The Clarksburg telegram. [volume], May 05, 1893, Image 1

About The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926

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[ LARGEST CIRCULATION jn A fir A I .
in Central West Virginia I PAGES I TO 4i
{Telegram.
J
CLARKSBURG,
Development of West' Virginia's Reeouroee
, MAY 5. 1893.
WHOLE NO. 1579
ALMAGE'S
it Sermon in the Brooklyn
abernaole Last Sunday.
AGE AUDIENCE HEARS THE
NOTED PREACHER,
r The Exerelses Wore Conducted,
if Telegram's Correspondent Tellg
1 About It.
ES TEEDAII
listened to a ser
mon from tbe
lips of America's
moot noted liv
i n g, preacher.
Rot X. DeWitt
Tulmage, D. D.
Were I Bare tlie
the many friends
of tin* Telegram
would enjoy the perusal
of this sermou and the
description I am about to
write, tbe tenth part as
much as I enjoyed hear
ing it, I would fool amply
d for the effort it costs me to place
columns before tbem.
ras to be presumed that the 8un
jllowing New York's great naval
ostntion and at the same time the
lyperceding tbe opening of the
1's Fair would bo an occasion for
ilmsge to select a popular subject
uidle it with more than ordinary
y. 1 knew too that be would have
it tudience?one containing noted
8 from every port of the English
ing world. I also knew that, hun
vould fail to gain admittance to tbe
ifnl Tobernnole, and tbiB huigh
my appreciation of the invitation
?d been extended to me by which
d eooupy a pew not ten leet from
Strom.
olved to make the start for Brook
oot half post eight o'clock, for it
lite a journey from-my hotel on
od Broadway, to the iJiooklyn
nole.
? .1 mtlway. "bow*r?i
the question of rapid and cheap
jrtation in New York, and a ride
r minutes through the great city
ht me to the wonderful New York
rooklyn bridge, the most Btupen
itraoture of its kind on earth. It
ost six thousand feet long, is 135
bove the water, has towers almost
st high and was constructed at a
f 815,000,000.
cidedto walk across the bridge,
ia said that no where else on this
ent can one stand and see spread
efore him such a panorama of great
eroents. The magnificent harbor
the sun-kissed Atlantic waters, the
array of ocean steamers and sail
Bedloe's Island on which stands
oldi's statue of Liberty Eulight
the "World, New York on the one
tnd Brooklyn on the other with
monuments,_ parks and towering
and on this particular occasion
*as udded to the scene the great
omposed of ten nation's war ships.
I must not gaze too long at these
tic triumphs of man *8 energy and
igence. My talk was to be about
almage.
?oyer the great bridge, a ride of
n minutes brings me to the Tuber
wd entering at once,for the throng
surging about the main en
e, an usher escorts me far dowu the
^too pew to which I have already
The seats on the main floor
pKlly taken, the galleries are filled,
tows stand at the doors and "re
nat there is no more vacant places''
we wlio.are still coming.
sTabernacle is a beautiful struct
iuo immense pipe organ is almost
p as oue end of the church and
itrum is a part of the organ itself.
JJfitc was grand but low and doep.
tore were closed andVat a signal
flashed up hundreds of brilliant
?lights around tbe ceiling. The
^as solemn and beautiful.
lalmage entered from a room
For 4,000 years the world had been
waiting for a deliverer?waiting while
empires rose and fell. Conquerors came
and made the world worse instead of
making it better, still the centuries
watched and waited. They looked for
him on thrones, looked for him in pal
aces, looked for him in imperial robes,
looked for him at the head^of armies.
At last they found Him In a barn. The
cattle stood nearer to Him than the an
gels, for the former were In the ad
joining stall, while the latter were in
the clouds. A percentage of peasantry.
No room for Him In the inn, because
there was no one to pay the hotel ex
pense. Yet the pointing star and the
angelic cantata showed that Heaven
made up In apMciation of his worth
what the worldw?ked. "Christ came,
who Is over all, God blessed forever.
Amen."
But who Is this Christ who came? As
to the difference lietween different de
nominations of evangeUcal Christians
I have no concern. If I could, by the
turning over of my hand, decide wheth
er all the world shall at last be Baptist, |
or Methodist, or Congregational, or
Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, I would
not turn my hand. But there are doc-1
trines which are vital to the soul. If
Christ be not a God, we are Idolaters.
To this Chrlstologlcal question I devote
myself this morning, and pray God that
we may think aright and do aright In
regard to a question In which mistake
is infinite.
