Democratic messenger., 1889-06-01
NEED OF CLEANSING.
DR.. Talmage's Sermon at the
Brooklyn Tabernacle.

Witt Talmage, d. d., preached ut the
Tabernacle to-day to an overflowing con.
gregation. lie selected as the opening
hymn that one beginning:
| Salvation. O the joyful sound.
| It's pleasure To our ears:
A sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial 20 our fears!
The text was: "IfI wash myself with
snow water, and should cleanse my
hands In alkali, yet shalt thou plunge me
in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall
abhor me"-Job ix., 30,-3i. The eloquent
preacher said
Albert Barncs-honorcd be his name
on earth and In Hcaven-wcnt stnighi
back to the original writing of my text
and translated Il as have now quoted It.
giving substantial reasons for so doing
Although we know better, the ancients
had an idea that In snow water there was
special power to cleanse, and that gar
ment washed and rinsed In Il would be as
clean as clean could be but if the plain
snow water failed TO do It's work, then
they would take lye are alkali and mix II
with oil, and under that preparation they
felt that the last impurity would certainly
he gone. Job, in my text, In most force
full figure sets forth the idea that all his
attempts to make himself pure before God
were dead failure. and that, unless we
are abluted by something better than
earthly liquids and chemical preparations,
We are loathsome and in the ditch. "If
wash myself with snow white water. and
should cleanse my hands In alkali, yet
shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and
mine own clothes shall abhor me-"
You are now sitting for your picture.
turn the camera obscura Of Gods word
full upon you, and pray tha, the sun
shine falling through the skylight may
enable me to take you just as you are.
Shall il be flattering picture are shall it
be true one? You say: "Iel il be a
true one" The first profile that was ever
taken was taken $50 years before Christ
of Aniigonus. lie had blind eye, and
he compelled the artist TO take his profile
so us TO hide the defect In his vision. But
since that invention, 800 years before
Christ, there have been great many pro.
files. Shall ! to-day give you u one sided
view Of yourselves. profile, or shall il he
a full.leng,h potrait, showing you just
wha, you are. IrGod will help me by
His almighty yrace, shall give you tina,
last kind of "a picture.
NO DIGNITY n HUMAN NATURE.
When ! first entered the ministry !
used 10 write my sermons all out and read
them, and run my hand along the line lest
| should lose my place. have hundreds
of those manuscripts Shall ever preach
them? Never; for in those days l was
somehow overnastered with the idea !
heard talked all around about the dignity
OF human nature, and | adopted the idea,
and evolved IL, and I illustrated IL, and
| argued il; hut coming on in life, and
having seen more Of the world. and stud
led bettcr my Bible, find that that early
teaching was faulty, and tha, there is no
dignity In human nature until il is recon
strucicd by the grace OF God. Talk about
vessels going 10 pieces on the Skerrics, of
Ireland There never was such ship.
wreck as in the Gihon and the lliddekel,
rivers Of Eden, where our first parents
foundercd. Talk Of n steamer going down
with five hundred passengers ON board
What is that to the shipwreck Of fourteen
hundred million souls We are by nature
a mass of unclcannesss and putrciactiOn.
from which /, takes NIL omnipotcnce and
infnitudc Of Gods grace TO extricate us.
"If wash myself with snow water, and
should cleanse my hands in alkali, yet
shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine
own clothes shall abhor me-"
SNOW WATER or APOLOGIES.
I remark, In the first place. that some
people try to cleanse their soul OF sin in
the snow water of fine apologies Here is
one man who says: II am a sinner; | con
fess that hut inherited this. My father
was sinner, my grandfather, my great
great. grandfather, and all the way back TO
Adam, and couldn't help myself" My
brother, have you not, every day in your
life. added something 10 the original estate
Of sin that was beQuea,hed to you? Are
YOU not brave enough to confess that you
have sometimes surrendered To sin, which
you ought TO have conQueredy | ask
you whether IL is fair play to put upon
our ancestry things for which we our.
selves are personally responsible? II your
nature was askew when you got II, have
you not sometimes given Il an additional
twist? WIN all those tombstones of those
who have preceded us make barricade
high enough for eternal deienses? know
devout man who had blasphemous par.
eniage. ! know an honest man whose
father was thief. know pure man
whose mother was the wait Of the street.
The hereditary tide may be very strong,
but there is such thing as stcmming H.
The fact iha, ! have corrupt nature Is
no reason why should yield TO it. The
deep stains Of our soul can never he
washed out by the snow water of such IN
sufficient apology.
Sill further, says some one; "lf ] have
gone into sin. Il has been through my
companions. my comrades and associates
they ruined me. They taught me To drink
They took me to the gambling hell. They
plunged me into the house Of sin. They
ruined my soul" do not believe IL. God
gave To no one the power to destroy you
or me. II a man il destroyed he is self
destroyed, and that is always so. Why
did you no, break away from ihemg II
they had tried To steal your purse. you
would have knocked them down; if they
had tried to purloin your gold watch you
would have riddled them with shot but