The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-07-05
NONE LIKE JESUS.
SERMON BY REV. T. DE WITT TAL-
MAGE AT CRETE, NEB.

SERMON BY REV. T. DE WITT TAIL
MAGE AT CRETE, NEB.
Faith Is the Hinge ON Which Eternity
Turns-The Grace That Can Forgive
Small Sins Can Forgive Large Ones.
Outbreaks of Gladne@ In Heaven.
=, CRETE, Neb., July To-day there is a
great outdoor meeting at this place-a Chat
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. Tho reverend gentlemans
subject was. "None Like Jesus" He took
for his text, ''Unto Jon therefore which be-
Heve he is preofouas Peter ii, z. Fol
lowing is the sermon:
We had for many years In this country
commercial depression. What was the mat
ter with the storess With the harvestsa
With the peoples Lack Of faith. Money
enough, goods enough, skillful brains
enough, Industrious hands enough, but
mo faith. Now, what damages the COM
nercial world damages the spiritual. Our
great lack is faith. That is the hinge on
which eternity turns "O," says some one in
the audience, II havefai 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
show you business operation by which you
could make s., 600 you would Immediately go
into it. You would prove your faith in
what tell you by your prompt and imme
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 all.
There are some things which / believe
with the head Then there are other things
which l believe with the heart. And then
there are other things which l believe both
with the head and heart. believe, for in
stance, that Cromwell lived. That is a mat
ter of the head. Then there are other
things which l believe with the heart and
not with the head. That is, l have no es-
pecial reason for believing them, and yet l
want to believe them, and the wish Is the
father to the expectation But there is a
very great difference between that which we
believe about ourselves and that which we be-
keve 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
great disaster i'll Pennsylvania. You said:
"Ah, what a sad thing this is; how many
lives lostl o, what sorrowr" Then you read
a little further on There had been an almost
miraculous effort to get those men out, and
few had been saved. "Oh," you said, ''what
brave thing, what grand thing that vast
How well it was donel' 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 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 half dead, we had just
strength enough to throw ourselves overinto
it, 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 is the diff
ference between believing a thing about
others and believing it about ourselves.
We take up the Bible and read that Christ
ful,n 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 hfs 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 matter of handclapping; it is a matter
of deep emotions Which kind Of faith have
you, my brotherf
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 charactera 1t 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 to hear. "Lordl we believe, help thou
our unbeliefy" ITO you which believe he IS
precious"
First: remark Christ Is precious to the
believer, as Saviour from sin. A man says:
''To whom are you talkinga am one of the
most respectable men in this neighborhood;
do you call me a sinnerp Yesl 1.-THE heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked" You say: "How do you know any
1t, for God announces it in his Word; and
what God says is always right. When man
becomes Christian people say: aThat man
sets himself above U.s." Oh, mol Instead Of
setting himself up he throws himself down.
He cries out: 81 was lost once, but now am
found was blind once, but now see. I
prostrate myself at the foot Of the cross of
| the Saviours mercy"
What a 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 had never 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-
quire a 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
istry of the Gospel Some man says: 81 be-
| lieoe all that 1 believe God has forgiven the
most of my sins, but there is one sin cannot
| forget" What is its | do not want to know
what it is, but take the responsibility Of
saving 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 WIS a very good man about seventy
five years of age, that once said: 81 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 l can't feel happy when think Of it."
| He said that one sin sometimes came over his
heart, and blotted out all bis 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
iniquitya o, what Jesus is 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
againg" Never" says Christ. wont it
be brought up again in Judgment Dayn