Sharp County record., 1888-07-19
TALHAGES SERMON.
A Discourse on the Efficacy OF Faith
IN Jesus.
That Which Damages the toihiherCiA'
World Also Damages the spiritual
Jesus "a Friend Always Pres
cnt when Wanted.


Jesus" " hi text being:
rntovou. therefore. which believe he is pre-
cious It. Peter. i., T.
He said. We had for MANY years IN
This country commercial depression.
What was The matter with the stOres!
with the harvesrsg With the people:
Lack of faith. Money enough, goods
enough. sEIIful brains enough, indus
frious 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 eterhl0y
turns. The Bible says we are saved ny
faith.
"Ov saws some one in the audience, ~
have faith. I believe that Christ came
down to save the world.'
reply that, in worldly matters when
Won have faith you always act upon 7.
For instance. if 1 could show You DusI-
ness operation by which you could make
five thousand dollars, you would Immedl-
7teIv 20 into it. You would prove your
faith in what [ tell YOU by your prompt
and immediate action. Now, If what you
call faith in Christ has led you to sur
render vOur entire nature to Jesus ana TO
eorresnoudiug action in your life, 1t IS
genuine faith, and if it has not, it Is not
faith at all.
There are some things which [ believe
with the head. Then there are other
things which Z believe with the heart.
And then there are other things which /
believe both with the head and heart. /
believe. for instance, that Cromwell
lived. That S a matter Of the head. Then
there are other things which L believe
with the heart and not with the mead.
That is. T have no especial reason for be-
Heviug them. and yet / want to believe
them. and the wish is the father TO the eE-
Dpctation. But there IS very great lII-
ference between that which we believe
about ourselves. and that which we be-
Iieve about others. For instance, you re-
member not great while ago there was
q disaster in Pennsylvania, amid the
mines: there vas an explosion amid the
damDs. and many lives were lost In the
morning you picked up your newspaper
and saw that there had been great dls-
aster in PENNSYLVANIA. You said: All,
what a sad thing this is; how many lives
1Osrl o. what sorrow :" Then you read %
little further on. There had been an
almost miraculous effort to get those men
out. and O. few had been saved. ~, " you
said. what a brave thing, what grand
thing that was How we'll it was done" !"
Then YOU folded the paper up and sat
down to your morning repast Your ap-
Detita had not been intertered with. and
during that day, perhaps You thought
Onlv two OF three times Of the disaster
But suppose YOU and Z had been in the
mine. and the dying had been all around
Ms. and we had heard the picH-axes Just
above is as they we're trying to s.srG
meir wav down, and after awhile we law
the light. and then the life bucket LET
down through the shaft, and, sutfocated
and half dead, we had just strength
enough to throw ourselves over into it,
and had been haul ed 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-
Ieving a thing about others and DeLev-
ING it about ourselves.
We take mp the Bible and read that
Christ came to save the world. That
was beautiful ~ you say, "a fine specimen
of seIf-deniaI. That was very grand in
ieed.7 But suppose it is found that we
ourselves we're 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
Aaet On the Rock Of Ages, and put new
song into our mouths. D. then it is %
matter Of haud-clapping; it is q matter Of
cOngratulatiOn, it is matter of deep emo
rions. Which kind of faith have you, my
brother
1t 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 Pay
son. and DOddridge above the ordinary
level of Christian character Tt was the
simplicity, the brilIiauGy, the power and
the spleudor 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 uubeIet.n $50
Won which believe he is precious
f. [ remark Christ is precious TO the
believer. rs q Saviour from sin. A man
saws:
.'To whom are you talking? lam one Of
the most respectable men in this neigh
borhood; doy0u call me a sinner" Yes
'.The heart is deceirful above all things
and desperately wicked You say:
How do you know any thing about my
hearr:"
know that about It, for God announces
it in His Word; aud what God says is al
WAYS tight When q man becomes a
Christian people say: That man sets
himself above Us.' o, no! Instead Of
setting himself mp he throws himself
down. He cries out:
II was lost once, but now am found. I
was blind once, but now I see, PROSTATE
myself at the toos Of the cross Of the
Saviour's mercy
What a grand thing It is TO feel that all
the bad words have ever uttered, and all
the bad deeds I have ever done aud all
the bad thoughts that have gone through
nv mind, are rs though they had never
been. for the sake of what Christ has
done You know -here 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 iudeIble q mark that no hu-
man application can cleanse it. while the
blood Of Jesus Christ can wash tout For
n sr4 y rr4ae eHs.rr g.