Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-07
NEED OF CLEANSING.
SUBJECT OF DIR. TALMAGE.s TaHEH.
NACz4E SERMON ON SUNDAY.
The Attempts of Poor Weak Humanity to
Make Itself Clean Before God Are Not
Successful-The Lord Himself .yus. See to
the Cleansing.

",
Albert Barnes-honored be his name
on earth and in Heaven-went straight
back to the original writing of my text,
ana translated it as have now quoted
1t, giving substantial reasons for so
doing. Although we know better, the
anclents had an idea that in snow water
there was special power to cleanse,
and that garment washed and rinsed
i'll 1t would be as clean as clean could
be; but IT the plain snow water failed to
do ITS work, then they would take I've or
alkali and mix it with oil, and under
that preparation they felt that the last
impurity would certainly be gone. Job,
IN my text, in most forceful 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 |
| 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 1 pray that the sun
shine failing through the skylight may
enable me to take you Just as you are.
Shall it be iiattering picture, or shall
it be u true one? You say: Let it be a
true one.I The first profile that was
ever taken was taken three hundred and
thirty years before Christ, of Antigonus.
He had hlind eye. and he compelled
the artist tb take his profile SO as to hide
the defect in his vision. But since that
invention, three hundred and thirty
years befofe Christ, there have been q
| GREAT M Sl,,n to1ov c,iyo
you one ided view of yourselves, a
profile, or shall it be full length por-
trait, showing you just what you are?
If God will help me by His almighty
grace, shall give you that last kind Of
q picture.
When I first entered the ministry l
used to write my sermons all out and
read them, and run my hand along the
line lest I should loose my place.
have hundreds of those manuscripts.
Shall I ever preach them? Never; for in
those days | was somewhat over-mas-
tered with the idea heard talked all
around about, of the dignity of human
nature, and | adopted the idea, and
evolved it., and l illustrated it, and
argued it; but coming on in life, anc
studied better my Bible, find that thai
early teaching was faulty, and that there
is no dignity in human nature, until i
is reconstructed by the grace Of God
Talk about vessels going to pieces OF
the Skerries, off Ireland! There neve
was such shipwreck as in the Gihol
and the Hiddekel, rivers of Eden, wher
our first parents foundered. Talk of
steamer going down with five hundre,
passengers on board! What is that t.
the shipwreck Of fourteen hundre
million souls? We are by nature mas
of uncleanness and putrefaction, fror
which it takes all the omnipotence an
infinitude of Gods grace to extricate us
"If wash myself with snow watcr, an
should cleanse my hands in alkali, We
shalt thou plunge me i'll the ditch, an,
my own clothes shall abhor me.
I remark, in the first place. that SOM
people try to cleanse their soul of sin il
the snow water of fine apologies. Here
is one man who says: 1 am sinner;
confess that but 1 inherited this. NJ,
fhther was sinner, my grandfather, N.
great great grandfather, and all the wa,
back to Adam, and couldn't help my,
SELF" My brother, have you not, every
day in your life, added something to thu
original estate of sin that was bequeathee
to you? Are you not brave enough t.
confess that you have sometimes sur
rendered to sin, which you ought t.
have conquered? l ask you whether il
things for which we ourselves are per
sonally responsible? If your nature was
askew when YOU got it, have you mo-
sometimes given it an additional twist
Will all the tombstones of those who
have preceded US make barricade high
enough for eternal defenses? 1 know {
deyout man who had blasphemous par
entage. know an honest man whose
father was a thief. I know pure mar
whose mother was waif of the street
The hereditary tide may be very strong
but there is such q thing as stemmlng 1t
The fact that have corrupt nature Is
no reason why / should yield to it. The
deep stains of our soul can never be
washed out by the snow water OF such
insufficient apology.
Still further, says some one: Ii
have gone into sin, it has been through
nv companions, my comrades and asso-
/ ciates; 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. lido not
believe it. God gave to no one the
power to destroy you OF me. 1t man Is
destroyed he is self destroyed, and that
is always so. Why did you not break
away from them? If they had tried tc
: lsteal your purse, you would nave
, knocked them down; if they had trleo
, 10 purloin your gold watch, you would
have riddled them with shot; but when
ahey tried to steal your immoral soul,
YOU placidly submitted to it. Those bad
fellows have a cup of fire to drink; &c
not pour your cup in it. In this matter
of the soul, every man fos himself
! That those persons are not fully re-
/ sponsible for your sin, prove by the
fact that you still consort with them u
You cannot get off by blaming them
Though you gather up all these apolo,
gies; though there were great tiooo OF
them; though they should come down
with the force of the melting SHOWS from
Lebanon, they could not wash out one
stain of your immoral soul.
Still further, some persons aPologize
for their sins by saying: we are a
great deal better than some people. You
see people all around about us that are
a great deal worse than we.. You STANG M
up columnar in your integrity ana looL
down upon those who are are ostrat e. ~
their habits and crimes. What OIL that
my brother? If failed through reck.
lessness and wicked imprudence for ter
thousand dollars, is the matter allevlateo
| ~ o11 h, ~, 60 ot that somebody else mas