Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-01-24
TALMAGE IN LONDON.
THE AMERICAN DIVINE breaches IN
THE ENGLISH METROPOLIS.
The Philippian Earthquake -"Believe on
the Lord Jesus Oh rist, and Thou Shalt
BE Sayedr-Where the Text should
be Applied Who is Christ?

81: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved" lie said
Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsome
places even now, but they were worse in the
apostolic times. | imagine today we are
standing in the Philippan dungeon. Do you
not feel the chill? DO you not hear the groan
of those lncarcerated ones who for ten years
have not seen the sunlight, and deep sigh
of women who remember their Mther's
house and mourn over their wasted estatesg
Listen again. 1t is the cough OF the CON
sunptivc, or the struggle of one in the night
mare OF great horror. You listen again.
and hear II culprit, his chains rafting as he
rolls over in his Dreams and you say: God
pity tho prisoner But there is another
sound in that prison. 1t is song Of JOY and
gladness What place to sing in! The mu-
sic comes winding through the corridors
Of the prison. and in all the dark
wards the whisper is heard; whats
that! What's that" 1t is the song of
Paul and Slas. They cannot sleep. They
have been whipped, very badly whipped. The
long cashes on their backs are bleeding yet
They lie flat on the cold ground, their feet
fast in wooden sockets, and of course they
cannot sleep. But they sing. Jailer,
what are you doing with these peoplef Why
have they been put in herei On! they have
been trying to make the world better. Is
that ala That is all. A pit for Joseph. a
lion, cave for Daniel a blazing furnace
for Shadrach. Clubs for John Wesley. An
anathema for Philip Melancthon. \ dungeon
for Paul and Silas. But while we are stand
ing i'll the gloom of that Phippian dungeon,
and we hear the minglng voices of sob, and
groan, and blasphemv, and halleluiah, sud
denly an earthquake! The iron bars
of the prison twist, the pillars crack
OF, the solid masonry begins TO
heavc and roc, ill all the doors swing open,
end the walls tall with terrific crash The
jailpr, feeling himself responsible for these
prisoners, and feeling suicide to be honora-
be-since Brutus killed himself, and Cato
killed himself and Cassus 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 thyself no harm. We
are all here Then see the taller running
through the dust and amid the ruin of that
prison, and see him throwing himself down
at the feet of these prisoners, crying ont:
What shall do! What shall ! do!' Did
Paul answer: Get out of this place before
there is another earthquakes: put handouts
and hopples on these other prisoners, lest they
get away" No word of that kind Com
pact, thrilling, tremendous answer; answer
.
'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved"
DIFFERENT KIND OF EARTHQUAKES.
Well, we have ell read Of the earthquake
in Lisbon, i'll Lima, in Aleppo and in ca
raccas but we live in latitude where in all
our memory there has not been one severe
volcanic disturbance And yet we have seen
fifty earthquakes Here is a man who has
been building up large fortune, His bid on
the money market was felt in all the cities.
He thinks he has got beyond all annoying
riyalries in trade, and he says to himself
"Now ] am free and safe from all possible
perturbation" But national panic strikes
the foundations of the commercial world, and
crash! goes all that magnificent business es-
Establishment He is a man who has built up
very beautiful home. His daughters have
just come home from the seminary with di-
plomas of graduation. His sons have
started in life honest, temperate and pure.
When the evening lights are struck, there is
happy and an unbroken family circle. But
there has been an accident down at the
beach. 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 hushed Crash! go all those domes-
tiC IpiJcS, anu piO9pttIS, dHll "a jCCCltlOllo.
So, my friends, we have all felt the shaking
down of some great trouble, and there was a
time when we We're as much excited as this
man of the text, and we cried out as he did
"WLat shall | do. What shall do!' The
same reply that the apostle made to him is
appropriate to us; believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.n 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. 50 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 tie Bible he is called Christ but
that there might be no mistake about thi:
passage ri three names come in together
"tha Lord jesus Christ" Now, who is thi;
being that you want me to trust iii and be-
}ict III: Men sometimes come to me with
credentials and certificates Of good character
bu, ! cannot trust them. There Is some dis
honesty IN their looks that makes me know
shall be cheated if | confide III them. You
cannot put your hearts confidence in mar
unit. you know what stuff he is made Of anG
am | unreasonable this morning when | stoI
10 ask you who this is that you want me tC
trust in No man would think of venturng
ms life on vessel going out to sea, that haC
neven been inspected. No, you must have the
certificate hung amidships, telling how many
tons 1t carries, and how long ago it was
built, and who built it, and all about it. And
you cannot expect me to risk the cargo of my
immortal interests on board any craft til
you tell me what it Is made Of and where il
was made, and what it is When, then ask
you who this is you want me to trust in, you
tell me he was Il very attractive person. You
tell me that the contemporary writer.
describe him, and they give the color Of hi.
eyes, and the color of his hair, and they de
scribe his whole appearance being re
splcndert. Christ did not tell the children tC
rome to him ''Suffer little children to come
unto me, was not spoken to the children; il
was spoken TO the Pharisees. The children
had come without any invitation. NJ
sooner did Jesus appear than the little one
pitched from their mothers arms, al
avalanche Of beauty and love, into hi
lap. suffer little children to come
unto me-" That was addressed to the Phari