
came back to his tongue, and with a
pathos and an almightiness of which
the resurrection of the last day shall
only be an echo he cries. Lazarus.
come FORTH" The eyes of the slum-
berer open, and he 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 fast and his hands are
asst and the impediments to all his
movements are so great that Jesus
commands: Take off these cerementSi
Remove these hinderances. Unfasten
these tgraveclothesi Loose him, and
let him go!"
Oh, I am so glad that after the Lore
raised Lazarus he went on and COM
manded h looSening of the cords that
bound his feet so that he could walk
and the breaking off of the cerement
that bound his hands so that he could
stretch out his arms in salutation and
the tearing off of the bandage from
around his paws so that he could
speak. What would resurrected life
have been to Lazarus if he had not
been freed from all those cripplements
vi LIZ UOu Il Gill SAao lch( SLlAA -
commended his complete emancipation
saying, Loose him, and let him 60"
ONLY HALF LIBERATED.
The unfortunate thing now is that
so many Christians are only half lib
Grated. They AVE been raised from
h death and burial of sin into spirit
ual life, but they yet have the grave
clothes on them. They n like Lag
arus, hobbling up the stairs of the
tomb hand and foot and the object OF
this sermon is to help free their body
and free their souls, and I shall try
to obey the Masters command that
comes to me and comes to every min
lister Of religion, "Loose him, and let
him go!"
Many are bound hand and DOT by
religious creeds. Let no man misin-
terpret nj as antagonizing creeds. I
have eight or ten OF them-a creed
about religion, a creed about art, a
creed about social life, a creed about
government, and 50 on. A creed is