Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-04-24
Copyright. Louis Klopseh. 1901

The most conspicuous character or as
tory steps out upon the platform. The
finger which diamonded with light, point
ed down 10 him from the Bethlehem sky
was only n ratification of the hnger OF
prophecy, the finger of genealogy, the
finger Of chronology, the finger OF events
all FIVE fingers pointing in one d:rec-
ton. Christ is, the overlapping rSure
of all time. He is the vox humana IN
all music, the gracefulcst line IN All
sculpture, the most exquisite minSuns
of lights and shades in all painting, She
acme of all climaxes, the dome OF all
cathedraled grandeur and the peroratioh
of all splendid language.
The Greek alphabet is made up OF
twenty-four letters, and when Chrlst
compared himself to the first letter ahd
the last letter, the alpha and the omega
he appropriated to himself all the splen
doris that you can spell out with those
two letters and all the letters between
them. Il am the alpha and the omega,
the beginning and the end, the first ana
the last" or, il you prefer the words OF
the text, "above all.
1t means, after you have piled up an
Alpine and Himalayan attitudes, the
glory of Christ would have to spread IT'S
wings and descend n thousand leagues
to touch those submits. Belon, hlsn
mountain of Thessaly; Ossa, high
mountain, and Olympus. high noun
tain, but mythology tells US when the
giants warred against the gods they plled
up these three mountains and from the
ron of them proposed to scale rhe heay-
c,s, but the height was not great enough,
and there vas complete failure Ana
after all tie giants-Isaiah and Panl, pro
phetic and apostolic giants; Raphael anu
Michael Angelo, artistic giants; cherubim
and seraphim and archangei, celestlal
giants-have failed TO climb TO the top OF
Christs glory they might all well unite
in the words of the text ana say, ne
that &C meth from above is above all.
Fir5t. Christ must be above all else in
our preaching. There are 50 many books
on homiletics scattered through the world
that all laymen as well as all elergymen
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 ana the
correction of all evil, individual, social,
political, national. There is no reason
why we should ring the endless changes
on few phrases. There aie those whp
think that il an exhortation Of discourse
have frequent mention of Justlhcation,
slnctification, covenant OF WORKS anu
covenant of grace that therefore 1t must
be profoundly evangelical, While they are
suspicious of discourse which presents
the same truth, but under different
phraseology. Now, | say there rs MOTH
ing in all the opulent realm of Anglo
Saxonsm or all the word treasures that
we inherited from the Latin and the
Greek ard the Indo- European but we
have right TO marshal it III religious
discussion Christ sets the example. dis
illustrations We're from the grass, the
flowers, the spittle, the salve, the barn
ward fowl, the crystals of salt. as well as
from the seas and the stars. and we do
not propose in our Sunday school teach
ing and in our pulpit address to be put
on the limits.
Bridge Between Souls.
| know that there is a great deal said
in orr day against words. as though they
we're nothing They may be misused, but
they have an imperial power. They are
the bridge between soul and soul, be-
tween Almighty God and the human race.
What did God write upon the tables OF
stone? Words. Whatsd 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 was. OF course
thought is the cargo, and words are only
the ship but how fast would your cargo
get on without the ship? What you need.
my friends, in all your work. in your
Sunday school class. in your rcformatory
institutions, and what we all need is to
enlarge lur vocabulary when we come to
speak Z bout God and Christ and heaven.
We rir.e a few old words to death when
there is such illimitable resource. Shak-
speare employed $4,000 different words
for dramatic purposes, Milton employed
5000 different words for poetic pun poses.
Rufus Choate employed over il 600 DIFF
fcrent word for legal purposes, but tue
most Of us have less than 1000 words
that we can manage, less than 800, and
that makes us 50 stupid.
When We come to set forth the love o.
Christ. we are going 10 take the tender
est phraseoiogy wherever we find it. and
il il has never been used in 1t direction
before all the more shall we use it. When
we come to speak OF the glory of Christ,
the conQucror. we are going to draw our
SMILES from triumphal arch and oratorio
and everything grand and stupendoris
The French navy have eighteen flags by
which they give signal hut those eighteen
flags they can put into $1,000 different
combinations. And | have to tell you
that these standards of the cross may be
lifted into combinations infinite and va
rieties everlasting. And let me say to
young men who are after aEhile going
to preach Jesus Christ, you will have the
largest liberty and unlimited resource.
You only have to present Christ in your
own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in
the severest argument ever penned. and
John Bunyan preached Chrisl in the sub
FINEST allegory ever composed. Edward
Payson, sick and exhausted. leaned up
against the side Of the pulpit and wept
out his discourse. while George White
field. with the manner and the voice and
the start of an actor. overwhelmed his
auditory. 1t would have been a differ
ent thing if Jonathan Edwards had tried
10 write and dream about the pilgrims
progress to the celestial city or John
Bunyan had attempted an essay Cd the
human viii.
The Harvests of Grace,
Brighter than the light. fresher than
the fountains. deeper than the seas, are
these gospel themes. Song has no mel
oily, flowers have no sweetness. sunset
sky has 10 color, compared with these
glorious themes. THESE harvests Of grace
SDriDg NJ quicker than we can sickle