The Forrest City times., 1888-07-07
TALMAGE AT CRETE.
A GREAT OUTDOOR AssEMBLAGE.
The Brooklyn Divine Crates at
 a Chautauqua Meeting.

Not Having the Faith to Let 60 and Cling | 10 the Prom 90 of Our Saviour on ths Cross
 CRETE, NgB, July 1-To-day there Is q great outdoor meeting at this place--a Chau- i tsuQua meeting-and people from all parts are present. A sermon by the Rev. T. De- Witt Talmsgc, D. D., is the principal feature of the occasion. The reverend gentlemau's subject was: ''Nono Like Jesus" He took for bis text; Unto you therefore which be- lievc He Is precious" L Peter, Ch g. Y. :. | Following Is the sermon;
 | We had for many years in this country csm- tnereial depression What was the matter with the storesi Wnb the barvesti With the peoplei Lack of faith. Money enough, goods enough. skiilful brains enough, indus trious hands enough, but no faith. Now what Damages the commercial world, damages the ! spiritual Our great lack Is faith. That Is the hinge on which eternity turns. The Bible says ve arc saved by faith. 70" says some one in tho audience. 'I have faltn, believe that Christ came down to save the world" tsply that in worldly matters when you have faith you always act upon it For instance, u l could show you Nusiriess operation bJ | which you could make five thousand dollars, you would immediately go into 1t. You would prove your faith fin what l tell you by your | prompt and immediate action. Now, If what ! you call faith in Christ has led you to sur render your entire nature to Jesus and to cor- responding action in your life, 1t Is genuine faith, and if 1t has not, 1t Is not faith at all. There are some things which 1 be. iievc with the head. And there are other things which 1 believe with tho heark And then there are other things which believe both with the head and heart. | | believe, for instance that Cromwell lived. That fs . matter of the head. Then there are other things which bolieYc with the heart and not with the head. That is, have no ! -H-y- 2. M. want to believe them, and tho wish ih the 1 father to the expectation. But there is very ] great difference between that which we be- | IieTe about ourselves, and that which we be- lieys about cthera For instaueoi you remem- | Der not great while ago there was disaster l 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 there had been great disaster in Pennsylvania You said: ''Ah, Nhat sad thing this is; how many liyes losti O, what sorrowlN Then you read c little further on. There had been an almost miraculous effort to get those men out, and few had been saved. %" you said, what How well 1t was donei" Then you folded the paper up and sat down to your morning repast Your appetite had not been interfer | ed with, and during that day, perhaps, you thought only two Of three times of the disas' ter But suppose you and 1 had been in the | mine, and the dying had been all around | rs and we had beard the piskares iust above us ss they were trying to work their way down, and after while we saw the light, and the life.bncket let down through the ehaft, and suffocated and half dead, we had | just strength enough to throw ourselves over l Into 1t, and had been hauled out into the light Then what an appreciation We would have. had of the agony and tbe dsrkness be- heath, and the joy of deliyerance. That is | the dlferepce between believing thing about Qtbefs and believing it about ourselves. We take up the Bible and read that Christ | cafie to save the world. That was beautl- | full" you say, ia fine specimen of sef-denial. | That was very grand ndeed.n But suppose l 1t Is found that we ourselves were down in tue 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. Q. then t is | matter of handclapping 1t Is a matter dt | Congratulations 1t Is matter Of deep emo tiops Which kind of faith have you, my | brother1
 It is faith that makes Christian, and t is the proportion of faith that makes the differ ence between Christians. What was 1t that lifted Paul and Luther, and Fayson, and | Doddridge above the ordinary level of Chris tian characierl It was the simplicity, the | brilliancy, the power, and the splendor Of their faith. o, that we had more of 1t Cod | give us more faith to preach and more faith to hear. Lord we believe, help Thou our unbeliefp' ''ro you which believe He is precious"
 First: Iremark Christ is precious to the believer, as a Saviour from sin. man says: "To whom are you talkingi l am one of the most respectable men in this neighborhood do you call me a sinnerP Yesl .'Ihe heart i ls deceitfnl above all things and desperately wicked" You say: "How do you know any thing about my hearlP l know that about 1t, for God announces it in His word; and what God says Is always right When man becomes a Christian, people say: That man sets himself above us" O, mol Instead of setting himself up, he throws himself down, He cries out; T was lost once, but now l am found. "I was blind once, but now I sec prostrate myself at the foot of the cross of | the Sayiour's mercy"
 What grand thing 1t 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 miDd are as though they had never been, for the sake of what Christ has dope. You | know there Is 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 1t out for ever. O, the infinite, the omnipotent chems- try of the Gospei Some man says ''I be- Iieve all that I believe God has forgiven the most of my sins, but there is one sin cannot forget" What Is iti l do not want to know what 1t is. but take the responsl. 1 Dillty or saying that tOu VIII forgive lt as | willingly as any other sin.
 ''o'er sins like mountains for their slze
 The seas of sovereign grace arise"
 There was very good man, about seventy five years of age, that once said. "I 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 plotted out all his hope of heaven. Why, he lacked iu faith. The grace that can forgive small sin. can forgive a large sin. Mighty to save. Mighty to save, Who is the God like unto our God, that pardoneth iniqultyi Q, what Jesus is to the soul that believes in Himl The soul looks up into Chrlst's face, and says: ''To what ex- tent wilt thou forgive meln And Jesus looks back into his face, and says; TO tho brought up again in Judgment Dayl" ''Ney. CT" says Christ "Won't 1t be brought up again in Judgment Dayi" No" says Christ meyer in the Judgment Day" What bread Is to the hungry, what hsrbor is to the bestormed, what light is 10 the blind, what liberty is 10 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 un- til it is mashed to pulp Stretch that man on the TACK or tDe luqulsil4On, anu iOuueF than all the uproar Of the prosecutors, you will hear his voice like the voice Of Aexan- der Le Croix, above the eraekling faggots as be cried out: 70. Jesusl O. my blessed
 Jesus O divine Jesusl who would not die for Theeli
 Again: remark that Christ is precious to the believer, as friend. Ton have conner cial friends and you have family friends. To the commercial friend you go when you have
 business troubles You can look back to some day-when, if you had not had that friend, you would have been entirely overthrown in business. But l want 10 tell you this morn
 ing of Jesus, the best business friend 6 man ever had. He can pull you out of the worst perplexities. There are people fin this audi snce who have got in the habit Of putting down all their worldly troubles at the feet of } Jesus. Why, Christ meets the business men on the street and says: 70. business man,
 know all thy troubles. l will be with thee. 3 win see thee drought Look out how you ! try to corner or trampe on man who is
 backed up by the Lord God Almighty. Look out bow you trample on him. Q, there
 Is 1naneier that many of our business men have not found out Christ owns all the ] lz. do fns caF nj