The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-07-18
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "None Like Jesus"

Text: "Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious" /. Peter ill.,
We had for many years in this country
commercial depression. What was the mat
ter with the storesa With the harvestsl
With the people? 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 is faith. That is the hinge on
which eternity turns. CO." says some one in
the audience, "Ihave faith. I believe Christ
came down to save the world" reply that
always act upon it. For instance, if could
show you business operation by which you
could make $4,000 you would Immediately
90 into it. You would prove your faith in
what tell you by your prompt and inlme-
diate 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 oil
There are some things which believe
with the head. Then there are other things
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, I 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-
lieve about others. For instance, you remem-
ber 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
q great disaster in Pennsylvania. You said:
"Ah, what sad thing is this; how many
lives lostl O, what sorrow!" Then you read
q little further on There had been an almost
miraculous effort to get these men out, and
few had been saved. "Oh," you said, "what
q brave thing, what grand thing that was!
How well it was donerf Then you folded the
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 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 while we saw the light, and then
the life bucket let down through the shaft,
and, suffoeated and half dead W. We , had Just
it. 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 10 the diff
ference between believing 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-
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
pit, and set our feet on the Rock Of Ages,
and put new song into our mouth. Oh,
then it is matter Of handclapring; it is q
matter of deep emotions. Which kind Of
faith have you, my brother2
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 Payson and
Doddridge above the ordinary level Of Chris
tian characterl 1t was the simplicity, the
brilliancy, the power and the .splendor. OF
their faith. Oh, that we had more Of i'll!
faith to hear. Lord! we believe, help Thou
our unbelief" "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 talking? am one Of the
most respectable men in this neighborhood; !;
do you call me d sinnerT Yes! "The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked" You say: "How do you know any
thing about my heartH I know that about
it, for God announces it in His word; and
what God says is always right When
man becomes Christian people say: "That
man sets himself above US" Oh, no! Instead
of setting himself up he throws himself
down. He cries out: "I wes lost once, but
now am found. I Twas blind once, but now
see. PROSTATE 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
the bad deeds have ever done, and all the
bad thoughts that have gone through my
mind, are as though they never had been for
the sake Of what Christ has done. You
know there is difference IN stains. Some
can be washed out by water, but others re-
ouire 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 it out for
ever. o, the infinite the omnipotent chem.
jstry of the Gospel Some man says: " be-
Iieye all that, believe God has forgiven the
most of nv sins, but there is one sin cannot
forgetn What is it9 do not want to know
what it is, but I take the responsibility OF
saying that God will forgive it as willingly
as any other sin.
Der 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 I was about twenty
years Of age that never forgave myself for,
and can't feel happy when I 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 small sin can forgive large sin.
the God like unto our God, that pardoneth
iniauity? o, what Jesus is to the soul that
believes in him! 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: "To the uttermost." I"
The soul says: "Will it never be brought up
againY ''Never," says Christ. won't it
be brought up again in the Judgment Day?"
NO." says Christ, "never in the Judgment
Day." What bread is TO the hungry, what
harbor is to be 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 will
hear his voice like the voice Of Alexander LIE
Croix, above the cracking fagots as he cried
out: 10 Jesus! o, my blessed Jesus! 0,
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 you have family friends: To
the commercial friend you go when you have