The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, November 25, 1897, Image 7

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* '' " ■ " '"V" i THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. NOVEMBER »/>, 1897. rvwr? i i i i' i CCliTXG SERMON. 4 V. DR. TALMAC1E TELLS WHAT OUGHT TO BE. IT lie Snjre the Hennon of Today lla« Too Much I>c«d Woo«l — The 8eruion of tl>e Future Will He Short, Spirited, end It Will He Reported In the Press. jCopyrlght, 1887, by American Press Asso ciation.] Washington, Nov. 21.—Most appro priate to the times we livo in is Dr. TttlinaRH’sdiHcourM! of today. All Chris tian workers will read it with interest. His text is Luke ix, 00, "Go, thou, and preach tke kingdom of God." The gospel is to he regnant over all hearts, all circles, all governments and all lands. The kingdom ot God spoken of in the text is to be u universal king dom, and just as wide as that will be the realm eermonie. "Go, tlion, and preach the kingdom of God." We hear a great deal in these days about the coming man and tho coming woman and the coming time. Some one ought to tell us of tho coming sermon. It is a simple fact that everybody knows that most of the sermons of today do not reach the world. Tho vast majority of the people of our great cities never en ter church. Tho sermon of today carries along with it tho dead wood of all ages. Hun dreds of years ago it was decided what a sermon ought to he, and it is the at tempt of many theological seminaries and doctors of divinity to hew the mod em pulpit utterances into the same old style proportions. Booksellers will tell you they dispose of a hundred histories, a hundred novels, a hundred poems, to one book of sermons. What is the matter? Some say the age is tho worst of all ages. It is better Some sny relig’on is wearing out, when it is wearing in. Some say there are so many who despise the Christian reli gion. I answer, there never was an ago when there were so many Christians or so many friends of Christianity as this ago has—our ago; as to others a hundred to oua What is the matter then? It is simply because onr sermon of today is not suited to tho age. It is the canalboat in an ago of locomotive and electric telegraph. Th sermon will have to be shaken out of the old grooves or it will not be heard and it will not bo read. Before tho world is converted the ser mon will have to be converted. Yon might as well go into a modern Sedan or Gettysburg with bows and arrows in stead of rifles and bombshells and parks of artillery ns to expect to conquer this world for God by the old styles of ser- monology. Jonathan Edwards preached the sermons best adapted to tho age in ' which ho lived, but if those sermons were preached now they would divide an audience into two classes — those sound asleep and those wanting to go homo. The Kermoa of the Future. But there is a coming sermon. Who , will preach it I have no idea; in what \ part of the earth it will be bom 1 have no idea; in which denomination of Christians it will he delivered 1 cannot guess. That coming sermon may be born in the country meeting house on tho banks of tho St. Lawrence, or the Oregon, or the Ohio, or tho Tombigbee, or tho Alabama. The person who shall deliver it may this moment lie in a cradle under the shadow of the Sierra Novadas or in a Now England farm house or amid the rioeflelds of southern savannas, or this moment there may be ■omo young man in some of our theo logical seminaries, in tho junior or mid dle or senior class, shaping that weapon of power, or there may be coming some now baptism of the Holy Ghost on the churches, so that some of us who now stand in the wutchtowers of Zion, wak ing to the realization of our present in efficiency, may preach it ourselves. That coming sermon may not be 20 years off. And lot us pray God that its arrival may be hastened, while 1 an nounce to you what 1 think will be the chief characteristics of that sermon when it does arrive, and I want to make the remarks appropriate and suggestive to all classes of Christian workers. First of all, I remark that that com ing sermon will be full of a living Christ, in contradistinction to didactic technicalities. A sermon may be full of Christ, though hardly mentioning his name, and a sermon may be empty of Christ while every sentence is repeti tious of his titles. The world wants a living Christ, not a Christ standing at the head of a formal system of theology, but a Christ who means pardon and sympathy and condolence and brother hood and life