The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-08-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject; "Thc EnrthqualSc.' -
preached nI ~. Paul, Mimi

TEXT: believe on the Lord Jesus Chris
and thou shalt be sdped."--Acts xvi, 81.
Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsome place.
even now; but they were worse in the apps
tolic times imagine to-day we are stand
ing in the Philippian dungeon. Do you moi
feel the chill? Do you not hear the groan OF
those incarcerated 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 estateg Listen
again. Ii is the cough of consumptive, or
the struggle of one in tho nightmare
of q great horror, You listen again and hear
a culprit his chains rafting as he rolls over
in his dreams, and you says: God pity the
prisoner" But there is another sound IN
that prison. 1t is q song of joy and gladness
What place TO sing inl The music comes
winding through the corridors of tho prison,
and in all 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 in wooden sock
cts and Of course they cannot sleep. But they
can sing. Jaicr, what are you doing with
these people? Why have they been put in
here9 Oh, they have been trying to make
the world better. Is that alp That is all.
A pit for Joseph. A lions cave for Dan
iel, A blazing furnace for Shadrach.
for Philip Melancthon. A dungeon
for Paul and Silas, But while we are stand
ing in the gloom of the Philippian dungeon,
and we hear the mingling voices of sob and
groan and blasphemy and hallelujah, sud-
denly an earthquake! Tho iron bars Of the
prison twist, the pillars crack oil, tho solid
masonry begins to heave and all the doors
swing open. The jailer, feeling himself re-
sponsible for these prisoners and believing,
BILE 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: "Stop Stop! Do thy
self no harm. We are all heren Then see
the jailer running through the dust and amid
the ruin Of that prison, and see him throw
ing himself down at the feet of those prison
ers, crying out; What shall l dos What
shall dor Did Paul answer: "Get out of
this place before there is another earthquake;
put handouts and hopples on these
other prisoners, lest they get away"
No word of that kind. His COM
pact, thrilling, tremendous answer, an
swer memorable all through earth and
heaven, was: believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved.n Well we
have all heard Of the earthquake in Lisbon,
in Lima, in Aleppo, and in Caracas, but we
live in a latitude where severe volcanic dis
turbances are rare. And yet we have seen
fifty earthquakes. Here is man who has
been building up q 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:
Nov | am free and safe from all
possible perturbation" But in 1887, or
in 1857, or in 1878 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 diplomas of graduation. His sons havo
started in life honest temperate and pure.
When the evening lights are struck there is a
happy and unbroken 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 foundation of that beautiful home.
The piano closed; the curtains dropped; the
laughter hushed. Crash! 60 all those domes-
tic hopes and prospects and expectations. So
my friends, we have all felt the shaking
down of some great trouble, and there was
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 dor The
same reply that the apostle made to him is
appropriate to us: "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved"
There are some documents of so little i'm
portance that you do not care to put any
more than your last name under them, or
nyap yNIr initials. Inf thn-o ora cap,a Joc,,-
ments of 50 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 He is called Jesus"
and in other parts of the Bible He is called
Christ but that there might be no mistake
about this passage, all three names come to.
gether-'The Lord Jesus Christ"
Vow, who is this being that you want me
to trust in and believe in? Men sometimes
como to me with credentials and certificates
Of good character but cannot trust them
There is some dishonesty in their looks that
makes me know / shall be cheated il I con-
fide in them. You cannot put your hearts
in a man until you know what
stuff he is made of, and am
to-day when l stop to
ask you who this is that you want me
to trust in? No man would think Of ventur-
Ing his life or a vessel going out to sea that
have the certificate hung amidships telling
how many tons it carries, and now long ago
t was built, ana who built it, and all about
t. And you cannot expect me to risk
The cargo of my immortal interests
II board any craft till you tell ms
what it is made OF, and where it was made
md what it is When, then, ask you who
his is you want me to trust in, you tell mo
lie YVES very attractive person. Contem-
t,,,- Il Il.
lnce as being respondent. There was no
iced for Christ to tell the children to como
% Him. Suffer little children to come
into Me-" was not spoken to the children; it
vas spoken to the disciples. The children
anne readily enough without any invitation.
No sooner did Jesus appear than the little
mes jumped from 6hJr mother 5 arms, an
lvaianche of beauty and love, into His
ap. Christ did not ask John TO put his head
lown on His bosom; John could not holp but
nut his head there. suppose to look at Christ
vas to love Him. Oh, how attractive His
manner. Why, when they saw Christ COM
nS along the street they ran into their houses,
nd they wrapped up their invalds as quick
s they could, and brought them out that
lie might look at them. There was some-
hing so pleasant, 50 inviting, so cheering in
He did, in His very look. When
hese sick ones were brought out, did He say:
DO not bring Me these sores; do not trouble
dc with these lcprosies?n No, no; there was
kind look, there was q gentle word, there
vas a healing touch. They could not keer
way from Him
In addition to this softnass of character.
here was fiery momentum. How tho kings
[ the earth turned pale. Here is a plain
nan with few sailors Mt his back coming |
II the sea of Galilce, going up to tic. palace |
{ the Crsars. making that pnlace quake 10 |
ne 10unua tons, and utterlQg n word or |
lercy and kindness which throbs through all |
he earth, and through all the heavens, and |
through all ages. Oh, He was a loving Christ. |
tut 1t was not clfcninacy or instability of |
haracter; it was accompanied with ma iosty, |
liinite and omnipotent. lest the world |
aould not realize Ills earnestness, this Christ |
lounts the cross
You say: 'If Christ has to die, why not
It him take some deadly potion and lie on
ouch in some bright and beautiful home? If |
lie must die, let Him expire amid all kindly
ltentions." No, the world must hear the
on the heads Of the spikes. The
ord must listen TO the death rattle of the
liIerer. The world must feel His warm
Iood dropping on eacl, cheek, while it looks
2 into The face or Ills anguish. And so the
'oss must be lifted and a hole dug
the top of Calvary. 1t must be dug three
ct deep, and then the cross is laid on the
'ound, and the sufferer is stretched upon it,
Id the nails are pounded through nerve and
'iscie and bone, through the right hand,
trough the left hand, and then they shake