I suppose that the majority of those
here to-day assembled believe the
Bible. It requires as much faith to be
an infidel as a Christian. It Is faith in
a different direction. The Christian has
faith In the teachings of Matthew,
Luke, John, Paxil, Isaiah, Moses. The
"infidel has faith In the free-thinkers.
We have faith in one class of men.
They have faith in another class of
men. But as the majority of those,
perhaps all of those here assembled,are
that It ia a corruption of the story that
the Egyptian plague turned the water
into blood. They nay it in no won
der that Christ sweat great
drops of blood; He had been
out in the night air and was taken
suddenly ilL They nay that there
were no tongues of fire on the heads of
the disciples at the Pentecost: that
there was only a great thunder storm,
and the air was full of electricity which
snapped and Hew all around al>out
the heads of the disciples. They say
that Mary and Martha and Christ felt
it important to get up an excitement
for the forwarding of their religiou,
and so they dramatized a funeral and
Lazarus played the corpse, and Mary
and Martha played the weepers, and
Christ was the tragedian. 1 put it in
my own words, but this is the exact i
morning of their statements. They say
the Bible is a spurious book, written by
superstitious men. backed up by men
who died for that which they did not
believe.
Now, I take back the limited state
ment which I made a few moments ago,
when I said it requires as much faith to
be an infidel as to be a Christian, It
requires a thousand fold more faith to
be an infidel than to be a Christian, forj
if Christianity demand that the whale j
swallowed Jonah, then skepticism dt> j
mands that Jonah swallowed the whale!
1 can prove to you that Christ was God, i
not only by the supernatural appear
ance on that Christmas night, hut by
what inspired men said of Him, by
what He says of Himself and 'b/j?fi
wonderful achievements. "Christ came,
who is over alL" Ah! does not that
prove too much? Not over the
Cajsars, not over Frederick, not over
Alexander the Great, not over the Hen
rys, not over the Louises? Yes. Pile,
all the thrones of all the ages together,
and my text overspans them as easily
as a rainbow overspans a mountain-top.
"Christ came, who is over all." Then
administration buildiko, (World's Fail)
willing* to take the Bible as a standard
in morals and in fnith, I make this
book my starting-point. ,
I suppose you ure aware that the two
generals who have marshaled the great
armies against the deity of Jesus Christ
are Strauss and Kenan. The number of
their slain will not be counted until the
trumpet of the archangel sounds the
roll-call of the resurrection. Those
men and their sympathisers saw that if
they could destroy the fortress of the
miracles they could destroy Christian
ity, and they were right. Surrender
the miracles and you surrender
Christianity. The great German exe
getc saj*s that all the miracles were
myths. The great French exegete
says that all the miracles were
lie must be a God.
The Bible says that all things were
made by Him. Does not that prove too
much? Could it be that lie made the
Mediterranean, that I !e made the Hlucli
sea, that He made the Atlantic, the Pa
cific, that lie made Mount Lebanon,
| that He made the Alps, the Sierra Ne
vadas, that He made the hemispheres,
that lie made the universe? Yes. The
Hible says so, and lest we lie too stupid
to understand, .lohn winds up with a
magniScent reiteration and says:
"Without Him was not anything made
that was made." Then He was a Cod.
The Hible says at the name of JcsuH
every knee shall bow. All Heaven
must come down on Ita knees, apostles
on their knees, the archangel on his
Jj/^ftanufctturOi-.i UbfralArtjDulMinOf?;
fc-?? rostrum and placing bis
W hymn-book on a small stand
JJtoelf in one of tlie richly up
JJcWra. His prayer was very
t2i hymn was announced in a
?JJtoR voice,
?*u>teuanco was pleasant; and his
??Maple and unostentatious. His
tlfiooth shaven and he wore his
coat closely buttoned. He
v notes or manuscript and stood
*Und or table.
pjjuis auilienoe almost spell
Jy his inimitable style und
^^criptions. His subject on
^ was "Over All Forever."
-H8 Romansix., 5: "Christ
:5?Hover all" His words were
legends. They propose to take every
thing- supernatural from the Bible.
They prefer the miracles of human non
sense to the glorious miracles of Jesus
Christ
They say there was no miraculous
birth in Bethlehem, but that it is all a
fanciful story, just like the story of
Romulus said to have been born of Ren
Silvia and the god Mars. They say no
star pointed to the manger; it was only
the flash of a passing lantern. They
say there was no miraculous making of
bread, but that it is a corruption of the
story that ftlisha gave twenty loaves of
bread to a hundred men. They say the
water was never turned into wine, but
knees. Before whom? a man? No, He
is a God. The Bible says every tongue
shall confess?llornesian, Malayan,
Mexican, Italian, Spanish, Persian,
English. Every tongue shall confess.
