Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-07-07
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'SS SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject: None Like Jesus"
Text: "l-nto yon therefore u'lich 1eliers

Text: "Cnto you therefore rhich teliers
He is precious" |. Peter IL, {.
We had for many years in this country
commercial depression. What was the mat
ter with the stores! With the harveSts:
With the people: Lack of faith. Moiloy
enough, goods enough. skilful brains
enough, Industrious hands enough, but
no faith. Now. what damages the COM
mercial world damages the spiritual: Our
great lack is faith That is the hinge on
which eternity turns. "Os' says some one i'll
the audience, Il have faith. believe Christ
came down 10 save the world" reply that
i'll worldly matters when YOU have faith YOU
always act upon it. For instance, If cou'd
show You a business operation by which you
could make Ss50JN You would lmmcd atciy
go into it, You would prove your faith III
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 10 Jesus, and to corresponding action
ill your life, it is genuine faith, and if 1t has
not. it is not faith at all.
There are some things which believe
with the head Then there are other things
which believe with the helrt. And then
there are other things which believe both
with the head aud heart believe, for in
stance, that Cromwell lived. That is n mat,
Ter of the head. Then there are other
tNlllSS WHICH L ptlleNc Will tt.e ucstl Stil't
net with the head. That is, have no cs-
pecial reason for believing them, and yet l
want to believe them, aud 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-
Ieve about Others. For instance, you remcm-
Der not great while ago there was q disaster
in Pennsylvania, amid the mines; there was
eaarsesPieSion aLnall thG aGc.%AS, and many lives
were lost. In the morning yorr-p1eGls1 Up
Your newspaper and saw that there had been
a great disaster in Pennsylvania. You said:
''Ah what Il sad thing Is this; how many
lives lost, o, what sorrow!n Then you read
a little further on There had been an ano.t
miraculous effort to get these men out, and n
few n d been saved. oh" YOU said, what
n brave thing, what grand thing that was.
How well it was DONE. Then you folded the
paper up and sat down TO your morning re-
Iast. Your appetite had net been ntcrfered
with, and during that day, perhaps. you
thought only two or three times OF the dis
aStcr Eur suppose you and had been i'll the
r.ine and the dying had cen all around us,
and we had heard the pickaNcS Just above us
rs they were trying to work their way down,
and after Il while we saw the light. and then
the life bucket lei down through the shaft,
and suiocatei ana half dead, We had lust
strength enough TO throw ourselves over into
it. and had been hauled ont into the light.
Then what an appreciation we would have
hal of the agony and the darkness beneath
and the Joy Of tieliveranee. 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 wis beautl-
full" you say. - fine specimen of self-rlenia.
That was very grand, indeed. Bat suppose
it is found that we ourselves were down IN
the mine OF sin and i'll the darkness, and
Christ stretched down his arm OF mercy
a.. r
nit, and set our feet OH the Ro * of Ages,
and put new song into our mouth. Oh.
then it is Il matter of handclapring; it IS a
matter OF deep emotions Which kind OF
faith have You, my brother
1t is faith that makes Christian, and it is
the proportion OF faith that makes the differ
ence between Christians. What was it that
lifted Paul and Luther and PuySon and
Doddr;d.e above the ordinary level of Chris
tian character. 1t was the simplicity, the
hrilliancy, the power and the splendor of
their faith oh. that we had more OF it!
God give lis more faith to preach and more
faith TO hear Lord, we believe, help Thou
our unbel:efn ITO you which believe He is
precious
First: remark Christ is precious to the
believer. as Il Saviour from SIN. A man says:
TO whom are YOU talking: | am one OF the
most respectable men i'll this neighborhood:
do you call ME sinner Yes! The heart
is deceitful above all things aud desperately
wicked You say: How do you know any
thing about my heart know that about
it. for God announces it in His word; and
what God saws is always right When
man becomes Christian people say: That
man sets himself above us" Oh. no. Instead
of setting himself up lie throws himself
down. He cries out: II was lost once, but
now am found. was blind once but now
see. PROSTATE myself at the foot OF the
cross of the Saviour's mercy"
What Il grand thing it is to feel that all
the bad words have ever uttered, and all
the bad deeds have ever done, and all the
bad thought; that have gone through my
mind. are as though they never hal been, Tor
the sake of what Christ has done. Iou
know there is A difference IN stains. Some
can be washed out by water, but others re-
quire a chemical preparation. The SIN OF the
heart is SO black and indelible mark that
no human application can cleanse 1t, while
the blood of Jesus Christ can wash it out for
ever. Q. the infinite. the omnipotent chem
istrv OF the Gospel Some man says: Il be-
l.eve 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
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: II believe
God has forgiven me, but there was one sin
which I 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 blottcd out all his hope of heaven.
Why, lie lacked in faith. The grace that can
forgive u small sin can forgive large sin.
=
the God like un'o our Col, that pardoneth
iniquity: O. what Jesus is to the soul that
believes in him. The soul looks up into
ChriSt'S face and SAYS: ITO what extent
wit thou forgive me' And Jesus looks back
into his face and says: ITO the utternost'
The soul says: will it never he brought up
again Never" says Christ. won't it
be brought mp again i'll the Judgment Day
No says Christ, 'never in the Judgment
Day What bread is TO the hungry. what
harhor is to be bestormed, what light is t.
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 rack Put
that foot into the iron boot of persecution until
1t is mashed TO pulp. Stretch that man OF
the rack of the 1nquisition. and louder than
all the uproar of the prosecutors, you viii
hear his voice ike the voice oil Alexander lie
CroiX. above the cracking fagos a, he cried
out: 30 Jesus, o, my blessed Jesus. O,
divine Jesus. who would not die for thee"
Again remark that Christ is precious to
the believer, as friend. You have CONNER
cial friends and y GU have famii. (. To
the commercial friend you go wha yen sc
business troubles. You car lo3i hack to
some day-t may have bell ten II twenty
years ago-when, if you had not had that
friend, you would have been entirely over.
thrown in business. But want to tell you
this morning OF Jesus. the best business
friend a man ever had. He can pull YOU
ont of the worst p>rplexities There are
people in this audiences who have got in
tn" habit of putting down all their
worldly troubles at tn feet of Jesus Why,
Christ meets the business MN on the street
and says: 20, business man, know all thy
troubles. will lie with thee wi, see thee