Milford chronicle., 1888-07-06
NONE LIKE JESUS.
SERMON BY REV. 7. DE WITT TAI
MAGE AT CRETE, NEB.

/ OEhWON bf hEF. !. DE VIII lAI
4 MAGE AT CRETE, NEB.
Faith Is the Hinge on Which Eternity
Turns-The Grace That Can Forgiv,
/ Small Sins Can Forgive Large Ones
Outbreaks of GIadness in Heaven.
CRETE, Neb., July To-day there is
great outdoor meeting at this place-a Chau
tauqua meeting-and people from all part
are present. A sermon by the Rev. T. d.
Witt Talmage, D. D., is the principal featur,
of the occasion. The reverend gentlemanl
subject was, "None Like Jesus" He tool
for his text, ''Unto you therefore which be
lieve he is precious" 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 stores2 With the harvests
With the people2 Lack Of faith Money
enough, goods enough, skillful brains
enough, industrious hands enough, but
no faith. Now, what damages the com
mcrcial world damages the spiritual. OuI
great lack is faith. That is the hinge on
which eternity turns. co. says some one in
the audience, Il have faith l believe Christ
came down to save the world.n I reply that
in worldly matters when you have faith you
always act upon it. For instance, if 1 could
show you a business operation by which you
could make 5000 you would Immediately &c
into it. You would prove your faith in
what 1 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 I 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. l believe, for in
stance, that Cromwell lived. That is a mat
ter Of tho head. Then there are other
things which believe with the heart and
not with the head. That is, 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 a
very great difference between that which We
believe about ourselves and that which we be-
lieve about others. For instance, you remen-
Der not a great while ago there was n 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
a great disaster in 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 a
few had been saved. "Oh," you said, ''what
a brave thing, what grand thing that wasl
oil n
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 while Wa 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 tho light.
Then what an appreciation we would have
had of the agony and the darkness beneath,
and the Joy of deliveIauce. 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
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 VIC 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 a new song into our mouth. Oh, then
it a matter of handclapping; it is a matter
Of deep emotions Which kind Of faith have
you, my brotherl
1t is faith that makes a 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 It'll
God give us more faith to preach and more
faith to hear "Lordl we believe, help thou
our unbeliefw ''To you which believe he is
precious
First: 1 remark Christ is precious to the
believer, as a Saviour from sin. A man says;
'sTo whom arc you talkingl am one Of the
most respectable men in this neighborhood;
do YOU call me q sinnerq Yesl "The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked.n You say: "How do you know any
thing about my hearth know that about
it, for God announces it in his Word; and
what God says is always right. When a man
becomes Christian people say; THAT man
sets himself above usn Oh, moi Instead Of
setting himself up he throws himself down.
He cries out: II was lost once, but now am
found. was blind once, but now 1 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 1 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 a difference in stains. Some
can be washed out by water, but others re-
quire a chemical preparation. Tho sin of tho
heart is 50 black and indelible a mark that
no human application can cleanse it, while
the blood Of jesus Christ can wash it out for
ever. o, the infinite, the omnipOteut chem
istl.y Of the GOspell Some man says: 81 be-
lieve all that. believe God has forgiven the
most of my sins, but there IS ono Elm cannot
forget" What is it, do not want to know
what it is, but I take the responsibility Of
Saying that God viii forgive it as willingly
as any other sin.
Ger sins like mountains for their size,
rie seas of enYFrefan grace Eapand.