The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-07-12
TALMAGE'S SERMON.

| TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Reverend Gentleman breaches at Crete,
Neb., on s'None Like Jesus"
Faith II the Hinge ON which Eternity Turns.
The Grace That Can Forgive Small
Sins Can Forgive Large
| Ones.
Sunday there was o great outdoor meeting
at Crete, Neb.,-a C~hautauqua m~eeting-and
people from all parts we're present. A SER
mon by the Rev, T, De Witt Talmage. D. D.,
was the principal feature of the occasion.
The reverend gentleman's subject was, "None
Like Jesus" He took for his text, "Unto
you therefore which believe he is precious"
I Peter.ii, z. Following is the sermon.
We find 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. Money
enough, goods enough, skilled brains
enough, Industrious hands enough, but
no faith: Now what damages the
commercial world damages the spirit
ual. Our great lack is faith. That is
the hinge on which eternity turns, 90" says
some one in the audience, 81 have faith. Ibe-
lieve Christ came down to save the world" I
reply that in worldly matters when you have
faith o always act upon it. For instance,
i'll could show you q business operation by
which you could make $4,000 you would i'm
mediately go into it. You would prove your
immediate action. Now, if what you call
faith in Christ has led you to surrender your
entire nature to Jesus, and to corresponding
action in you life, it is genuine faith, and If it
has not, it is not faith at all.
There are some things which I believe with
I believe with the heart. And then there are
other things which l believe both with the
head and heart. / believe, for instance, that
Cromwell lived. That is a matter of the head.
That is, l have no especial reason for believ-
ing 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 believe about others. FOR instance,
! you remember not o great while ago there
was a disaster in Pennsylvania, amid the
mines; there was III explosion amid the
damps, and many lives were lost. In the
morning you picked up your news
paper and saw there had been a great disas-
ter in Pennsylvania. You said: "Ah, what
q sad thing this is; how many lives lostl .,
what sorrow!' Then you read n little further
Oh. There had been an almost mira "ulous
effort to get these men out. and q few had
been saved. ooh" you said, what a brave
thing, what a grand thing that wasl How
well it vas done!' Then you folded the paper
up and sat down to your morning repast.
Your appetite has not been intertered with,
and during thatday, perhaps you thought two
or three times of the disaster. But suppose
you and | had been in the mine, and the
| 6yinU h0d honn oil OrOl1n1 IN 0n1 wa 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 the life
bucket let down through the shaft, and, suf-
located and halfd dead, we had just strength
enough to throw ourselves over into it, and
had been hauled out into the light Then
what an appreciation we would have had OF
the agony and darkness beneath, and joy OF
deliverence. That is the difference between
believing d thing about Others and believing
it about ourselves.
We take up the bible and read that Christ
came to save the world. "That was beauti-
full" you say ga fine specimen of self.
denial. That was very grand indeed" But
suppose it was found hat we ourselves was
down in the mine of sin and in the darkness,
and Christ stretched dow 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 q new song into our mouth. Oh, then
it is q matter of handclapping, it is O matter
of deep emotions. Which kind of faith have
you, my brother2
It is faith that makes a Christian, and the
difference between Christians. What was it
Doddridge above the ordinary level of Chris
tan character? 1t was the simplicity, the
b%rilliancy, the power and the splendor 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 help thou
our unbelief1' "To you which believe he is
~precious!'
First: remark Christ is precious to the
unbeliever, as a saviour from sin. A man
says: T whom are you talking? / an
one of the most respectable men in the neigh
borhood, do you call me a %sinner?" Yes!
"The heart is deeeitfal above all things and
desperately wicked" You say, Chow do
you know anything about my hearth" I
know that about it, for God announces it in
his Word; and what God says is always right
When q man becomes a Christian peo.
pie say: "That man sets himself above u.s.
Oh, no! Instead of setting himself up he
throws himself down. He cries out: Il was
lost once, but now 1 nm found. WAS blind
once but o I can see. ! PROSTATE myself
at the foot of the cross of the Saviour's
mercy" -,.
What a grand thing it is to feel that oil the
bad words Ieveruttered, and all the bad deeds
/ have ever done, and all the bad thoughts
pi1Op A"S 6oAo CAAou6" my AAA~S WV "N
though they had never been, for the sake OF
what Christ has done. You know there is a
difference in stains. Some con be washed out
by water, but other require q chemical prep
a~ration. The sin of the heart is SO black
and indelible q mark that no human
application can cleanse it, while the
blood of Jesus Christ can wash it out
forever. o, the infinite, the %omnipotent
chemistry of the Gospel. Some man
says: II believe all that, l believe God has
forgiven the most of my sins, but there is one
sin / cannot forget" What is it? I do not
want to know what it is, but take the re
sponsibility Of .saylng that God will forgive it
as willingly as any other sin.
Ger sins like mountains for their size,
The seas a sovereign grace expand,
The seas OF soverign grace arise.
There was a very good man about seventy
five years of age, that once said: Il believe
which I committed when I was about
twenty years Of age that I -neve,
forgave for, and I can't feel happy
when I think of it," He said that
one sin sometimes came over his heart, and
blotted out all his hope of heaven. Why, he
lacked faith. The grace that can forgive q
small sin can forgive a large sin. Mighty to
unto our God, that pardoneth iniquity? Q,
what Jesus is to the soul that believes in
him! The soul looks up to Christ's face and
says: ITO what extent wilt thou forgive
me?" And Jesus looks back into his face
and says: "To the uttermost." The SOU
says: "Wil it never be brought up again.
Never" says Christ. Won't it be brought
Christ, tnever in the Judgment Day" What
the bestormed, what light is to the blind
what liberty is to the captive, that, and