The Russellville Democrat., 1889-08-08
TALMAGES SERMON.
Saliva ton Through Belief in the
 Lord Jesus Christ.
The One Condition that Embraces All the Requisites for Eternal LIfe--The Full Meaning of the Word
 'sSalvation."

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, while on his | summer trip to the Northwest. delivered | the following ssSTTs12Gi at Minneapolis, Ming. a.s text was:
 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou | shalt be sayed.--Acts vi, 31
 Jails are dark, dull, damp, 1oathsome l places even now, but they were worse in l the apostolic times. I imagine to day we are atanding in the Philippian dungeon. | Do yoy aot feel tho chill2 Do you not
 hear tht groan of those incarcerated ones
 who for ten years have not seen tho sun- | light, and the deep sigh of women who | remember their fathers house and mourn | over their wasted estate2 Listen again. | It is the cough of consumptiye, or the | struggle of one in the nightmare of a | great horror. You listen again, and hear | a oulprit, his chains rattling as he rolls over in his dreams, and you say: 'God | pity the prisoners !" But there is another sound in that prison. It is song of joy | and gladness. What place to sing in | The music comes winding through the | corridors of the prison, and in all the | dark wards the whisper is heard: "What's thatG Whats that?"
 | It is the song of Paul and Silas. They | can not sleep. They have been whipped,
 very badly whipped. The long gashes on l their backs are bleeding yet. They lie | flat on the cold ground, their feet fast in wooden sockets, and of course they can not sleep. But they can sing. Jailer. what are you doing with these people? Why have they been put here? Oh, they | have been trying to make the world bet | ter. Is that all? That is all. 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 ig- | norance. suicide to be honorable-since Brutus killed himself, and Cato killed himself, and Cassius killed himself-puts his sword to his own heart proposing | with one strong, keen thrust to put an end to his excitement and agitation.
 But Paul cries out: "Stopl Stop! Do myself no harm. We are all here" Then I 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 do? What shall do?" Did Paul answer: 'Get out of this place before there is another earthquake put handcuffs and hopples on these other prisoners, lest they get away?" No word
 of that kind. His compact thrilling, tre- mendous answer, answer memorable all | through earth and Heaven, was:
 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou | shalt be saved.
 We'll, we have all read of the earth | quake in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo and | in Caracas. butw live in latitude where severe volcanic disturbances are rare. And yet we have seen fifty earthquakes. | Here is man who has been building up | a large fortune His bid on the money | market was felt in all the cities. He | thinks he has got beyond all annoying | rivalries in trade, and he says to himself: Now am free and safe from all pos | sible perturbation"
 But in 1887, or 1857, or 1875 National panic strikes the foundations of the com
 mercial world, and crashl goes all that | magnificent business establishment | Here is a man who has built up very | beautiful home. His daughters have | just come from the seminary with diplo- | mas of graduation. His sons have started in life honest temperate, and pure. When the evening lights are | struck, there is @ happy and unbroken | family circle. But there has been an ac-
 cident 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 l foundations of that beautiful home. The piano closed; tho curtain dropped; the | laughter hushed. Crashl go all those | domestic hopes and prospects and expec- | tations. So, my friends, 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 | do? What shall I doT" The same re- | ply that the apo stle made to him is ap- | propriate to us:
 | Believe 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 importance | that you write out your full name. So the | Saviour in some parts of the Bible is called Lord" and in other parts of the Bible Ho is called Jesus" and in other parts of the Bible He is called Christi"
 but that there might be no mistake about | this passage, all three names come to- | gether-"The Lord Jesus Christ"
 Now, who is this Being that you want 4s A.F4s tY, md Iatf s,.g | sometimes come to mo with credentials
 and certificates of good character, but l
 can not trust them. You can not put
 your hearts confidence in a man until | you know what stuff he is made of, and
 am l unreasonable to- day when l stop to
 ask you who this is that you want me to | trust ins No man would think of ventur- ing 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 tons it carries,
 and how long ago it was built, and who l built it and all about it. And you can not expect me to risk the cargo of my im- mortal 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, ask you who this is you want me to | trust in, you tell me He was very att tractiye person. Cotemporary writers
 describe His whole appearance as being resplendent. There was no need for Christ to tell the children to come to Him. Suffer little children to come unto
 me-" was not spoken to the disciples, The children came readily enough without any invitation. No sooner did Jesus ap- l pear than the little ones jumped from their mothers arms, an avalanche of beauty and love, into His lap. Christ did
 not ask John to put his head down on His bosom; John could not help but put his head there. l suppose to look at Christ
 was to love Him. Oh how attractive His
 manner. Why, when they saw Christ
 coming along the street they ran into
 their houses, and they wrapped up their invalids as quick as they could and