and Leaven, a poor man’s Christ, au overworked man’s Christ, an invalid’s Christ, a farmer’s Christ, a merchant’s Christ, an artisan’s Christ, an every man’s Christ. A symmetrical and finely worded sys tem of theology is well enough tor the ological classes, but it has no more busi ness in a pulpit than have the technical phrase* of an au atom 1st or a physician in the sickroom of a patient. The world wants help, immediate and world up lifting, and it will come through a ser mon in which Christ shall walk right down into tho immortal soul and take everlasting possession of it, til ling it as full of light as is the noonday firma ment. That sermon of tho future will not deal with meu in the threadbare il lustrations of Jesus Christ. In that com ing sermon there will be instances of vicarious sacrifice taken right out of ev eryday life, for there is not a day some body is not dying for others. As the physician, saving his diphtheric patient by sacrificing his own life; as the ship captain, going down with his vessel, ■while he is getting his passengers into the lifeboat; as the fireman, consuming j in the hurtling building, while he is taking a child out of a fourth story window; as last summer the strong ! «wimm«r at Long Branch or Capo May or Lake George himself perished trying to rescue the drowning; as the newspa per boy not long ago, supporting his 1 mother for some yean, his invalid mother, when offered by a gentleman 50 t c to get ‘•ojn crpocial paper, and ho got it and rushed up in his anxiety to deliver it ami was crushed under the wheels nf ‘he train and lay on the grass with only strength enough to say, "Ob, what will become of my poor, sick mother now?" A ilopofnl Outlook. Vicarious suffering? The world is full of it. An engineer said to me on a lo comotive in Dakota: "We men seem to be coming to better appreciation than we used to. Did you see that account the other day of an engineer who, to save his passengers, stuck to his place, and when ho was found dead in the lo comotive, which was found upside down, be was found still smiling, his hand on tho airbrake?" And ns the engineer said it to me he put his hand on the airbrake to illustrate his meaning, and I looked at him and thought, "You would be just as much of a hero in the same crisis. ” Oh, iu that coming sermon of tho Christian church there will be living illustrations taken from everyday life of vicarious sufferings — illustrations that will bring to mind the ghastlier sacrifice of him who, in the high places of tho field and on the cross, fought our battles and wept our griefs and endured our struggles and died our death. A German sculptor made au image of Christ, and ho asked his little child, 2 years old, who it was, and she said, "That must he some very great man. ” Tho sculptor was displeased with tho criticism, so he got another block of marble and chiseled away on it two or three years, and then he brought in his little child, 4 or 6 years of age, and he said to her, " Who do you think that is?" She said, "That must be the One who took little children in his arms and blessed them." Then tho sculptor was satisfied. Oh, my friends, what the world wants is not a cold Christ, not an intellectual Christ, not a severely mag isterial Christ, but a loving Christ, spreading out his arms of sympathy to press the whole world to his loving heart Bnt I remark again that the coming sermon of the Christian church will be a short sermon. Condensation is de manded by the ago in which we live. No more need of long introductions and long applications and so many divisions to a discourse that it may be said to be hydra beaded. In other days men got all their information from the pulpit. There were few books and there were no news papers, and there was little travel from place to place, and people would sit and listen two and a half hours to a reli gious discourse, and "seventeenthly" would find them fresh and chipper. In those times there was enough room for a mr.n to take an hour to warm himself up to the subject and au hour to oool off Bnt what was a necessity thou is a superfluity now Congregations are full of knowledge from books, from newspa pers, from rapid and continuous inter communication, and long disquisitions of what they know already will not be abided If a religious teacher cannot compress what ho wishes to say to the people iu the space of 45 minutes, bet tor adjourn it to some other day. The Tina* to Stop, The trouble is we preach audiences into a Christian frame and then we preach