Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-08-09
BELIEVE AND BE SAVED
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY TIE
REV. DIR. TALNIAGE.
The Noted Brooklyn Divine breaches in
st. Paul. Mimi, Before an Immense and
Appreciative Congregation-Full Text of
Memorable and Interestin. Discourse.


Brooklyn, preached to an immense con
gregation at st. Paul, Mimi. on Sunday
July %. His subject was The Earth
quake" and he took for his text: BE
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ and tho,
shalt be saved" Acts xvi. 81. The ser
mon was as follows:
Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsom.
places even now; but they were worse il
the apostolic times. | imagine to- da,
we are standing in the Philippian dun.
geon. Do you not feel the chill? Dc
you not hear the groan of those incar-
cerated ones who for ten years have not
seen the sunlight, and the deep sigh OF
women who remember their fathers
house and mourn over their wasted es-
tate? Listen again. 1t is the cough OF
a consumptive, or the struggle of one
in the nightmare of great horror. You
chains rafting as he rolls over in his
dreams, and you say, God pity the
prisoner" But there is another sound
in that prison. 1t is song of JOY and
gladness. What q place to sing in!
The music comes winding through the
corridors of the prison, and in oil the
dark wards the whisper is heard: What's
that? What's that?'
1t is the song of Paul and Silas. They
cannot sleep. They have been whipped
very badly whipped. The long gashes
on their backs are bleeding yet, They
lie fiat on the cold ground, their feet
fast i'll wooden sockets, but of course
they cannot sleep. But they can sing.
people? Why have they been put in
here? Oh, they have been trying to
make the world better. Is that all?
That is all. A pit for Joseph. A lions
cave for Daniel A blazing furnace for
Shadrach. Clubs for John Wesley. An
anathema for Philip Melancthon. A
dungeon for Paul and Silas. But while
we are standing in the gloom of the
Philippian dungeon, and we hear the
mingling voices of sob and groan and
blasphemy and hallelujah, suddenly an
earthquake! The iron bars of the prison
twist, the pillars crack off, the solid
masonry begins to heave and all the
doors swing open. The jailer, feeling
himself responsible for these prisoners,
and believing, in his pagan Ignorance,
suicide to be honorable-since Brutus
killed himself, and Cato killed himself,
and Cassius killed himself-puts his
sword to his own throat, proposing with
to his excitement and agitation. But
Paul cries out: Stop! Stop! Do thy
self no harm. We are all here" Then
l see the jailer running through the
dust and amid the ruin of that prison,
and see him throwing himself down at
the feet of these prisoners, crying out:
What shall l do? What shall 1 do?"
Did Paul answer: Get out of this
place before there is another earth
quake; put handouts and hopples on
these other prisoners, lest they get
away" No word of that kind. His
compact, thrilling, tremendous answer,
answer memorable all through earth and
Heaven, was: Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. )"
Well, we have all read of the earth
quake in Lisbon, and Lima, in Aleppo
and in Caracas, but We live i'll q latitude
rare. And yet we have seen fifty earth
quakes. Here is man who has been
building up large fortune. His bid
on the money market was felt in all the
cities. lie thinks he has got beyond all
annoying rivalries in trade, and he says
to himself, Now | am free and safe
from all possible perturbation. But in
1887, or in 1851, or in 1873 national
panic strikes the foundations of the
commercial world, and. crash! goes all
that magnificent business establishment.
Here is man who has built up very
beautiful home. His daughters have
just come from the seminary with di-
plomas of graduation. His sons have
started IN life. honest, temperate and
pure. When the evening lights are
family circle. But there has been an
accident down at Long Branch. The
young man ventured too far out in the
surf. The telegraph hurled the terror
up to the city. An earthquake struck
under the foundations of that beautiful
home. The piano closed; the curtains
dropped; the laughter flushed. Crash!
go all those domestic hopes and pros
poets and expectations. so. my friend.
we have all felt the shaking down of
some great trouble, and there was a
time when we were as much excited as
this man of the text, and we cried out as
he did. What shall l do? What shall |
do:. The same reply that the apostle
made to him is appropriate to US: Be
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
There are some documents of SO little
Importance that you do not care to put
any more than your last name under
them. or even your initials: but there
are some documents of SO great import
ance thatyou write out your full name
50 the Saviour i'll some parts Of the BIZ
BILE is called Lord, and in other parts
OF the Bible He is called Jesus" aud in
other parts of the Bible He is called
Christ; but that there might be no
mistake about this passage, ell three
names come ogether-"TAe Lord Jesus
Christ"
Now, who is this being that you want
me to trust in and believe in? Men
sometimes come to me with credentials
and certificates of good character, but l
cannot trust them. There is some dis
honesty in their looks that makes me
know that shall he cheated if | con-
tide in them. Ion cannot put your
hearts confidence in II man until YOU
Apow what stuff he is made of. and am
unreasonable to-day when l sto,, to ask
you who this is that you want me to
trust in? No man would think OF VEN
turing his life on vessel going out to
sea that had never been Inspected No.
you must have the certificate hung amid-
ships, telling how many tous it carries,
and how long ago it was built. and who
built it, and all about it. And you cam
not expect me to risk the cargo of my
Immortal interests on board any craft
till you tell me what it is made of, and
where it was made and what it is.
When, then, I ask you who this is you
want me to trust in, you tell me He was