The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-07-06
NONE LIKE JESUS.

NUNE Line JESUS.
SERMON BY REV. T. De WITT TAI
MAGE At CRETE, NEe.
Faith Il the Hinge on which Eternity
Turns-The Grace That Can Forgive
Small Sins Gan Forgive Large Ones
Outbreaks Of Gladness In Heaven.
CRETE, Neb.. July To-day there Is .
great outdoor meeting at this place-a Chau-
tauqua meeting-and people from all parts
are present A sermon by the Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, D. D., is the principal feature
of the occasion. The reverend gentlemans
subject was. "None Like Jesusn he took
for his text, "Unto You therefore which DO
ieve he Is precioua" l Peter Il, q. Fol-
lowing il the sermon;
We had for many years In this country
commercial depression. What was the mat
ter with the storesi With the harvestsi
With the peoplei Lack of faith Money
enough, goods enough, skillful brains
enough, industrious hands enough, but
no faith Now, what damages the COM
mercial world damages the spiritual. Our
| great lack Ia faith. That IL the hinge on
which eternity turns. "O," says some one In
the audience, "I have 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, II ! could
show you business operation by which you
could make 81, 900 you would immediatsly go
into 1t. You would prove your faith In
what tell you by your prompt and imme-
diate action Now, IL 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 II it has
| not, 1t Is not faith at all
There are some things which I believe
with the head. Then there are other things
which believe with the heart. And then
there are other things which believe both
with the head and heart believe, for In
stance, that Cromwell lived. That Is mat
ter of the head Then there are other
things which l believe with the heart and
not with the head. That Is, have no es-
pecial reason for believing them, and yet
want to believe them, and the wish Is the
father to the expectation. But there Is q
very great difference between that which we
believe about ourselves and that which we be-
Il
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 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 lostl o, what sorrowp Then you read
q little further on. There had been an almost
miraculous effort to get those men out, and a
few had been saved. "Oh," you said, "what
brave thing, what grand thing that wasl
How well it was doner' 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 or three times Of the dis
aster But suppose you and I 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 6af dead, we had Just
strength enough to throw ourselves over into
| IL, 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 b the diff
ference between believing q thing about
L OLu6Is anu Deu0NluS " dOOuU OuISo1ftS.
| 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 darkness, and
/ Christ stretched down his arm Of mercy
through the gloom and lifted Us out Of the
i DIT, and set our feet on the Rock Of Ages,
and put a new song into our mouth. Oh, then
it matter of handclapping; it is q matter
| Of deep emotions Which kind Of faith have
you, my brotherf
It is faith that makes Christian, and it Is
the proportion of faith that makes the differ
ence between Christians What was IL that
lifted Paul and Luther and Payson and
Doddridge above the ordinary level of Chris
tian characteri It was the simplicity, the
brilliancy, the power and the splendor Of
their faith. Oh, that we had more Of It'll
God give us more faith to preach and more
faith 30 hear. "Lordi we believe, help thou
our unbeliefI" ''To you which believe he Is
precious"
First: remark Christ is precious to the
believer, as Saviour from sin. A man says:
ITO whom are you talkingi am one Of the
most respectable men In this neighborhood;
do you call me sinner Yesl 1.-THE heart
Is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked" You say: "How do you know any
thing about my hearth know that about
1t, for God announces 1t In his Word; and
what God says is always right. When man
becomes Christian people say: "That man
sets himself above us" Oh, mol Instead Of
setting himself up he throws himself down.
He cries out: 81 was lost once, but now I am
found. was blind once, but now see
PROSTATE myself at the foot Of the cross of
the Saviour's mercy"
| Whab grand thing 1t is to feel that all
the bad words have ever uttered, and all
the bad deeds have ever dbne, 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 re-
quire chemical preparation. The sin of the
heart Is SO black and indelible mark that
no human application can cleanse It, while
the blood Of Jesus Christ can wash IL out for.
ever. U, the infinite, the omnipotent chem
istry of the Gospels Some man says: "I be-
lieve all that l believe God has forgiven the
most of my sins, but there Is one sin cannot
forget" What is lit do not want to know
what it is, but take the responsibility Of
saying that God VIII forgive it as willingly
as any other sin.
Ger 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
five years of age, that once said: - believe
God has forgiven me, but there was one sin
which l committed when was about twenty
years of age that never forgave myself for,
and l can't feel happy when l think Of it."
BE 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 large sin.
Mighty to save Mighty to save. Who Is
the God like unto our God, that pardoneth
iniquityi D, what Jesus Ii to the soul that
believes in himi The soul looks up into
Christ's face and says; ITO what extent
wilt thou forgive meP' And Jesus looks back
into his face and says: ITO the uttermost."
The soul says: "Will 1t never be brought up
againf" 'Never." says Christ. "Wont It
be brought up again In Judgment Dayr
"No,n says Christ, ''never In the Judgment
Day" What bread Ia to the hungry, what
| harbor is to the bestormed, what light Is TO
the blind, what liberty is to the captive.
that and more than that, Is Christ to the man
| who trusts him.
Just try to get Christ away from that
Christian. Put on that man the thumb
screw. Twist It until the bones crack Put
that foot into the iron boot Of persecution until
| it is mashed to pulp. Stretch that man on
| the rack of the Inquisition, and louder than
| all the uproar Of the prosecutors, you win
hear his voice like the voice Of Alexander LIE
Croix, above the cracking fagots as he cried
out: 20 Jesusl o, my blessed Jesusi o,
divine Jesusi who would not die for theefn
| Again: remark that Christ Is precious to