them out of it. We forget that every auditor has so much capacity of attention, and when that is exhausted he is restless. That accident on the Long Island railroad came from the fact that the brakes were out of order, and when they wanted to stop tho train they could not stop, hence the casualty was terri fic. In all religious discourse we want locomotive power and propulsion; we want at the same time stout brakes to let down at tho right instant It is a dismal thing, after a hearer has compre hended the whole subject, to hear a man say, "Now to recapitulate," and "a few words by way of application," and "once more," and "filially."and "now to conclude. ” Paul preached until midnight, and Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out of a window and broke his neck. Some would say, "Good for him." 1 would rather be sympathetic, like Paul, and resuscitate him. That accident is often quoted now in religious circles as a warning against somnolence in church it is just as much a warning to minis ters against prolixity. Eutychus was wrong in his somnolence, but Paul made u mistake when be kept on until midnight. He ought to have stopped at 11 o’clock, and there would have been no accident If Paul might have gone on to too great length, let ail those of us who are now preaching the gospel remember that there is a limit to re ligious discourse, or ought to be, and that in our time we have no upostolio power or miracles. Napoleon, iu an ad dress of seven minutes, thrilled his army and thrilled Europe. Christ's sermon on tho mount—the model sermon—was less than 18 minutes long at ordinary mode of delivery. It is not electricity scatter ed all over tho sky that strikes, but electricity gathered into a thunderbolt and hurled, and it is not religious truth scattered over, spread out over a vast reach of time, but religious truth pro jected in compact form that flashes light upon the soul and rives its iudifforeuce. When the coming sermon arrives iu this land and iu tho Christian church— the sermon which is to arouse tho world and startle the nations and usher in the kingdom—it will be a brief sermon. Hear it, all theological students, all ye just entering upon religious work, all ye men and women who in Sabbath schools and other departments are toil ing for Christ and the salvation of im mortals. Brevity, brevity! Bnt 1 remark also that tho coming ser mon of which I speak will be a popular sermon. There are those iu these times who speak of a popular sermon as though there must be something wrong about it As these critics are dull them selves, the world gets the impression that a sermon is good in proportion ns it is stupid. Christ was the most popu lar preacher the world ever saw and, considering the small number of the world’s population, had tho largest au diences over gathered He never preached erywVro without making a great sea sation. People rushed out in tb® wilder ness to hear him, reckless of phys- ica' necessities Ho great was tbeir anxi ety to hear Christ that, taking no food with them, they would have fainted and starved had not Christ performed a miracle and fed them. Why did so many people take the truth at Christ’s hands? Because they all understood it. He illustrated his subject by a hen and her chickens, by a bushel measure, by a handful of salt, by a bird’s flight and by a lily’s aroma. All the people knew what he meant, and they flocked to him. And when the coining sermon of the Christian church appears it will not be Prinoetonlan, not Rochesterian, not Andoverian, not Middletouiau, but Oli- vetio—plain, practical, unique, earnest, comprehensive of all the woes, wants, sins, sorrows and necessities of an au ditory. Charcb** Will He Throuced. But when that sermon does come there will be a thousand gleaming scim itars to charge on it. There are iu so many theological seminaries professors telling young men how to preach, them selves not knowing how, and I am told if a young man in some of our theologic al seminaries says anything quaint or thrilling or unique faculty and students fly at him and set him right, and straighten him out, and smooth him down, and chop him off until he says everything just as everybody else says it. Oh, when the coming sermon of the Christian church arrives, all the churches of Christ in onr great cities will bs thronged. The world wants spiritual help. All who have buried their dead want comfort All know themselves to be mortal and to be im mortal, and they want to hear about the great future. I tell you, my