The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-04-26
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY the NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject. In Praise of the Worid's RE-
dsemer-Portraits of same of His Great
Disciples and EsPonents-rhe Love of
Christ set For.h.
ICoyprixhtiNLl

Christ set ror.h.
tCoyprisht isoil
WASHINGTON. ID. C.-ln this discourse
DIR. Ialmage sounds the praises oi the
worlds Rcdeemer and puts before US the
portraits ot some OF HIS great disciples
and eNponents. text. John u, 81. lie
that comcth from above j. above al.
The most conspicuous character OF his
tory steps out upon the platform. The
finger which diamonded with light. point.
ed down % Him from the Bethlehem SKY
was only ratification Of the finger of
prophecy, the finger OF genealogy. the
finger Of chronology, the finger oi events
ali hve fingers pointing IN one direction.
Christ Is the oVertopplng figure OF all time
He Is the voN humana IN all music. the
gracetullest line IN all sculpture, the most
exquisite mlnglIng OF lights and shades in
all painting, the acme of all cllmaXes the
dome OF all cathedraled grandeur and the
peroratlon of all splendid language.
The Greek alphabet Is made up OF TWEEN.
tytopr letters, and when, Christ com
pared Himself 10 the first letter and the
last letter, the alpha and omega, He ap-
proprlted 10 Himself all the splendors
that you can spell out with those two let.
tiers and all the letters between them. Il
am the alpha and omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last" Or,
II YOU prefer the words OF the text,
above all. 30
IL means, after YOU have piled up all
Alpine and Himalayan attitudes, the glory
OF Christ would have 10 spread It's wings
and descend a thousand leagues 20 touch
those SUBMITS. Peion, a high mountain
OF Ihessaly; Ossa, a high mountain, and
Olympus, 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 20
scale the heavens. but the height was not
great enough, and there was a complete
failure. And after all the giants-lsaiah
and Paul, prophetic and apostolic giants;
Raphael and Michael Angelo, artistic
giants cheruhim and seraphm and arch.
angel, celestial giants-havc failed TO climb
20 the top of Christ's glory they might all
well unite in the words of the text and
all - '
First. Christ must be above all else in
our preaching There are so many books
on homlleticl scattered through the world
that all laymen, as well as all c.ergymen,
have made up their minds what sermons
ought 20 be. That sermon Is most etiec-
tual which most polntedly puts forth
Christ as the pardon of all sin and the
correction of all evil, individual, social, po-
lrtical, national. There is no reason why
we should ring the endless changes on
few phrases. There are those "ho think
that II an eXhortation or discourse have
frequent mention of justification, sancuh.
cation, covenant Of works and covenant Of
grace, therefore II must be profoundly
evangelical, while they are suspicious OF
discourse which presents the same truth,
but under different phraseology. Now, ]
say there is nothing IN all the opulent
realm of Anglo Saxonism or all the word
treasures that we inherited from the Latin
and the Greek and the lndo European,
but we have a right TO marshal It IN reli.
gious discussion. Christ sets the example,
His illustrations were from the grass, the
flowers. the spittle the salve, the barnyard
fowl, the crystals of salt, as well as from
the seas and the stars. and we do not pro-
pose in our Sunday school teaching and IN
our pulpit address 90 be put on the limits.
| 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. lhey are
the bridge between soul and soul, between
Almighty God and the human race. What
did God write upon the tables ot stoney
Words. What did Christ utter on Mount
Olivety Words. Out of what did Christ
strike the spark for the illumination 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 with
out the ship? What you need, my friends,
in all your work, in your Sunday school
class. in your TeformatOry institutions,
and what we all need Is TO enlarge our vo-
cabulary when we come 20 speak about
God and Christ I'M heaven. We ride n
few old words 10 death when there IS such
an iliimitabe resource. Shakespeare en-
Dloved 1900 different words for dramatic
purposes Milton employed 5000 different
words for poetic purposes; Rufus Choate
employcd over J. 900 different words for
legal purposes, but the most OF Us have
less than a thousand words that we can
manage, less than 50O and that makes us
80 stupid.
When we come 10 set forth the love Of
Christ, we are going 20 take the tendere'J
phraseOlogy wherever we find A. and u u
| has never been used ln that direction be
fore all the more shall we use IT,. When
we come TO speak OF the glory of Christ
the cOnqucror, we are going 20 draw our
SMILES from triumphal arch and oratOro
and everything grand and stupendOus. The
French navy has eighteen ia2s by when
they give signal, but those eighteen Hags
they can put into 90 900 different cOmblna.
tons, combinations infinite and varieties
everlasting. And let me say 10 young men
I who are after "A while going TO preach
Jesus Christ, you Will nave the largest lib
crty an unlimited resource. You only
have 90 present ChrIs, m your own way.
Jonathan Edwards preached Christ m
the scvercst argument ever penncd, and
Jonn Buuyan preached Christ in the sub
lImcst alegory ever composed. Edward
Payson, sick and exhausted, leaned Up
against the side OF his pulpit and wcpt out
his discourse, while George WhItchrld
with the manner and the voice and the
art Of an actor, overwhelmed his auditory
IL would have been different thing "
jonathan Edwards had tried 90 write and
dream about the pilgrims progress % the
roll faff al ,.Hfa a. IftNf "a lI AZ
tempted an essay on the human Will.
Brighter than the light fresher than the
fountains deeper than the seas, are these
gospel themes Song has not melody,
flowers have no sweetness, sunset sky has
no color, compared with these glorious
themes These harycsts Ot grace spring
up quicker than we can sickle them.
kIndling pulpits with their hre and pro-
dUclng revolutions with their power, hight.
ing up dying beds with their glory they
are the sweetest thought for the poet, aud
they are the most thrilling illustration for
the orator, and they offer the most IN
tense scene for the artist, and they are 10
the ambassador Of the sky all enthusiasm.
Complete pardon for dIrest gull. Sweet
est comfort for gbastlIcst agony. Bright
est hope for grImmest death. Grandest
resurrection for darkest sepulcher.
Oh, what a gospel b preach! Christ
over all in a. HIS birth, HIS suffering,
His miracles. His parallels, HIS sweat, HIS
fears, His blood, His atonement, HIS in
teTceeIOn-wnat glorious themes, DO we
exercise faith CHRIST ~ It's object. DO
we have loveg j. iastens on Jesus. Have
we a fJnduess for the church, IL Is be-
cause Christ died for o. Have We hope
Of heaven II D. because Jesus went ahead,
the herald and the fOrerunner.
The rOyal robe Of Demetrius was 20
costly. 20 beautiful, that after he nad put
u Oh no one ever dared put Il on. But
this robe oi Christ. richer than that, the
,.,<a,... - ,...,,e.f and the vror.f may