News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-07-19
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject: None Like Jesus"

Text: "Unto you tie ,efore ,ci.tch 6eliere
lie IS precious.' l. Teter H., Z.
We had for many years in this country
commercial depression. What was the mat
ter ter 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. Nov, what damages tha com.
merclal world damages the spiritual. Our
great lack is ia tn. That is the hinge on
which eternity turns. co. saws some one in
the audience, Ihave faith believe 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
snom you a business operation by which you
| could make 5000 you would immed ately
go INTO it; You would prove your faith in
| what L tell you by your prompt and imme-
dIate action. Now, if what you call faith in
ohrlot mas led yen to surrender your entire
| nature 10 Jesus, and to corresponding action
IN your life, it is genuine faith, and if it has
| not, it is not faith at all
1here are some things which [ believe
with the head. Then there are other things
whlch L believe with the Eeart And then
there are other things which l believe both
with the head and heart I believe, for in
stance, that Cromwell lived. That is mat
ter of the head. Then there are other
things which believe with the heart and
not with the head. That is, l have no es-
peclal reason for believing them, and yet
want 10 Delleve them, and the wish is the
father to the expectation. But there is a
very great difference between that which we
beHeVe about ourselves and that which we be-
ieVe about others. For instance, you remem-
Der 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 I'D
your newspaper and saw that there had been
a great disaster in Pennsylvania You said:
" All, what a sad thing is this: how many
lives lost! q, what sOrrowr' Then YOU read
little further on There had been an amo
miraculous effort to get these men out and a
few d been saved. "Oh," you said what
brave thing, what grand thing that was,
How well it was donen Then you folded the
paper up and sat down to your morning re-
past. Your appetite had not been interfered
with, and during that day, perhaps you
thought only two three times of the dis
aster. But suppose you and had been in the
mine, and the dying had teen all around us
ana we had heard the pickaXes Just above US
as they We're 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, sulfocatei and half dead, we had lust
strength enough to throw ourselves over into
1T, and had been hauled ont 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 dit-
ference between believing a thing about
others and believing it about ourselves.
We take up the Bible aud read that Christ
came to save the world THAT was beauti-
ful," you say, "a fine specimen of ssf-denia
That was very grand indeed Bat suppose
1t IS found that We ourselves were down i'll
the mine of sin and i'll the darkness and
Christ stretched down his arm of mercy
through the gloom AMI lifted us out of the
pit, and set our feet on tie Rock of Ages,
and put new song into our mouth. Oh,
then it is a matter of handclapring; it is a
matter of deep emotions. 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 differ
ence between Christians. What was it that
lifted Paul and Luther and PaySOn and
Doddr:dge above the ordinary level of Chris
tian character! 1t was the simplicity, the
brill ancy, the power AMI the GplendOr of
their faith. Oh, that we had more of it,
God give us more faith to preach and more
faith to hear. Lord! we believe hep Thou
our unbalieft' ITO you which bel eve He is
precious
I,llat. remark Christ is precious to the
believer. as Saviour from s:n. A man slys:
TO whom are you talking: uur one OF the
do you call me IA sinners Yes s:rhe beart
IS deceltful above all things and desperately
wicked. > You say: How do you know any
thing about my heart" know that about
it, for God announces it in His Nord an
what God says is always right When q |
man becomes Christian people say: THAT |
man sets himself above u.s. Oh, no. Instcal |
down. He cries ont: Il was lost once, but |
now | am found. was blind once but now
see. PROSTATE myself at the foot of the |
cross of the Saviours mercy"
What grand thing it is to feel that all |
the bad words | have ever uttered, and all |
the bad deeds have ever done, and al the |
bad thoughts that have gone through my |
mind are as though they never ha been, for |
the sake of what Christ has done. You |
know there is difference IN stains Some |
car be washed out by water, but others re-
quire chemical preparation. The sin of the |
b3art is so black and indelible mark that |
20 human application can cleanse it, while !
the blood of Jesus Christ can wash it out for
ever. O, the infinite, the omnipotent chem |
istry of the Gospel! Some man says: Il be- |
lieve all that, | believe Col has forgiven the |
most of my sins but there is one sin | cannot |
forget What is 1t. | do not want to know |
what it is, but [ take the responsibility of |
saying that God will forgive it as willingly |
IS any other sin.
Der sins like mountains fO- their size,
The seas of sovereign grace expand,
The seas of sovereign grace arise.
There was very good man about seventy |
live years of age, that one said: Il believe |
God has forgiven me- but there was one sin |
which | committed when | was about twenty |
years of age that never forgave myself for, |
and | can't feel happy when | think of it,
he said that one sin sometimes come 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 large sin. |
Mighty to save Mighty to save. Who is |
the God like unto our Col, that pardOneth |
niquity! O, what Jesus is to the soul that |
believes in himl The soul looks up into
Christ's face and says: ITO what extent |
wilt thou forgive me:h And Jesus looks back |
nto his face and says ''To the uttermos1"
The soul says: ''Will it never be brought up
again. Never says Christ. won't it |
De brought up again i'll the Judgment Day" |
No." says Christ, ''never in the Judgment .
Day. What bread is TO the hungry, what
larbor is to be DestOrmed, what light is to
he blind, what liberty is to the captive,
hat, and more than that, is Christ to the
nan who trusts him.
Just try to get Christ away from that
Christian. Put on that man the thumb
crew. Twist it until the bones rack. Put
hat foot into the iron boot of persecution until
t is mashed to pulp. Stretch that man on
he rack of the Inquisition, and louder than
Ill the uproar of the prosecutors, you viii
lear his voice like the voice OF Alexander e !
CroiX. above the cracking fagOts as he cried
ut: so Jesus! Q, my blessed Jesus! q, |
ivine Jesus who would not die for thee"
Again: | remark that Christ is precious to
he believer, as a friend. You have CONNER
ial friends and you have family friends. To
he commercial friend you go when you have
usinass troubles. You can look back to
Ome day-it may have been ten or twenty
ears ago-when, if you had no. had that
riend, you would have been entirely over
brown in business. But | want to tell you
his morning OF Jesus, the best business
riend man ever had. He can pull you
ut of the worst parpleXities. There are
eople in this audience who have got i'll
he habit of putting down all their
'orldly troubles at the feet of Jesus Why,
hrst meets the business man on the street
nd says: 80, business man, | know all thy
roubles. will be with thee. l will see thee
trough" Look out how you try to corner
l. trample on a man who is backed up by the
ord God Almighty. Look out how You
ample on him. Q, there is a tin4ncier that
lany of our business men have not found
ut. Christ owns all the boards of trade. all
ne insurance companies ard al the banking
ouses They say that the Nanderbilts own
le Iai,ro Ids; but Christ owns the Wander
Its and the railroads, AMI ali the plottingS
stock gamblers shall lie put to confusion,
nd God with His little finger shall wipe out
leir Infamous proie is How oft II it has
cen that we have seen men gather up riches
Y fraud, in a pyramid of strength and
9luty, and the Lord came and blew on it
I'd it gone; while there are those here
day who, if they could speak out in this as
mblage, or dared to speak out. would say:
The best friend had in 1887; the best friend
had in 1851; the best friend | had a the
,ening Of the war the best friend | ever
I'd has been the Lord Jesus Christ would
ther give up all other friends than this
e.
But we have also family friends They
me in when we have sickness in the house
Id. Perhaps they say nothing but they
down and they weep as the light goes out
ON the bright eyes and the white petals of
e lily are scattered in the blast of death.
ley watch through the long night by the
COQcl then ba n" I