To whom? Cod. The Bible says Christ
the same yesterday, to-day and forever.
Is that characteristic of humanity? Do
we not change? Does not the body en
tirely change in seven years? Does
not the mind change? Does not the
heart chnnyc? Christ the same yester
day, to-day, and forever. He must be a
God.
Philosophers say that the law of
gravitation decides everything, and
that the centripetal and centrifugal
j worut irtini ciatming*
| an4^^HMcmolition. ltut Paul says
| ttraW1 arm is the axle on which
t vcurflSw^ turns and that Christ's
| ha^^HjBtockct in which everything
i i?:^i3pir)c the words, **lIpholdin(r-'
upholding all things by the word of
His pow*r." Then lie must be a God.
Then look at what Christ nays of Him
! self. Now, Certainly ever}- one must
understand hlnwlf better than any
one else call Understand him. If I ask
you where yon were born, and yon tell
me, "I was born in "Chester,
Knffland." or ?l was boru in
Glasgow, Scotland." or MI was born
^?i r '
in immin, Ireland," or "I wiw born
in New Orleans, the United States.
You being a man of inteirrity, I should j
believe you. If I asked you how many
pounds you could lift, and you should j
say you could lift 100 pounds, or 200
pounds, op 800 pounds, I should believe
you. 11 is a matter personal to your
self. You know better than any one
| else canE tell you. If I ask how much
i estate urt you worth, and you say ?10,
{ 000 W riOO.OOO, or *600,000, I believe
| what yim say. You know bettor thnn
j any one else. Now, Christ must know
? 1 Hitter than any one else who lie is and
I what lie is. When I ask Him how old ]
i He is He says: "Before Abraham was, I
j am." Abraham had been dead 2,038
j years. Was Christ 2,028 years old? Yes, j
He says He is older than that. '"Before
Abraham was, I am." Then Christ'says
"I am the Alpha." Alpha is the first
letter of the Greek alphabet, and Christ
in that utterance declared: "I am the A
of the alphabet of the centuries."
Then He must be a God. Can a man
be 'in a thousand places at once?
"Where two or three are gathered to
gether in My name, there am I in the
midst of them." This everywherative
ncss, is it characteristic of a man or of
God? And, lest we might think this
everywherativeness would cease. He
goes on and He intimates that ne will
be in all the cities of the earth?He will
be in Europe Asia, Africa, North and
South America the day before the world
burns up. "Lo! I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world." Why,
then, He must be a God.
Besides that He takes divine honors.
He declares Himself Lord of men,
angels and devils. Is He? If He is, He
is a God. If He is not He is an impos
tor. A man comes into your store to
morrow morning. He says: "I am the
great shipbuilder of Liverpool; I have
built hundreds of ships." He goes on
to give his experience. You defer to
him as a man of large experience and
ions. But the next day
you find out that he is not the great
ship-builder of Liverpool, that he never
built a ship, that he never built any
thing. What is he then? An impostor.
Christ says He built this world; Ho
built all things. Did He build them?
If He did He is God. If He did not He
ia an impostor.
A man Gonitis into your place of busi
ness. with a Jewish countenance and a
German accent, and says: "I am a
Rothschild, the banker of London; I
have the wealth of nations in my pock
et; I loaned that large amount to Italy
and Austria in their perplexity." But
after a while you find that he has^nevcr
i ly or Austria;
that he never had a large estate; that
he is no 1 winker at aU; that he owns
nothing What is he? An impostor.
Christ says He mvn- the cattle on a
thousand hills; lie owns this world; He
owns the next world; He owns the uni
verse; He is the banker of all nations.
!?. He? If He is. lie is n ?.?>?!. Is He
not? Then He is an impostor.
A man enters the white house at
wm!linfftor He ?*?* 1 ??n Kmperor
>>illlntn. of Germany; I am traveling
Incognito; I have come over lion* fin
recreation and plensiitv: I own castle*
In Hreaden and ltcrlln." it,it the preal
dent Had* out the next day th?i he la
not Kmperor William, that he owns no
rawtlea at tterlln or Dresden. that he
hu no authority. What fail he? An
Impoator, Christ says He la the Rlnir
oyer all, the Klnir immortal, Invlaltde.
If He Ik, lie U a Ood. If He la not. lie
la an Impostor.