friends, if the people of these great cities who have had trouble only thought they could got practical and sympathetic help in tho Christian church there would not be a street iu Washington or New York or Boston which would be passable on the Sabbath day, if there were a church on it, for all the people would press to that asylum of mercy, that great house of comfort and consolation. A mother with a dead babe in her arms came to the god Veda and asked to have her child restored to life The god Veda said to her, "You go and get a handful of mustard seed from a house in which there has been no sorrow and in which there has been no death, and I will restore your child to life. " 8o the mother went out, and she went from house to house and from home to home, looking for a place where there had been no sorrow and where there had been no death, bnt she found none. She went back to the god Veda and said: "My mission i u failure You see. I haven’t brought the mustard seed. 1 can’t find a place where there has been no sorrow and no death. " "Oh," says the god Voda, " understand, your sor rows are no worse than the sorrows of others. We all have onr griefs and all have onr heart breaks." Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Wmsp, and you wuop alone: For tho wtd old earth must borrow its mirth. But ha* trouble enough of PM We hear a great deal of discussion now all over tho laud about why people do not go to church. Some say it is be cause Christianity is dying ont and be cause people do not believe iu the troth of God’s word, and all that. They are false reasons. The reason is because oar sennons are not interesting and practi cal and sympathetic and helpful. Some one might as well tell the whole truth on this subject, and so I will tell it. The sermon of the future—the gospel sermon to come forth and shake the na tions and lift people ont of darkness— will be a popular sermon just for the simple reason that it will meet the woes and the wants and the anxieties of the people. There are in all onr denomina tions ecclesiastical mummies, sitting around to frown upon the fresh young pulpits of America, to try to awe them down, to cry out, "Tut. tnt. tut, sensa tional!" They stand today, preaching in churches that hold 1,000 people, and there are 100 persons present, and if they cannot have the world saved iu their way it seems as if they do net wont it saved at all. 1 do not knew hot tho old way of making ministers of the gospel is better. A collegiate education and on apprenticeship under the care and home attention of some earnest, aged Christian minister, the young man getting the patriarch's spirit and assist ing him in his religions serviee, Yeung lawyers study with old lawyers, young physicians study with old physicians, and 1 believe it would be a great help if .every young man studying for the gospel ministry could put himself in the home and heart and sympathy and under the benediction and perpetual presence of a Christian minister. ▲a Awakening Sermon. Bnt, I remark again, the sermon of the future will be an awakeufcig ser in ou. From altar rail to the front door step, under that sermon an <u4i«og« will get np and start for heaven. There will be in it many a staccato passage. It will not be a lullaby, it will be a bat tle charge. Men will drop their sins, for they will feel the hot breath of pur suing retribution on the back of their necks. It will lie a sermon sga^pathetio with all the physical distresses as well us the spiritual distresses of tllto world. Christ not only preached, but be bsalcd paralysis, and he healed epilepsy, and ho healed the dumb and the blind and the ten lepers That sermon of the future will be an everyday sermon, going right down into every man's life, and it will teach him how to vote, how to bargain, how to plow, how to do any work he is called to, how to wield trowel and pen and pencil and ya- dsVick and plane, and it will te&ch women how to preside over their households and how to educate their children and how to imitate Mir iam and Esther and Vashti and Eunice, tho mother of Timothy, and Mary, the mother of Christ, and those women who on northern and southern battlefields were mistaken by tho wounded for an gels of iuer^y fresh from the throne of God. Yes, I have to toll you the sermon of the fubiu e will he a repot ted sermon, it yon have any idea that printing was in vented simply to print secular books, and stenography and phonography were con trived merely to set forth secular ideas, you are mistaken. The