Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1901-04-26
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
0LCRIES OF THE REDEEMER
THE SUBJECT.
oHs That Cometh from Above Is Above
Ali Things"-John. Chapter I'LL Verse
sI-Chri.t the Overlapping Figure Of
All Time.


course Dr.. Talmage sounds the praises
of the worlds Redeemer and puts be-
fore US the portraits Of some OF his
great disciples and opponents; text,
John iii, 81, He that cometh from
above IS above all
The most conspicuous character o.
history steps out upon the platform.
The finger which, diamonded with
light, pointed down to him from Beth
lehem 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 direction. Christ is the
overlapping figure of all time. lie IS
the vox humane in all music, the
gracefulest 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
twenty-fou- letters, and when Christ
and the last letter, the alpha and the
omega, he appropriated to himself all
the splendOrs that you can spell out
with those two letters and all the let
tiers between them. I 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"
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 and soul, between Almighty God
and the human race. What did God
write upon the tables of stone? Words.
What did Christ utter on Mount Oil
vet? Words. Out Of what
did Christ strike the spark
for the illumination of the uni
verse? 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 reformatory institutions,
and what we all need is TO enlarge our
vocabulary when we come to speak
about God and Christ and heaven. We
ride a few old words to death when
there is such illimitable resource.
Shakespeare employed $1,000 different
words for dramatic purposes. Milton
employed 5000 different words for
poetic purposes. Rufus ChOate en-
ployed over 1000 different words for
legal purposes. but the most of us have
less than 1000 words that we can man
age, less than 800. and that makes us
SO stupid.
When We come to set forth the love
of Christ We are going to take the ten
derest phraseoIogy wherever We find
it. and If il has never been used in
that direction before all the more shall
we use T. When we come to speak Of
the glory OF Christ, the conqueror we
are going 10 draw our SMILES from
triumphal arch and oratorio and every
thing grand and stupendous. The
French navy have eighteen flags by
which they give signal. but those
eighteen flags they can put into $4,000
different combinations. And | have to
tell you that these standards of the
cross may be lifted into combination
infinite and varieties everlasting. And
let me say to young men who are after
awhile going to preach Jesus Christ
you will nave 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 Christ in
the subIimest allegory ever composed.
Edward Payson. sick and exhausted.
leaned up against the side of the pull
pit and wept out his discourse, while
George Whitefield, with the manner
and the voice and the start of an actor
overwhelmed his auditory. 1t would
have been different thing if Jonathan
Edwards had tried to write and dream
about the pilgrims progress to the cell
sstial city or John Bunyan had at
tempted an essay on the human will.
The Harvests of Grace.
Brighter than the light, fresher than
the fountains, deeper than the seas. are
these gospel themes. Song has no
melody, flowers have no sweetness,
sunset sky has no color, compared with
these glorious themes. These harvests
of grace spring up quicker than We
can sickle them. Kindling pulpits with
their fire and producing revolutions
with their power, lighting up dying
sweetest thought for the poet, and
they are the most thrilling illustration
for the orator, and they offer the most
intense scene for the artist, and they
are to the ambassador of the sky all
enthusiasm. Complete pardon for the
direst guilt. Sweetest comfort for
ghastliest agony. Brightest hope for
grimmest death. Grandest resurrec-
ton for darkest sepulchre Oh. what
gospel to preach. Christ over all In
II. His birth, his suffering, his mir
acles, his parallels, his sweat. his
tears. his blood, his atonement, his in
tercession-wha glorious themes, Do
We exercise faith? Christ is its OBJ
ject? Do we have love? 1t fastens on
Jesus. Have We a fondness for the
church? 1t is because Christ died for
II. Have we a hope of heaven? 1t Is
because Jesus went ahead. the herald
and the refOrmer.