Strmuaa aaw that alternative. and he
We* to gel out of It by Haylnff that
Christ was sinful In aivoptin^ adora
lion ami worship. Renan trios to get
out of It by naying that Chrint?not
through any fault of his own, hut
through the fault of others?loot His
purity of eonsclenoe, and he slyly Inti
mates that dishonorable women had
i damaged Ills soul. Any thing but be
lieve thai Christ is God.
Now you believe the llible to 1* true.
If you do not you would hardly have
appeared In this church. You would
have gone over and joined the ltroad
way Infidel club, or you would go to
Boston and kiss the foot of tho stntuo
of Thomas l'alne. You would hardly
come into this church, where the most
of us are the deluded soul* who believe
In a whole llible and take it all down
ns you swallow a ripo strawberry. I
have shown you what inspired men
laid of Christ, 1 have shown you what
Christ said of llimself; now If you be
lieve the llible, let us go out and see
Ills wonderful achievement^!?surgical,
I alimentary, marine mortuary. Surgical
"achievement*. Where Is the medical
journal that gives any account of such
exploits a* Christ wrought? He used
no knife. He carried no splint*, lie
employed ill) comproM* He made no
patient squirm under cautcr.sution.
caitscd a man who was bora nundt
and without optic nerve, or cornea,
or crystalline lens, to open 111* eye*
on the M.nllght. He beat m.udc on
the drum of the deaf ear. He ?tight
ened a woman who through contraction
of tho muscle had been bent almost
double for well nigh two decades. He
made a man who had no use of his
limb for thirty-eight years shoulder hi.
mattress and walk oft.
Sir Astley Cooper, Abernathy. \ alen
tine Mott stood powerless before a
withered arm; but this doctor of omnip
otent surgery comes In and lie sees the
paralltic arm useless and lifeless at the
rimn's side, and 'Christ says to him:
"Stretch forth thine hand. ? and he
stretched it forth whole a* the other.
He was Hod.
Alimentary achievements, lie found
a lad who had come out of the wilder
ness with five loaves of bread for a
speculation. Perhaps the lad had paid
five pennies for the five loaves, and he
exported to seU them for ten pennies,
and so ho wonld double his money
Christ took those loaves of bread and
performed a miracle by which he fed
seven thousand famishing people. And
I warrant you the lad lost nothing, for
there were twelve baskets of fragments
taken up, and If the boy had five loaves
at the start, 1 warrant yon he had at
least ten at the close.
The Saviour's mother goes into a
neighbor's house to help get up a wed- |
ding party, lly calculation she finds
out that tho amount of wine Is not suffl
clont for the guests. She calls In
Christ for help, and Christ, not by the
slow decay of fermentation, but by a
word, makes 180 gallons of pure wine.
Marine achievements. He turn* a
whole school of fish Into the net of
men who were mourning over their
poor luck, until the boat is so full
they have to halloo to other boat*,
and tho other boots come up and they
are laden to the water's edge with the
game, so that the sailors havo to be
cautious in going from larboard to star
board lest they upset the ship. Then
there comes a squall down through the
mountain gorge. Oenesaret with long
locks of white foam rises up to battle
it, and the boat drops into a trough
and ships a sea, and the loosened sail*
crack in the tornado and Christ rises
from the back part of the boat and
comes walking across the staggering
ship until he oome* to the prow, and
there He wipes the spray from hl?
brow and hushes the crying storm on
the knee of Ills omnipotence. Whc
wrestled down that euroelydon? Whose
feet trampled tho rough Galilee into a
smooth floor? ? , .
Let philosophers and anatomists go
to Westminster Abbey and try to wake
Queen Eilxabeth or Henry VIII. J?o
human power over awakened the dead.
There is a dead girl in Capernaum.
What docs Christ do? Alas', that she
should have died so young and when
the world was so fair. Only twelve
years of age! F<el her cold brow and
?ld hands, Dead dead! Tho house ta
full of weeping. Christ comes and He
takes hold of the hand of tho dead
girl and instantly her eyes open
Lid her heart start*. The white
Illy of death blushes into the
roses of health. She rushes Into the
arms of her rejoicing kindred. Who
woke up that death? Who restored her
to life? A man? {Tell that to the luna
tics in Itloomintfdale asylum. It wtu?
Christ, the Ood.
