The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-03-27
THE EARTH QUAKED.
a Sermon on the Historic Earth
quake at Philippi.
The Differences Between Faith and Belief
Exemplified by Practical IiIustra-
tions-The influence of Christis
Death on Mankind.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage prepared the
following sermon for delivery in Lon
don on his return journey from the Holy
Land His text was:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.-Acts xvi, 81.
Jails are dark, dull, damp, 1oathsome
places even now; but they were worse
in the apostolic times. | imagine to-
day we are standing IN the Philippian
dungeon. Do you not feel the chill?
DO you not hear the groan of those in
generated 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 the 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
sladhess. 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: "What's
that? What'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? 0, 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 Shad-
rach. Clubs for John Wesley. An anath-
ema for Philip Melancthon. A dun
geon 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 halleluiah, suddenly an
earthquake! The iron bars of the prison
twist, the pillars crack off, the solid
masonary begins to heaye and rock till
all the doors swing open, and the walls
fall with terrible crash. The taller,
feeling himself responsible for these
prisoners, and feeling suicide to be hon
orable-since Brutus killed himself, and
Cato killed himself, and Cassius killed
himself-puts his own sword to his own
h. proposing with one strong, keen
thrust to put an end to the excitement
and agitation.
But Paul cries OUT "Stop! stopl Do
myself no harm. We are all here"
Then | see the iailer running through
the dust and amid the ruin of that
prison, and I see him throwing himself
down at the feet of those prisoners, cry
ing out: "What shall l do? What shall
l do?" Did Paul answer: "Get out of
this place before there is another earth
quake; put handouts and hobbies on
these other prisoners, lest they get
away?" No word of that kind. Com
pact thrilling, tremendous answer; an
swer 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 Aloppo
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 riYalries in trade. and |
he says to himself:
Now am free and safe from all pos
sible perturbation. But a national |
panic strikes the foundations of the |
commercial world, and crash goes all |
that magnificent business establish
ment. He is man who has built up a
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 an un-
broken 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 thar
beautiful home. The piano closed, the
curtains dropped, the laughter hushed.
Crash! go all those domestic hopes, and
prospects, and expectations So, nv
friends, we have all felt the shaking
down of some great trouble, and there
was time when we were as much ex-
cited as this man of the text, and we
cried out as he did:
What shall do? What shall l do?"
The same reply that the apostle made
20 him is appropriate to US:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
'halt be saved.
There are some documents of so little
Importance that you do not care to put
my more than your last name under
hem, or even your initial but there
ire some documents of so great impor-
ance that you write out your full name.
50 the Saviour in some parts of the BIZ
Die is called Lord, and in other parts ,
II the Bible He is called Jesus and I
n other parts of the Bible He is called
Christ, but that there might be no
mistake about this passage, all three !