The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-04-17

Gle by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage;
suBJRcT-"THE GREAT SEARCH"
TExr-Luke xix.lO: "The Son Of Man
is come to seek and to save that which
was lost"
When Kossuth came to this country
about twenty years ago, go great was the
enthusiasm for Hungary, that | remem'
Der the trees around the New York Bat.
terry were crowded with people who had
climbed them to see the distinguished
stranger as he passed, l shall never for
get the scene. Indeed, If one be we'll
poised he can not stand in better place
to see crowd pass than in a tree top
Well, Christ was coming to Jericho, and
there was a small man whose head did
not come up to the shoulders of other
people, who despaired of seeing the dis
tinpuished stranger while standing on
the ground, so he climbs up into syca-
more tree, broad branched, and stretch
ing it's arms across the highway, and
sits there while Jesus advances, Christ,
coming up with the great multitude, casts
His eye up and sees the man in the tree,
and says, "Come down w and after the
man has alighted, He says to him, among
other things, "The Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which was lost"
Our sympathies are already aroused
when we see anything that is lost. Even
dog that has wandered away from its
master we feel sorry for or bird that
has escaped from its owner, wesay, Poor
thingp Going down the street near
nightfall, in the teeth of the clear north
west wind, you feel very sorry for the
one who has to be out. AS you go along
you hear the sffrighted cry of child;
you stop, and say what is the matter ?
You go up and find that a little one has
lost its way from home, In its excite
ment it can not even tell its name or res.
idence. The group of people gathered
around are touched, are sympathetic, are
helpful. A plain lady comes up and with
her plaid, wraps the child, and says, "Pll
take care of the poor BARN." while in
the same street, little way of, the crier
goes through the city ringing bell, and
uttering, in voice that sounds dolefully
through all the alleys and byways Of the
city: "a lost child, three years of age,
blue eyes, light hairp Did you ever
hear any such pathos as that ringing
through the darknessP You are on ship
board; you see against the sky vessel;
it comes nearer; now hoist flag; it does
not respond. You say, "What is the
matter with the vessel" You put the
Bea-glass to your eye, and find there is
no one in the rigging, no one on the
deck. "Ah," you say, "that is an aban-
doned vessel" 1t comes on, falling over
in the trough of the ocean. 1t floats ev.
erywhere, tossed by the wild sea, and
the crew says to the passengers, and the
Captain says to the mate, 1T is lost
ship" You are going down the street
and you see man that you know we'll.
You once associated with him. You ere
astonished as you see him. why"
you say, "he is all covered with the
marks of sin. He must be in the very
last stages Of wickedness" And then
you think of his lost home and say,
"God pity his wife and child. God pity |
him. A lost msnp But, my friend, we |
are all lost We all, like sheep, have
gone astray, and the bell man of heaven
came ont, hunting up and down to find
those who have missed their way, ring.
ing through all the streets of the city,
and all the valleys and mountains of the
earth, the old Gospel bell. "The Son of
Man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost"
| am glad it is the Son of Man who
has come to seek u.s. 1t is not one arm
ed with thunderbolts, riding down the
Sky in ponderous chariots to crush me-
but the Son of Man. His nature just
like our nature, with one exception: His
infancy rocked in the cradle of mothers
arms; His boyhood spent in Nazareth,
amid boys temptations, afterward with
blistered hands learning a trade. After.
ward was dying, not with priests gown,
but in citizens apparel, talking as broth
or talks to brother Oh, he was the Son
Of Mani He walked like a man; He ate
Ikea man; He slept like a man; He wept
like man; He suffered like man; He
was man. He knew what sin and
tenn ptation are, by personal contact for
He lived in a most abandoned village,
and moved around amid fishing villages,
known in all ages for their vice, and in
after years preached in Jerusalem, a city
which, though it had its temple, was
worse than New York And when He
zones to day, He comes not to a New
World to make discovery, but He comes
to an Old World, where he once lived to
= race whose nerves and muscles, bones
and flesh were like where He Inhabited.
Like us, the cold chilled Him, fire warm
ed Him; like us; betrayal exasperated /
Him. warrant you that in that rough {
and hostile society He received many I
kick and bruise and cuff that has never t
been recorded. am glad to know that /
He comes in the fresh memory of His 1
BorrOws on earth, and of those thrilling '
night scenes and day scenes of His early i
citizenship, ito seek and to save that q
which was lost" In the 6rst place, but l.
mark that we are lost to holiness. Are II
you not all willing to take the Bible an h
that our nature is utterly f
ruined2 Sin has broken in at every [,
part Of the castle. One would think we Is
got enough Of it from our first parents, il
whether they we're pious or not; but we b
have taken tie capital of ain with which Il
our fathers and mothers started us, we h
have by accumulation, as by informal n
compound Interest, made enough to for eI
eVer swamp US. The heart is q battle- b
ground around which armed battalions Il
sweep right and left The worn palace cl
Ot the soul polluted with the filthy feet q,
q al uncleanness The Lord Jesns al
Christ comes to bring us back to holiness 81
he comes not to destroy US, but to take lie
the consequences of our guilt. He breaks "
s!hrorgh the laeersting thorns and hedges b,
70 oner mp clearance. Here is man it