printing press is to be the great agency of gospel procla mation. It is high time that good men instead of denouncing the press employ it to scatter forth the gospel of Jesus Christ Tho vast majority of people in our cities do not come to church, and nothing but tho printed sermon can reach them and call them to pardon and life and peace and heaven. Ho 1 cannot understand the nervous- j ness of some of my brethren of tho min istry. When they see a newspaper man ' coining in, they say. "Alas, there is a : reporter." Every added reporter is i 1,000 or 60,000 or 200,000 immortal souls added to the auditory. The time will come when all the village, town ! and city newspapers will reproduce the gospel of Jesus Christ and sermons ' preached on the Sabbath will reverber- i ate all around the world and, some by type and some by voice, all nations will be evangelized. Tho practical bearing of this is upon i those who are engaged in Christian work, not only upon theological stu- ! dents and young ministers, but upon all who preach the gospel, and that is all of you, if you are doing your duty. The OUt of Preaching. Do you exhort in prayer meeting? Bo short and be spirited. Do you teach in Bible class? Though you have to study every night, bo interesting. Do you ac cost people on the subject of religion in their homes or in public places? Study adroitness and nse common sense. The most graceful, the most beautiful thing on earth is tho religion of Jesus Christ, and if yon awkwardly present it it is defamation. Wo must do our work rap idly, and we must do it effectively. Soon our time for work will be gone. A dy ing Christian took out his watch and gave it to a friend and said: "Take that watch. I have no more use for it. Time is ended for me, and otoruity begins." Oh, my friends, when onr watch has ticked away for us for tho last moment and our clock has struck for us the last hour, may it be found we did our work well, that we did it iu the very best way, and whether we preached tho gos pel in pulpits, or taught Sabbath classes, or administered to the sick as physicians, or bargained as merchants, or pleaded the law as attorneys, or were busy as artisans or as husbandmen or as me chanics, or were like Martha called to give a meal to a hungry Christ, or like Hannah to make a coat for a prophet, or like Deborah to rouse the courage of some timid Barak in the Lord’s conflict, we did our work in such a way that it will stand the test of the j udguiuut. And in tho long procession of tho re deemed that marches round the throne may it be found there are many there brought to God through our instrumen tality and iu whose rescue wo ore exul tant. Bnt, oh, you unsaved, w T ait net for that coming sermon. It may come after your obsequies. It may come after the stonecutter has chiseled our name on the slab 50 years before. Do not wait for a great steamer of the Cunard or White Star lino to take you off the wreck, but hail the first craft, with however low a most, and however small a hulk, and however poor a rudder, and however weak a captain. Better a disabled schooner that comes up in time than a full rigged brig that comes np after yon have sunken. Instead of waiting for that coming sermon—it may be 20, 50 years off—take this plain invitation of a man who, to have given you spiritual eye sight, would be glad to be called the spittle by the band of Christ pat on the eyes of a blind man, and who would consider the highest compliment of this service if at the close 500 meu should start from these doors, saying: " Wheth er be be a sinner or no I know not This one thing 1 know—whereas I was blind, _ iw I see. ” Swifter than shad ows over the plain, quicker than birds in their autumnal flight, hastier than eagles to their prey, hie you to a sym pathetic Christ The orchestras of heav en have already strong their instru ments to celebrate your rescue. And many were the voice* around the throne: Rejoice, for the Lord bringa back hU own. Delay Proposals. . Proposals of marriage have, no doubt been occasionally made in the language of flowers. The practice has never been common, because, in the first place, the language iu question is in a somewhat unfixed condition, its vocabulary con taining much that is still in dispute among the learned, and, secondly, be cause the recipients of the offer might very reasonably object to Its uncommit- tlng and essentially revocable character. An inventive genius has now copied na ture and invented a proposal charm, "a six petaled marguerite in pure white enamel and gold," ingeniously overlaid upon another daisy in such a way that by pressing upon a tiny spring conceal ed iu the calyx the flower becomes a 12 petaled one. Upon each of the alter nate petals thus newly disclosed is in scribed a word, and read together they form a declaration of passionate and de voted leva It n thought by the invent or of this graceful little trinket that it may be "of great assistance to a shy gentleman." who might, it is saggeuted, scud it to a lady by registered post, and if after .yard be saw her wearing it ho could then "ask her whether she had pressed the spring.”