The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-10-15
DIR. TALMAGE.
A Recent Sermon Preached at Bel
fast, Ireland.
Seeking the Lost-The Salvation Through
the Blood of Christ That Is offered
to All~The Joys of Be
lieying.

Rev. r. De Witt Talmage, D. D., of
Brooklyn, N. Y, preached on re-
etht Sunday in st. Enoch's Church,
Belfast, ireland, and in order to
crafty the wishes of the immense
ConcoIrse of those who had been unable to
gain admission to the church no repeated
the sermon out of doors. 1t is estimated
that ct the two sermons he addressed not
less than forty thousand persons. He took
for his text the following:
The Son of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost-Lilse, IiC., 10.
The reverend gentleman spoke as fol-
lows:
When Kossuth visited the United States
over thirty years ago, so great was the en-
thusiasn for Hungary that remember
very well the trees around the New York
Battery were crowded with people who
had climbed there to see the distinguished
stranger as he passed. / shall never for
get that scene. Indeed, il one be well
poised he can not stand in better place
TO see a passing crowd than in tree-top.
Well, Christ was coming to Jericho, and
there was small man, whose head
did not come up to the shoulders
Of other people, who despaired of
seeing the distinguished stranger while
standing ON the dead level, so
he climbs up into a sycamore tree-broad-
branched, stretching its arms clear across
the highway and sits there while Jesus
advances. Christ, coming up with great
multitude, casts His eye up and sees this
mas on the branch of the sycamore, and
sayss " Come DOWN" and after the man
has slighted He says, among other things,
to him: The Son of Man is come to seek
and 20 save that which was lost" Our
sympathies are always aroused when we
see anything that is lost Even dog that
has wandered away from its master we
feel sorry for. Of a bird that has escaped
from its owner, we say: "Poor thing I"
Going down the street near nightfall, In
the teeth of the sharp northeast wind, You
feel very pitiful for one who has got to be
out tonight. As you go along you hear
the afrighted cry of child. You stop.
Iou say: what is the matter?" You
go up and find that little one has lost its
way from home. In its excitement it can
not even tell its name or its residence. The
group OF people gathered around are all
touched, all sympathetic and helpful. A
plain body comes up, and with her plaid
she wraps the child, and says: "I'll take
care of the poor BARN" While in the
same street, but little way on, the crier
goes through the city, ringing a bell, and
uttering IN voice that sounds siolefuIly
through all the alleys and byways of the
city: "a lost child Three years of age:
blue eyes, light hair. Lost child 20 Did
you ever hear any such pathos as that
ringing through the darkness?
You are on shipboard. You see against
the sky vessel. 1t comes nearer. You
MOIST nag. 1t makes no response. You
say: " What is the matter with that ves-
SELF, You put the sea- glass to your eve.
and you find there is no one in the rigging
mo one on the deck. "Ah,n you say, 81
) guess that must be an abandoned ship.' It
comes on, falling over into the trough of
the ocean. It floats every whittier, tossed
by the wild sea, and the crew saw to the
passengers, and the Captain says to his
Mate: aft is a~1ost ship" So @A@
You are going down the street. and YOU
see man that you know very well. You
once associated with him. You ara aston.
sshed as you see him. Why,os YOU saw.
He must be in the very last stages of
wickedness." And then you think of his
blasted home, and say: "God pity his
wife and child God pity hint" A lost
man.
but, my friends, we are lost. "All we.
axe sheep, have gone astray;" and the
oeilmen OF Heaven come out hunting up
and down to find those who have missed
their way. ringing through all the streets
OK the city, and all the valleys and mount
aims of the earth, the old Gospel-bells.
The Son of Man has come to seek and to
save that which was lost.n
am glad that 1t is the Son of Man who
mas come to seek US. 1t is not one armed
with thunderbolts, riding down the sky in
ponderous chariot to crush US, but the Son
OF HAN; His nature justlike our nature.
Win one exception; His infancy rocked in
the cradle Of mothers arms; His bow
hood spent in Nazareth amid a. bows
temptations. Afterward, with blistered
hapas learning o trade. sAfterward
preaching, not with priests gown. but in
citizen's apparel; talking as brother talks
with brother. o He was the Son of Mani
he walked like man, He slept like .
man, he ate like man, He drank like
man, He wept like man, He suf-
fered like a mantle was a man,
he knew what sin and Temptation
are by personal contact, for. He lived In a
most abandoned village, and He moved
around amid fishing villages known in all
ages for their vice; and in after wears He
preached in Jerusalem, city which.
though it had a temple, was worse than
New York. And when Christ comes now
he comes not to a new world to make a
discovery, but He comes to an old world
where He once lived; to a race whose
nerves, and muscles, and bones, and flesh
were just like those which He inhabited.
Like us, the cold chilled Him; like us. fire
warmed Him; like us, betrayal exasper-
ated him. l warrant you that in that
hostile and rough society He received
many kick, and bruise, and cuff that
have never been recorded. 1 am glad 10
know that He comes in the fresh memorv
of His sorrows on earth, and of those
thrilling night scenes and day scenes of
His earthly citizenship, s'to seek and To
save that which was lost