The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-04-26

WASHINGTON, April 21.-ln this dis
course DR.. Talmage sounds the praises of
the worlds Redeemer and puts before us
the portraits Of some of his great dis
ciples and exponents; text, John iii, 81,
"He that cometh from above is above
ALL"
The most conspicuous character Of his
tory steps out upon the platform. The
finger which, diamonded with light, point
ed down to him from the Bethlehem sky
was only a ratification Of the finger of
prophecy, the finger of genealogy, the
finger of chronology, the finger Of events
all five fingers pointing in one direc-
ton. Christ is the overlapping figure
all music. the gracefulest line in all
sculpture, the most exquisite mingling
Of lights and shades in all painting, the
acme of all climaxes, the dome Of all
cathedraled grandeur and the peroration
of all splendid language.
The Greek alphabet is made up of "a
letters, and when Christ compared him
self to the first letter and the last let
ter, the alpha and the omega, he appro-
priated to himself all the s%plendors that
you can spell out with those two letters
and all the letters eetween them. Il am
the alpha and the omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last" or, if
you prefer the words of the text, "above
ALL"
1t means, after you have piled up all
Alpine and Himalayan attitudes, the
L. "a Cl-.% --o-lJ $500 T. e.
wings and descend a thousand leagues
to touch those SUBMITS. Pelion, q high
mountain of Thessaly; Ossa, a high
mountain, and Olympus, a high mountain,
but mythology tells us when the giants
warred against the gods they piled up
these three mountains and from the top
of them proposed to scale the heavens,
but the height was not great enough, and
there was a complete failure. And after
all the ~giants-Isaiah and Paul, prophetic
and apostolic giants; Raphael and Mi
chael Angelo, artistic giants; cherubim
and s%eraphim and %archangel, celestial
giants-have failed to climb to the top of
Christs glory they might all we'll unite
in the words of the text and say, HE
that cometh from above is above all"
First, Christ must be above all else in
our preaching. There are so many books
on homiletics scattered through the world
that all laymen as well as all clergymen
have made up their minds what sermons
ought to be. That sermon is most eff
fectual which most pointedly puts forth
Christ as the pardon of all sin and the
correction of all evil, individual. social,
political. national. There is no reason
why we should ring the endless changes
IN a few phrases. There are those who
think that if an eXhortation or a dis
course have frequent mention of justif-
cation, specification, covenant of works
and covenant of grace that therefore it
must be profoundly evangelical. while
they are suspicious of q discourse which
presents the same truth. but under diff
ferent phraseology. Now, / say there is
nothing in all the opulent realm of An
~glo-Saxonism or all the word treasures
that we inherited from the Latin and the
Greek and the European but we
have a right to marshal it in religious
discussion. Christ sets the example. His
illustrations were from the grass, the
flowers, the spittle. the salve, the barn
yard fowl, the crystals of salt, as well as
from the seas u the stars, n we do
not propose in our Sunday school teach
ing and in our pulpit address to be put
OF the limits.
Bridge Between Souls.
I know that there is a great deal said in
our day against words. as though they
were nothing. They may be misused, but
they have an imperial power. They are
the bridge between soul mi soul, be-
tween Almighty God and the human race.
What did God write upon the tables of
stone? Words. What did Christ utter on
Mount Olivet? Words. Out of what did
Christ strike the spark for the illumina-
ton of the universe? Out of words. Let
there be light" and light vas. OF curse
thought is the cargo, and words are only
the ship, but how fast would our cargo
get on without the ship? What you need,
my friends. in all your work. in your
Sunday school class, in your refcrmatory
institutions. and what we all need is TO
enlarge our vocabulary when we come to
speak about God and Christ and eavcn
We ride a few old words to death when
there is such illimitable resource. Shake
speare employed 1900 different words
for dramatic purposes. Milton employed
5000 different words for poetic purposes.
Rufus Choate employed over IL o diff
ferent words for legal purposes, but the
most of is have less than 1000 words
that we can manage. less than 500, and
that makes US so stupid
When we come TO set forth the love OF
Christ. we are going to take the tender
est p~hraseoiogy wherever we find it. ard
if it has never been used in that direction
before all the more shall we use it. When
we come to speak Of the glory of Christ.
the conqueror. WI are going to draw ouI
SMILES from triumphal arch and o~ratorio
and everything grand and stupendous.
The French navy have Is flags by which
they give signal. but those IS flags they
can put into 66.OOO different combina-
tons. And | have to tell you that these
standards Of the cross may be lifted into
combinations infinite and varieties ever
lasting. And let me say to young men
who are after awhile going to preach
Jesus Christ. you will have the largest
liberty and unlimited resource You only
nave TO present Christ in your own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in
the severest argument ever penned, and
John Bunyan preached Christ in the sub
1--