—London Tele graph. Brevity of Recent Ware. Recent wars have been remarkable for their brevity. The war between Turkey and Greece practically lasted only three weeks. The war between Japan and China lasted s-ix months. The French declared war against Germany iu July, and Sedan fell in the following Septem ber. Russia declared war on Turkey April 24, 1877, and on Dec. 13 the porte requested the mediation of the poweru Jacobs’ Pharmacy ATLANTA, GEORGIA. Special Holiday Sale We have inaugurated a Special Holiday Sale of Whiskies and Brandies, and offer inducements that appeal to all who are economically inclined. OF WINES, WHISKIES AND BRANDIES. MAIL ORDERS. Goods pack- ■ ■■■ I. ■■ ..i ■ cd• free of charge. Whiskies can be shipped anywhere without molestation. Remlttanrve should bo made by Post- Ollico or KxpreM Monty Orders, or Drafts on Atlanta. IVe do not accept local checks; neither do we accept stamps in amount, larger than twenty- five (25) cents from places where I*. 6. or Kxpress money orders are issued. Our Special Holiday Sale of Wines Whiskies and Brandies are a boon to all who appreciate good, pure Whiskies at reasonable prices. Send in your orders early. *nciA^ iHw JWkniun. in caw Old Oscar Pepper Whisky, qts * 75 Old Crow Rye Whisky, qts 75 Overholt Rj’e Whisky, qts 1 00 Gum Springs Whisky, qts 1 00 7 Old Hermitage Rye Whisky, qts 1 00 If. | Gum Springs Rye Whiskey, qts 1 00 ;j[ j Finch's Golden Wedding Rye Whisky,. 1 00 II j Silver Wedding Rye Whisky, qts 1 25 Mount Vernon Rye Whisky, qts 1 50 XXXX Monongahela Rye Whisky 50 Moss Rose Rye Whisky, qts 1 50 Rabbit Foot Corn Whisky, qts 50 Uncle Remus Corn Whisky, qts 75 Murphy's Pure Malt Whisky, qts 68 John Power’s Irish Whisky, qts 1 33 O’Donnell’s Irish Whisky, in jugs.. ,qt. 1 50 John Ramsey Scotch Whisky, qts 1 50 Liuiue Iliguiatm Scotch Whistcy, qts Glenlivit Scotch Whisky, qts 1 10 J. Hennessy’s 3 Star Cognac Brandy, qts 1 25 J. & F. Martal 3 Star Cognac Brandy, qts 2 00 Otard Dupuy 3 Star Cognac Brandy, qts 3 00 California Brandy, qts 75 Apple Brandy, qts 75 Peach Brandy, qts 75 Old Tom Gin, qts 75 Old Hollond Gin, qts 60 London Palm Gin, qts 1 00 Old Medford Rum, qts 60 Jamaica Rum, qts 75 California Sherry Wine, qts 40 .$1 33 Jltlll Mil. .41. IIIOUTTF.’ ’ California Sherry Wine, gallon... 1 00 California Port Wine, qts 40 California Port Wine, gallon $1 00 California Claret Wine, qts 40 California Claret Wine, gallon ... 1 00 Catawba Wine, qts 50 Catawba Wine, gallon 1 50 Scuppernong Wine, qts 50 Scuppernong Wine, gallon 1 50 Blackberry Wine, qts 75 Manhattan Cocktail, qts 1 00 Whisky Cocktail, qts 1 00 G. H. Mumm's Champagne, pts... 1 75 G. H. Mumm’s Champagne, qts . 3 25 8CND FOR ILLUSTRATED PRICE LIST AND CATALOGUE OF LISUOR DEPARTMENT. 11 pms 1 —ref III A TEW SAMPLE PRICES from DRUG DEPARTMENT. EVERYTHING RETAILED AT WHOLESALE PRICES Wampole’s Cod Liver Oil $ Scott’s Emulsion Slocum’s Psyehino 2 Slocum’s Ozomulsion Slocum's Colt's Foot Expec torant Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root, 38 and Ayer’s Sarsaparilla B. B. B S. S. 8., large 1 S. S. S., small. Bradfield’s Female Regulator . Mother’s Friend Wells & Richardson Butter Color Cuticura Soap Cuticura Salve 35 and Cuticura Resolvent 40 and Cuticura Plaster Fellow’s Syrup Hypophosphites Paine’s Celery Compound $ i Hood’s Sarsaparilla 68 | Pierce's Favorite Prescrip tion 69 I Pierce’s Golden Medical Dis covery 69 1 Pinkharn’s Vegetable Com pound 68 | Warner’s Safe Kidney and Liver Cure 85 Syrup Figs 34 j Peruna 68 Williams Pink Pills 35 io Carter’s Little Liver Pills 13 Tutt’s Pills 13 Allcock's Porous Plasters 10 Piso’s Consumption Cure 18 Dr. King’s New Discovery. 35 and 75 Juniper Tar 18 Cheney’s Expectorant 15 and 35 Laxative Bromo Quinine 15 Black Draught 15 Jacobs’ Pharmacy, THE BIRTHPLACE OF CUT PRICES. ATLANTA, GA. For all the News of Cherokee County you should read The Led ger every week. $ 1 a year.