St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Discourse on the Efficacy of Faith
in Jesus.
@nae Which Damages the Commercial
world Also Damages the Spiritual
Jesus a Friend Always Pres
ent when Wanted.

Rev. I Dewitt ralmage, IN -ecen t
sermoh. took for his subject: "Ncne Like
Jesus" his text being:
Unto you, therefore which believe he is pre-
cious.-I. Peter H., e.
He said: We had for many years in
TINS country commercial depression.
What was the matter with the stores?
With the harvests? With the people?
Lack of faith. Money enough, goods
enough, skillful brains enough, indus
trious hands enough, but no faith. Now
what damages the commercial world
damages the spiritual. Our great lack is
faith. That is the hinge on which eternity
turns. The Bible says we are saved by
faith.
~" says some one in the audience, 81
have faith. believe that Christ came
down to save the world"
l reply that, in worldly matters when
you have faith you always act upon it..
For instance, if l could show you bust
ness operation by which you could make
five thousand dollars, you would immedi-
ately go into it. You would prove your
faith in what I tell you by your prompt
and immediate action. Now, # what you
cali faith in Christ has led you to sur
render your entire nature to Jesus and to
corresponding action in your life, it is
genuine faith, and If it has not, it is not
faith at all.
There are some things which I believe
with the head. Then there are other
things which I believe with the heart.
And then there are other things which 1
believe both with the head and heart. I
believe, Tor instance, that Cromwell
lived. That is a matter of the head. Then
there are other things which I believe
with the heart and not with the head.
That is, have no especial reason for be-
heving them, and yet | want to believe
them. and the wish is the father to the ex-
pectation. But there is n very great diff
ference between that which we believe
abost ourselves, and that which we be-
lieve about others. For instance, you re-
member not a great while ago there was
disaster il Pennsylvania, amid the
mines; there was an explosion amid the
damps, AID many lives were lost. In the
morning you picked up your newspaper
and saw that there had been great dis
'aster in Pennsylvania. You said: @Ah,
what sad thing this is; how many lives
lost! o! what sorrow!" Then you read a
little further on. There had been an
almost miraculous effort to get those men
out, and a few had been saved. "O,n you
said, "what a brave thing, what grand
thing that was How well it was donev'
Then you folded the paper up and sat
down to your morning repast. Your APP
petite had not been interfered with, and
during that day. perhaps, you thought
only two or three times Of the disaster
But suppose you and had been in the
mine, and the dying had been all around
us, and we had heard the pick-axes just
above us as they were trying to work
their way down, and after awhile we saw
the light, and then the life bucket let
downthrough the shaft, and, suffocated
and half dead, we had just strength
enough to throw ourselves over into it
and had been hauled out into the light.
Then what an appreciation we would
have had of the agony and the dark
ness beneath, and the joy of deliver
ance. That is the difference between be-
ing it about ourselves.
We take up the Bible and read that
Christ came to save the world. "That
was beautiful" you say, "a fine specimen
of self-denial. That was very grand in
deed" But suppose it is found that we
ourselves were down in the mine of sin
and in the darkness, and Christ stretched
down his arm of mercy through the gloom
and lifted US out Of the pit, and set our
feet on the Rock Of Ages, and put new
song into our mouths. o, then it is
matter of housekeeping; it is matter of
congratulations, it is matter of deep emo
Gions. Which kind of faith have you, NV
brother?
1t is faith that makes Christian, and it
is the proportion of faith that makes the
difference between Christians. What was
1t that lifted Paul, and Luther, and Pay
son, and Doddridge above the ordinary
level of Christian character? It was the
simplicity, the brilliancy, the power and
the splendor of their faith. o, that we
had more OF it! God give us more faith
to preach and more faith to hear. "Lord /!
we believe, help thou our unbelief.o seTo
you which believe he is precious"
/. remark Christ is precious to the
believer, as Saviour from sin. A man
says:
ssTo whom are you talking! 1 am one Of |
xhe most respectable men in this neigh |
borhood; doyou call me sinner?" Yes! |
1.-THE heart is deceitfu1 above all things |
and desperately wicked" Yov say:
s.How do you know any thing about my |
hearth
know InaG aDOuL H. Tor dOd announces |
&c in His Word; and what God says is al |
ways right. When q man becomes a |
Christian people say: That man sets |
himself above MS" Q, no! Instead of |
setting himself up he throws himself |
down. He cries out:
81 was lost once, but now am found. |
was blind once, but now see, I PROSTATE |
myself at the foot of the cross of the |
Eaviour's mercy
What q grand thing it is to feel that all |
che bad words have ever uttered, and all |
the bad deeds have ever done, and all |
the bad thoughts that have gone through |
my mind, are as though they had never I
been, for the sake Of what Christ has |
done. You know there is q difference in |
stains. Some can be washed out by /
water, but others require chemical |
preparation. The sin OF the heart is SO
black and indelible a mark that no hui
man application can cleanse it, while the |
blood of Jesus Christ can wash it out for
ever. D, the infinite, the omnipotent |
chemistry OF the Gospel Some man
saws: 81 believe all that. believe God |
has forgiven the most of my sins, but
there is one sin can not forget" What
As it? I do not want to know what it is,
but I take the responsibility Of saying |
LaVF a