Hut then' comes a test which more
than any else will show whether
lie wus God or man. You remain be r
that great pmutage which nays: "\V?
must Jill appear Ihjfor.- the judgment
neat of Chrtat'* The earth will Ikj
stunned by a blow that will make it
Ktatfger mid-hraven: the ntam will cir
cle like dry leaven in an equinox; t he
earth will unroll the 1k*IU?s, and the
sky will unroll the hpirita. and the m>uI
and tlesh will enuie into incorruptible
conjunction. Hay wnoke and tire
ana dnrkness and triumph. On one Bide,
piled up In gnllerie* of Utfht, the one
hundred and forty and four thousand,
yea, the qulnttUUuiH of the saved. On
the other side* piled up In tralleries of
darkness, the frownlnjf. the tflnrintf
multitude of those who rejected Uod.
Between them? two plled-up ^ul lories
n throne, a high throne, n throne stand
ing on two burnished. pillars Justice,
Mercy?a throne no bright you had hot
ter hide your eye lent it W extinguished
with excess at vision. Hut it is an
empty throne. Who will oome up and
take It? Will yon?
"Ah, no!" you say. "I am but a child
of dust; 1 would not dare to climb that
throne." Would tJnhrlel elimb it? Ho
dare not. Who will ascend it? Hero
comes one. His buck is to us. He goes
up Htep above stop, height alswu
j height, until He reaches the upex.
Then ITe turns around and faces all na
tions, and We nil sec who it is. It is
Christ, the God, and all earth, and all
Heaven, and all hell kneel, crying: "It
Is a Uod! It Is a jtfcdl" We must all
appear before the judgment seat of
Christ.
Oh, I am so glad that it is a Divine
Being who comes to pardon all i
to comfort all our sorrows.
griefs tire so {Treat they i
iy human sympathy, and ?
oneltatm. I went t<> tell you 1
omnipotent t'hrlat who it. oome.
After a abort pruyor the organ again
pealed out it* deep melodic. Ah tlm
greet throng was leaving the ohuroli.
Dr. Talmage doscondod from tho rostrum
and stood near one door shaking bauds
and greeting poople aa they praied.
Htuabt Heed.
New York, May Int. '#8.
OPEpD.
The Great Fair at Chicago Has It,
I'ouderoaa
MACIIISERT SET IH MOTION.
On Monday tho greatest exposition
the world haa ever aeen waa appropri
-_..>.,-? wv wui?ll")UWW01ll mill IQfl
'starting of the machinery of the fair at
Chicago, waa the completion of the in
augural oeremoniea. It is presumed
that fully three huudred thousand peo
pie were assembled when the President
of tlm United .itates tou bed the golden
button that releaaed the peut-up forocs
and aeUbe groat show in motiou.
The President's speech was brief uud
very appropriate. The following being
a stenographic report of bin language :
"I am here to join my fellow-uitizeuB
in the congratulations which befit the
occasion. Surrounded by the atupeiul
OQS result* of American enterprise aud
activity, and in view of magoifloeiit
evidenoca of American skill und intelli
, genoe, we need not fear that tin- eon
gratnlationa will be exaggerated. We
I must stand to-day in the presence of the
oldest nations of tho world and point to
I the great achievement* we here exhibit,
asking no allowance on tho so ire of
yontb.
"The enthusiasm with wbioh we con
template oar work intensity the
warmth of the greeting we extend to
I thoae who have come from foreign lands
to illustrate with na the growth uud
progress of human endeavor in the
direction of a higher civilization.
"We, who believe that popaloreduca
tion and the stimulation of the best im
pulse* of our citizens lead the way to a
realization of the )>roud national destiny,
which our faith promises. gladly wel
come the opportunities here aff-ir <ed
us, to see the results accomplished by
efforts which have been exerted longer
thau ours the Held of man's improve
ment; while in appreciative return, we
exhibit the unparalleled advancement
und wonderful accomplishments of u
young nation and present the triumph
of a vigorous aelf reliant and independ
ent people. We have built there
splendid edifices, but we have alno built
the magnificent fabric of a popular
government whose grand proportions
are aeen throughout the world. We
have made and here gathered together
objects of use and beauty, the products
of American skill and invention; we
have also made men who rale them
selves.
"It is an exalted mission in wbioh wo
and our guests from other landa are en
gaged, as wo co-operate in the inaugu
ration of an enterprise devoted to human
enlightenment; and in the undertaking
we here enter upon, exemplify in the
noble aenae the brotherhood of nations
"Let us hold fast to the meaning that
underlies this ceremony, and let us not
lose the impresaivenesa of thia moment.
Aa by a touoh the machinery that gives
life to thia vast exposition is now set iu
motion, so st the same instant, let our
hopes and aspirations awaken forces
which in all time to oome shall influence
the welfare, the dignity and the freedom
of mankind."