The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-01-29
TALMAGE ABRC: =.
ELOQUENT SERMON PREACHED
BY HIM IN LONDON.

The Apostles Prison t"a-r -s'saui>'ng
Chains and Damp Dups-on>- ,;"d risS
the Prisoner The Pit, the Lios's Deu.
the Blnzin. Furnace, the stalk, and tho
Prison for Christians.
The Rev. T. De Witt Talnage, D.
D., Of Brooklyn, preached in London,
Sunday, taking for his text Acts xvi,
81: ''Believe on the Lore Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved" He said:
Jails are dark, dull, dsmp, loathsome
places even now; but We're worse in the
apostolic times. I imagine to-day we
are standing in the Philippian dungeon.
Do you feel the chills Do you hear the
groan Of those incarcera ones wto
for ten years have not seen the sun
light, and the deep sigh Of w,.s:isn
who remember their fath-r's house,
and mourn over their wasted estates?
Listen again. 1t is the cough ofa On
snmptive, or the struggle OF one in
nightmare ofa great horror. You lis
ten again, and hear a culprit, his chains
rsttleing as he rolls over in his dreams,
and you say: "God pity the prisoner"
But there is another sound in that
prison. 1t is song of joy and glad,
ness What place to sing in! The
music comes winding through the cor
sidors OF the 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 badly whipped. The
long gashes on their backs are bleeGS
ing yet. They lie fat on tie cold
ground, their feet fast in wooden SOCK
cts, and of course they cannot sleep.
But they can sing. Jailer, what are
you doing with these people? Why
have they been pat in here? O, they
have been trying 20 make the world
better. Is it that? That is all A 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 that Philippi-
ar. dungeon, and We hear the minglng
voices Of sob, and groan, and bias
phem, and hallelujah, suddenly an
earthquakel The iron bars of the
prison twists, the pillars crack off, the
solid masonry begins to heave and
rock till sll the doors sW ing open, and
the walls fall with q terrific crash. The
jsiler, feeling himself responsible for
these prisoners, and feeling suicide to
be honerable-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 sgitstion But Paul
cried out: stop! Stop! Do thyself no
harm. We are all here" Then see
the jailor running through the dust
amid the ruin of that prison, and see
him throwing himself down at the feet
of those prisoners, crying out: What
shall I dor What shall I do?', Did
Paul answer: "Ge. out of this place
before there is another earthquake;
put handouts and hobbies on those
other prisoners. lest they get away"
Not a word of that kind. Compact,
thrilling, tremendous answer; answer
memorable all through earth and
heaven: Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
Well, We have all read of the earth
quake in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo
and in Caracas; but we live in latitude
where In AL our memory there has not
been one severe volcanic disturbance.
Andyet we have sean fifty earthquakes.
Here is q 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 ali annoy:
ing rivalries in trade, and he says to
h;mseE snow I an free and safe from
all possible perturbation" But nat
ional panic strikes the foundation Of
the commercial werld, and crash! goes
all.that magnificent business establish
o very beautiful houa His daughters
have como home fom the seminary
with diplomas of graduation. His
sons have started in life, honest, tenn
perate and pure. When the evening
lights are struck, there is a happy and
an unbroken family circle. But there
has been an accident down at the
beech. The young man ventured too
far out in the surf. The telegraph
hurled the tsrror up to the city. An
earthquake struck under the founda-
tions of that beautiful home. The
piano closed, the curtain dropped; the
Laughter hushed. Crash! go all those
domestic hopes, and prospects, and ex-
psctations. So my friends, we have
all felt the shaking down ofsome 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;
ssWhat shall I do? What shall I do?''
The same reply that the apostle made
TO him is appropriate to US: believe
in the Lord, Jesus Christ and thou shalt
he saved" There are some documents
ofso little importance that you do not
care to put any more than your last
name under thena, or even your mi
tials; 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, 'sLord''
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, ali three names come in
Sogether-sthe Lord Jesus Christ y
Now, who Is this. Being that you
want me to trust and believe in? Men
sometimes come to me with credentials
and certi6catesgof good character; bat
I cannot trust them. There is some
dishonesty in their looks that makes
mesknoH I shall be cheated if con-
8de in them. You cannot put your
hearts confidence In man until YOU
knowsswhat stufhe is made of, and am
I unreasonable this morning, wheo
stop to ask you who this is that you
vsnt ma TO trust ins No man would