The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-02
GREAT LACK OF FAITH.
REV. TALMAGE AT A WESTERN
CHAUTAUQUA MEETING.

" AaV w y DSiloV6 ADOub OutboANo5
and What We Believe About Others
E-What Grand Thing to Believe that
AllIOur Bad Acts Have Been Forgiven
Christ Final Deliverer.
CRETE, NEB., July To-day there is a
great outdoor meeting at this place-a
Chautauqua meering-and people from all
parts are present A sermon by the Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage, DID. is the principal
feature of the occasion. The reverend gen
tleman's subject was, "None Like Jesus. 1"
He took for his text: Unto you, there
fore, which believe he is precious" l. Peter,
H., 7. Following is the sermon:
We had for many years in this country
commercial depression. What was the
matter with the stores9 With the harvestsl
With the peoples Lack of faith: Money
enough, goods enough, skillful brains
enough, industrious 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. 80" says some one in the audi
ence, II have faith. / believe that Christ
came down to save the world" / reply that
in worldly matters when you have faith
you always act upon it. For instance, if l
could show you business operation by
which you could make five thousand dollars,
you would Immediately go into it. You
would prove your faith in what l tell you
by your prompt and immediate action.
Now, if what you call faith in Christ has
led you to surrender your entire nature to
Jesus and to corresponding action in your
life, 1t is gentle faith and If it has not. it is
no faith at all.
There are some things which ! believe
with the head. Then there are other things
which believe with the heart And then
there are other things which l believe both
with the head and heart l believe, for in
stance, that Cromwell lived. That is
matter of the head. Then there are other
things which believe with the heart and
not with the head. That is, l have no es-
pecial reason for believing them, and yet l
want to believe them, and the wish is the
father to the expectation. But there is a
very great difference between that which
we belieN about ourselves, and that which
we believe about Others For instance, you
remember not great while ago there was
a disaster in Pennsylvania, amid the mines {;
there was an explosion amid the damps,
and many lives were lost. In the morning
you picked up your newspaper, and saw
that there had been a great disaster in
Pennsylvania. You said: "Ah, what a
| sad thing this is; how many lives
lost! O., what sorrow~ Then you
read little further on. There had been an
almost miraculous effort to get those men
| out, and few had been saved CO." you
| said what a brave thing, what grand
| thing that wasl How well it was donel"
Then you folded the paper up and sat down
| to your morning repast. Your appetite 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 a while
we saw the light, and then the life-bucket
| let down through 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 darkness beneath, and the
| JOY of deliverance. That is the difference
| between believing thing about others and
| believing it about ourselves.
We take up the Bible and read that Christ
came to save the world. THAT was beauti-
| full" you say, "a fine specimen of self
denial. That was very grand indeed" But
| suppose it is found that we ourselves were
down in the mine of sin and in the dark
ness 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 mouth :
o, then it Is a matter of handclapping; it
is matter of congratulation it is a matter
of deep emotions Which kind of faith
have you, my brotherg
It is faith that makes a christian, and it
is the proportion of faith that makes the
| difference between christians. What was it
that lifted Paul, and Luther, and Payson,
and Doddridge above the ordinary level of
christian characteri 1t was the simplicity,
the brilliancy, the power, and the splendor
Of their faith. 0, that we had more of it
| God give us more faith to preach and more
| faith to hear. Lord we believe, help
thou our unbeliefr' "To you which be-
| lieve he is precious"
First, l remarked Christ is precious to
| the believer, as a Saviour from sin. A man
says: ITO whom are you talkingl | am
one of the most respectable men in this
| neighborhood; do you call me sinnerN
Yes! THE heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked" You say:
How do you know anything about my
hearty | know that about it, for God an
nounces it in his word and what God says
is always right When q man becomes u
christian, people say: That man sets him
self above u.s. o, MOI Instead of setting
himself up. he throws himself down. He
cries out: II was lost once, but now / am
found ] was blind once, but now SEQ. |
PROSTATE myself at the foot Of the cross of
the Saviour's mercy"
What a grand thing it is to feel that all
the bad words l have 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 been, for the
sake Of what Christ has done. You know
there is a difference in stains. Some can
be washed out by water, but others require
a chemical preparation. The sin of the
heart is SO black and indelible a mark that
no human application can cleanse it, while
the blood of Jesus Christ can was it out
forever ., the infinite, the omnipotent
chemistry Of the gospel! Some man says:
II believe all that. | believe God has for
given the most of my sins, but there is one
SIN cannot forget" What is itl / do not
want 10 know what it is, but | take the re-
sponsibility of saying that God will forgive
it us willingly as any other sin.
"O'er sins like mountains for their size,
The seas Of sovereign grace expand,
The seas Of sovereign grace arise"
There was very good man, about
seventy-ive years of age, that once said
III believe God has forgiven me, but there
was one sin which committed when was
about twenty years Of age that never for
gave myself for, and / can't feel happy
when ! think of it," He said that one sin
sometimes came over his heart, and blotted
out all his hope of heaven. Why, he lacked
in faith. The grace that can forgive a
small sin can forgive a large sin. Mighty TO