Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-30
MEDICINE FOR ALL ILLS.
A LESSON FROM JOHN THE BAP-
lists ASSASSINATION.


PathOs and Beauty OF the Idea OF Going
to Tell Jesus-An sinners Advised to
DO LikewIse-HOw We should Meas
ure Our Livss-Au Men Sure TO be
POmelIed.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, Nov. 20.-There was
reception at the Brooklyn Tabernacle
this morning, and the Rev. t. Dewitt
Talmage, its pastor, gave the right hand
of fellowship to about 30 new members.
The opening hymn was that beginning;
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world so free?n
DIR. Talmage's sermon on Medicine for
All Ils," was founded on the text: "And
his disciples came, and took up the body,
and buried it, and went and told Jesus"
Matthew xiv, u. Following is the SER
mon in full:
An outrageous assassination had just
taken place. To appease a revengeful
woman, Herod had ordered the death of
that noble, self-sacrihclng, Christian
man, John the Baptist. The disciples
were in great trouble. There was no
court to which they could make appeal.
But grief must have utterance, aud if
| there be no sympathetic ear to hear 1t,
then it must be cried aloud to the winds
and the woods and the waters. But there
was an ear ready to listen. What beauty
OF pathos and what wonderful picture in
the words of my text: "They went and
told JesusP' He was ready to listen and
| he was ready to assuage their grief. We
see Christ standing, his own face shad-
owed with his own sorrow, surrounded
by group of disciples in violent gesticu-
latiOn, with many tears and with great
cutlery of woe. Raphael, with skillful
hand, putting upon the wall of palace a
picture of Bible story, was not so skillful
as the plain hand of the evangelist, as he
puts upon canvas the sketch of the text:
They went and told Jesus"
The Cloths and the Vandals came down
from the North of Europe and upset the
gardens and broke down the affairs and
swept away every thing that was good and
| beautiful; and ever and anon in the lives
of men there are rough handed despoilers,
crusaders WHO come down to despoil and
plumber, and to ransack the soul. No
cavern is so deeply cleft in the mountain
as to allow you shelter from trouble. The
foot of the fleetest cOurser is not swift
enough to bear you beyond pursuit. The
arrows brought to the string fly with I'M
erring dart, and often you have fallen
pierced and stunned.
Now l am this morning to bring a ca
thOlicOn for all your troubles, l am going
to gather all your griefs-I do not care
what they are-I am going to gather all
your griefs into bundle, and set them on
| fire with a spark from COTS altar. The
prescription of the text, which healed the
sorrow of the disciples, is just as success
full prescription to-day a.. 1 will heal all
your sorrows.
Now, In the first place, l commend the
behavior Of the disciples in the text TO all
those who feel themselves sinful and un-
pardOned. There comes time IN every
mans life when he wakes up to an ap-
probation of a sinful nature. The thought
may not have enough heft to fell hint
may only be like the flash Of a cloud at
the close of hot summer day; but the
man must somehow get rid of that feel
ing. One man ttes to prayer, another
man stimulates himself with ardent
spirits, another man dives deeper into
secularities. 1t is not wonderful when a
man sees his eternity poised on an uncer-
tainty that ne is determined TO do some
thing violent and Immediate. Now, can
it be that there is IN all this house this
morning one man who is unwilling to
have the cancer OF sin taken from his
soul, when the divine surgeon is ready to
do the work and do it, successfully l
cannot believe it.
l think the first thing for you to do If
YOU are oppressed, my brother, if you are
| oppressed with a sense of your sinfulness
| is to 90 and tell Jesus. Why, my friends,
that is the business Of Christ. He does
other things, but l think the great bust
ness of Christ is TO pardon. To relax the
| grip Of death from your soul and to plant
your unshacklec foot on golden throne,
| Christ allowed the tOrtuTes OF the bloody
mount 10 transfX bin. With the beam
Of his own cross he will this morning
crush in the door Of your dungeon. Out
| g L. .
| enough gems 10 make your brow blaze
with eternal victory. In every tear of his
wet cheek, in every cash of his wounded
! Side, in every long and blackened mark
| OF laceration from shoulder TO shoulder,
in the graves hattering, heaven-storming
death cry, hear the words: slim that
cometh unto me / will in no wise cast
out" o, what glorious gospel What a
gospel to preach What gospel TO hear 4!
"Where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound"
go" says some man, "why, then you
propose TO cure the wound OF sin by maxi
ing another wound, the wound Of convic-
! tiOn.p Why. my brother, that Is what
every physician does Of all schools. The
! physicians, when they find an old, rank
ling wound. they come with caustic and
they burn it out, and then health and re-
stOration come. Here is the old sore OF
I
| grace, and he burns 1t out, and the flesn
comes again as the flesh OF little child.
| Well, there is not man In the audience
but is ready 10 have that process 90 on
in his soul. He says: THAT'S reason
able, that's right, that is just what /
would suppose, and mean 10 have that
process in my SOUL" When, my brother,
| when2 "O.v you soy, "sOme time.V
Well, / caunot afford 70 have you put OF
the subject in that way. aud you cannot
afford TO put IL of In that way. i want
| 10 know Just when.
have heard that Alfred, the King, be-
fore the invention of time-pleces. used 10
measure the day by three wax candles.
Each wax candle would burn eight hours,
so that when one candle was consumed
eight hours were gone: two wax candles,
sixteen hours were g0ne.and the third wax
candle had been consumed, then the
twenty-fOur hours, the whole day, was
gone. o. my friends, ] wish instead Of
measuring our days and nights and years
on earth by a time-piece, we would meas
ure time By mercies and opportunities,
which are burning down and burning out,
never 20 be relighted, lest we wake up
! with the discontinue Of the foolish vir-
gins and cry: soar lamps are gone outlv
But, in the second place, Icommend that
behavior OF these disciples In the text, 10
all the tempted. have heard people say
they were never tempted-people who
have come to mid-life that never have
| been tempted. Oh. my friends; II Is be-