Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-07-11
NONE like JESUS"
THERE ARE SOME THINGS WHICH
I BELIEVE WITH THE HEAD,
OTHER THINGS I BELIEVE
WITH THE HEART.
1T Is FAITH THAT MAKES THE
CHRISTIAN.
CHRIST, THE FRIEND OF THE
BELIEVER.
DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON, SUNDAY, JULY 1st

DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON, SUNDAY, JULY 1st
CRETE, NEBRASKA, July Ito day there
~ rs great outdoor meeting at this place
"a Chautauqua meeting-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 gentleman's subject was: "None
like Jesus" He took for his text: "Unto
you therefore which believe He is precious. !"
Peter, chapter 2, verse Z. Following is
the sermon:
We had for many years in this 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, Industrious hands enough, but no
faith. Now, what damages the commercial
world damages tho spiritual. Our great
lack is faith. That is the hinge on which
eternity turns. The Bible says we are saved
by faith. "Oh," says some one in the au-
dience, IT 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 could
show you business operation by which you
could make five thousand dollars, you
would Immediately 60 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, 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. believe, for in
stance, that Cromwell lived: That is a mat
ter of the head. Then there are other things
which l believe with the heart and not with
the head. That is, I have no especial rea-
son for believing them, and yet 1 want to
believe them, and the wish is the father to
the expectation. But there is very great
difference between that which we believe
about ourselves. and that which we believe
about others. For instance, you remember
not great while ago there was 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 great disaster in Pennsylvania. You
said: "Ah, what a sad thing this is: how
many lives lost F! 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 brave thing, what a
grand thing that was! How we'll it was
done ~ Then you folded the paper up,
and sat down to your morning repast.-
Your appetite has 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 pickaxes 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 apprecia-
ton we would have had of the agony and
the darkness beneath, and the Joy of deliv-
erance. That is the difference between be-
lieving thing about others and believing
it about ourselves.
We take up the Bible and read that Christ
came to save the world. "That was beau
tiful," 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 stretching 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 matter of handicap
ping; it is matter Of congratulation; it is a
matter of deep emotions. Which kind OF
faith have you, my brother?
1t is faith that makes Christian, and it
&C., e. hn
difference between Christians. What was
son, and Doddridge above the ordinary
simplicity, the brilliancy, the power, and
the splendor of their faith. o, that we had
more of it'll God give us more faith to
preach and more faith to hear. lord we
believe, help Thou our unbeliefr' "To
you which believe He is precious"
| First: remark Christ is precious to the
believer, as a Saviour from sin. A man
says "To whom are you talking? l am
one of the most respectable men in this
neighborhood; do you call me sinner %'-
Yes ''The heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked" You say
"How do you know anything about my
heart? ?" know that about it, for God an
nounces it in His Word; and what God says
is always right. When man becomes a
Christian, people say that man sets himself
above u.s." o, no ! Instead of setting him.
self up, he throws himself down. He cries
out: 81 was lost once, but now / am found.
I was blind once, but now I see. pros
trate myself at the foot of the cross OF the
Saviour's mercy"
| What grand thing it is to feel that all
the bad words have ever uttered, and all