Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-01-31
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: THE Phiiippian Earth
quake" preached in Lon
don, England.I


Jails are dark, dull, damp, Ioathsome
places even now; but they wei worse in the
apostolic times. | imagine, to-day, we are
standing i'll the Philippian dungeon. Do you
not 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 estates; Listen
again. 1t is the cough of a cOnsumptive.
the struggle of one in nightmare Of great
horror. You listen again and hear culprit
his chains rafting as he rolls over i'll his
dreams, and you say: God pity the priS-
Oner." But there is another sound in that
prison. : Is a song of JOY and gladnesS
What place to sing in. The music comes
winding through the corridors of the prison,
and in all the dark wards the whisper is
heard: What's that! What's thatm 1t is
the song of Paul and Silas. They cam
OF sleep. They We been whip ed, Yer
b dly who's ed. Tie 10 g gashes on the
bac are bleedin yet. They lie fat on the
cold .roun their feet fast in wooden sock
cts, and of course tn y cannot sleep. But
they can sing. Jailer, what are you doing
with these people? Why have they ell put
in here? o, they have been trying to make
the world better. Is that all? Tha is all.
A pit for Joseph. A lions cave for Daniel.
A blaziny furnace for Shadrach. ubs for
John Wesley. An anat ema for Philip MI
alcthon. A dungeon for Paul and Silas.
But while we are sta d ng in the gloom of
that Philippiar du geou, and we hear the
mingling voices of sob, and ,groan, and bias
phemy, and hallelujah, suddenly an earth
quake! The If, bars of the prison twist,
the pillars crack off, the solid masonry begins
to heave and rock till al the doors ing
open, and the walls fall with rrific crash
for these prisoners, and feeling suicide to be
honorable-since Brutus killed himself, and
Cato killed himself, and Cassius killed him
self-puts his sword to his own heart, pro-
posing 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 I see the
the jailer running through the dust and
amid the ruin of that prison, and | see him
throwing himself down at the feet of these
What shall / do?" Did Paul an
swer: ''Get out of this place before
there is another earthquake; put hand
cuffs and hopples on these other prisoners
Compact, thrilling, tremendous answer; an
swer memorable all through earth and
heaV0n: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved"
Well, we have all read of the earthquakes
in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo and in Carac-
cas-; but we live in a 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
Oh IIlo was I0IL III all Gne Clues.
He thinks he has got beyond all annoying
rivalries 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
establishment. He IS man who has built
up very beautiful home. His daughters
have just came home from the semi
nary with diplomas of graduation.
His sons have started in life, honest, temper
L ls1-I~H
struck, there is happy and unbroken
family circle. But there has been an acct
dent down at the beach. The young man
ventured too far out in the surf The tele-
graph 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 domestic hopes, and pros
poets, and expectations. So, my friends we
have all felt the shaking down of some great
as much excited as this man of the text,
and we cried out he did: What
shall I do? What shall I 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" 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
J
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 in to-
gether-'the Lord Jesus Christ" Now, who
is this Being that you want me to trust in
and believe i'll? Men sometimes come 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 If l cOnhde in
them. You cannot put your hearts conf
dence in man until you know what stuff he
Is made Of, and am L unreasonable this
morning, when | stop to ask you who this is
that you want me to trust in? No man would
think of venturing his life on a vessel going
out to sea that had never been inspected NO,
you must have the certificate hung amldshlps,
telling how many tons it 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 till you tell me what it is
it is. When, then, l ask you who this is you
want me to trust in, you tell me he was
very attractive person. Y GU tell me that
the contemporary writer's describe him, and
they give the color of his eyes, and the color
of his hair, and they describe his whole ap-
pearance as being Respondent. Christ did
not tell the children to come TO Him. 'Suf-
fer little children to come unto Me" was
not spoken to the children; it was spoken to
the Pharisees. The children had come with
out any invitation. No sooner did Jesus ap-
pear than the little ones pitched from their
mothers arms, an avalanche of beauty and
love into His lap. Suffer little children to
come unto Me" That was addressed TO the
Pharisees: not to the children. Christ did
not ask John to put his head down on His
bosom; John could not help but put his head
there. Such eyes, such cheeks, such chin,
such hair suck physical condition and ap-