Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-02-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Trust in Christ as You W you'd
Trust in Any One.
A Simple Faith Which Tells Most Mo-
mentous Story.

Brooklyn, preached IN London Sunday,
taking for his text Acts xvi. 81: BE
lieye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved" He said
Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsome
places even now; but they were worse
in the apostolic times. | imagine, to-
day, we are standing in the Phlllpplan
dungeon. Do you not feel the chill? DO
YOU not hear the groan of those incar-
cerated 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 es-
tates? Listen again. 1t is the cough of
a consumptive, or the struggle OF one
in nightmare of great horror. You
listen again, and hear culprit, his
chains rafting as he rolls over in his
dreams, and you say: GOD pity the
prisoner But there is another sound
in that prison. 1t is a song of joy and
gladness. What place to sing in! The
music comes winding through the corri-
doris of the prison, and in all the dark
wards the whisper is heard: whats
that? VIII It's that?" 1t is the song
of Paul and Silas. They
can not sleep. They have been
whipped, very badly whipped. The long
gashes on their backs are bleeding yet.
They lie fat on the cold ground, their
feet fast in wooden sockets, and OF
course they can not sleep But they can
sing. Jailer, what are you doing with
these people? Why have they been put
in here? Oh, they have been trying to
make the world better. Is that all?
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
Philippian dungeon, and we hear the
mingling voices of sob, and groan,
and blasphemy and hallelujah, sudden
ly an earthquake! The iron bars of the
prison twist, the pillars crack off, the
solid masonry begins to heave and
rock, till all the doors swing open, and
the walls fall with terrible crash. The
jailer, feeling himself responsible for
these prisoners, and feeling suicide to be
honorable-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 excite
ment and agitation. But Paul cries out:
''Stopl stopl Do myself no harm. We
are all here" Then see the jailer run
ming through the dust and amid the
ruin Of that prison, and see him throw
ing himself down at the feet of these
prisoners, crying out: what shall |
do? 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 pris-
oners, lest they get away?" No word Of
that kind. Compact, thrilling, tremen-
dous 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 Alleppo
and in Caracas But we live in a lati-
tude where, in all our memory, there
has not been one severe volcanic dis
turbance And yet we have seen fifty
earthquakes. Here is 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 be-
yond all annoying rivalries in trade,
and he says to himself: "Now l am free
and safe from all possible perturbation
But a national panic strikes the founda-
tions Of the commercial world, and
crash goes all that magnificent business
establishment. He is a man who has
built up very beautiful home.
His daughters have just come home
from the seminary with diplomas of
graduation. His sons have started in
life, honest, temperate and pure. When
the evening lights are struck, there is
happy and 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 foundation
Of that beautiful home. The piano
closed; the curtains dropped; the laugh
ter hushed. crash go all those domes-
tic hopes, and prospects, and expecta-
lions. So, my friends, we have all felt
the shaking down Of some 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: "What shall
do? What shall / do?' The same re-
ply that the apostle made to him is APP
propriate 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 impor-
TANGO that you write out your full
name.
So 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 the Bible He is
called Christ" but that there might be
no mistake about this passage, all three
names come in together-''the Lord
Jesus Christ" Now, who is this Being
that you want me to trust in and believe
in? Men sometimes come to me with
u-olo-kf.1a ~ .or4f Rcotac Of orond chor-