The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-08-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse on the Efficacy of Faith
in Jesus.
That Which Damages the Commercial
World Also Damages the Spiritual
Jesus Friend Always Pres
emit when Wanted.

sermon, took for his subject: None Like
Jesus" his text being:
Unto you, therefore, which believe he is pre-
cious.-L Peter ill., z.
He said: We had for many years in
this country commercial depression.
What was the matter with the stores?
With the harvests? With the people?
Lack of faith. Money enough, goods
enough, skillful 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 we are saved by
faith.
60" says some one in the audience, 81
have faith. l believe that Christ came
down to save the world.'
l reply that, in worldly matters when
you have faith you always act upon it.
For instance, if could show you bust
ness operation by which you could make
five thousand dollars, you would immedi-
ately go into it. You would prove your
faith in what 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
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 I believe with the heart.
And then there are other things which 1
believe both with the head and heart I
believe, for instance, that Cromwell
lived. That is matter of the head. Then
there are other things which l believe
with the heart and not with the head.
That is, / have no especial reason for be-
1ieving them, and yet l want to believe
them, and the wish is the father to the ex-
pectation. But there is very great diff
ference between that which we believe
about ourselves, and that which we be-
1ieve about others. For instance, you re-
member not a. 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 dis
aster in Pennsylvania You said: "Ah,
what sad thing this is; how many lives
lost! o! what sorrow!" Then you read a
little further on. There had been an
almost miraculous effort to get those men
out, and few had been saved. CO." you
said, "what a brave thing, what grand
thing that was! How well it was done 7"
Then you folded the paper up and sat
down to your morning repast. Your APP
petite had not been interfered with, and
during that day, perhaps, you thought
only two or three times of the disaster
But suppose you and I had been in the
mine, and the dying had been all around
us, and we had heard the pick axes just
above lis as they were trying to work
their way down, and after awhile 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 over into it,
and had been hauled out into the light.
Then what an appreciation we would
have had of the agony and the dark
ness beneath, and the joy of deliver
ance. That is the difference between be-
lieving thing about others and believ-
ing it about ourselves.
We take up the Bible and read that
Christ came to save the world. "That
was beautiful" you say, "a fine specimen
of self-denial. That was very grand in
deed.' 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 mouths. o, then it is a
matter of hand-clapping; it is matter of
eongratulation, it is a matter of deep emo
tions. Which kind of faith have Won. nv
brother?
1t is faith that makes Christian, and il
Is the proportion of faith that makes the
difference between Christians. What was
1t that lifted Paul, and Luther, and Paw
son, and Doddridge above the ordinary
level of Christian character? 1t was the
simplicity, the brilliancy, the power and
the splendor of their faith. o, that we
had more of it! God give us more faith
to preach and more faith to hear. Lord
we believe, help thou our unbelief." etc
You which believe he is precious"
l. remark Christ is precious to the
believer, as a Saviour from sin, man
says:
ITO whom are you talking? am one OF
the most respectable men in this NEIGH.
borhood; doyou call me a sinnersn Yes
1.-THE heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked" You saw:
"How do you know any thing about my
hearth"
| know that about 1t, for God announces
1t in His Word; and what God saws is al.
ways right When man becomes q
Christian people say: That man sets
himself above u.s." o, no! Instead OF
setting himself up he throws himself
down. He cries out:
Il 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 grand thing it is to feel that all
the bad words have ever uttered, and al
the bad deeds have ever done, and all
the bad thoughts that have gone through
my mind, are as though they had neve,
peen, for the sake of what Christ has
done, You know there is a difference in
stains. Some can be washed out BY
water. but others require a chemical
preparation. The sin of the heart is Sc
black and indelible a mark that no hu.
man application can cleanse it, while the
blood OF Jesus Christ can wash it ont for.
ever, o, the infinite, the omnipoten,
chemistry of the Gospel! Some man
says: 81 believe all that. believe God
has forgiven the most of my sins. bu,
there is one SIN can not forget" Wha,
is 1t. L do not want to know what it is
hnf I foE be H..