The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-02-05
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON
Subject: "The PhiIippian Earth
quake" preached in Lon
don, England.l

TEXT: "Bcliere on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saued."-Acts xvi. 81
Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsome
places even now; but they were worse in the
apostolic times. I imagine, to-day we are
standing in the Philippian dungeon. Do you
not feel the chill9 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 estatess Listen
again. 1t is the cough Of consumptive, or
! the struggle of one in nightmare of a great
horror. You listen again, and hear culprit,
his chains rafting as he rolls over in his
dreams, and you say: "God pity the pris-
oner." But there is another sound in that
prison. 1t is song Of joy and gladness.
What place to sing inl 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 can
OF sleep. They b I'VE been whip. ed, YER
idly whip ed The long gashes on the
bacEs are bleeding yet. They lie fat on the
cold !roun their feet fast in wooden sock.
ets nd of course h>y cannot sleep. But
they can sing. JaiIer, what are you doing
with these people? Why have they ben put
in here? o, they have been trying to make
the world better. Is that alls That IS all.
A blazing furnace for Shadrach. G ubs for
! John Wesl y. An anat' .ema for Philip Mel
q" cthon. A dungeon for Paul and Silas.
But while we are sta ding in the gloom of
that PhilippiaI du geoD, and we hear tho
mingling voices of sob, and groan, and bias.
phemy, and hallelujah, suddenly an earth
quakel The ir.n bars Of the prison twist,
the pillars crack off, the solid masonry begins
to heave and rock till al; the doors wing
I IL fon 60
The jailer, feeling himself respons bic
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! stopl Do thyself no
harm. We are all here" Then l SEQ the
tho jailer running through the dust and
amid the ruin of that prison, and I see him
throwing himself down at the feet Of these
What shall I do?" Did Paul an
swer: "Get out Of this place before
there is another earthquake; put hand
cuffs and hopples on these other prisoners,
lest they get awayf" No word Of that kind.
Compact, thrilling, tremendous answer; an.
swer memorable all through earth and
heaven: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
ana CQOu SQalC Do SdNeu
Well, we have all read Of the earthquakes
in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo and in Carac-
cas-: 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 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
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 a man who has built
up very beautiful home. His daughters
have Just came home from the seIzci-
nary with diplomas of graduation.
His sons have started in life, honest, temper
ate and pure. When the evening lights are
struck, there is happy and an unbroken
family circle. But there has been an acci-
dent down at the beach, The young man
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
Crashl 20 all those domestic hopes, and pros
pects and expectations. 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
shall I doP Wtat shall I do?'
The same reply that the apostle
made to him is appropriate to us: "BelieYe
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
your full name. So tho Saviour i'll some
parts of the Bible is called Lord, y and in
other parts of the Biblc 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-
gethcr-''the Lord Jesus Christ" Now, who
is this Being that you want me to trust i'll
and believe in2 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 confide in
them. You cannot put your hearts conh-
dence in man until you know what stuff he
is made of, and am I 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 vessel going
out to sea that had never been inspected. No,
you must have tho certificate hung amidships,
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
made of, and where it was made and what
it is. When, then, ask you who this is you
want me to trust in, you tell me ne was
very attractive person. You tell me tnaG
they givo the color of his eyes, and the color
of his hair, and they describe his whole ap.
pearance as being resplendent. Christ did
not tell the children to come to Him. SUI
fer little children to come unto Me-" was
not spoken to the children; it was spoken to
The rnarlsees. The children had come with
put 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
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, such physical condition and ap-
pearance-why, it must have been COM
pletely captivating and winsome. / sup
pose q look at Him was just to love
Him. o, how attractive His mannerl
Why, when they saw Christ coming along
the street. they ran into their houses, and
they wrapped up their invalids as quick as
they could, and brought them out that He
might look at them. Of there was something
so pleasant, so inviting, so cheering in every
thing He did, in His very look. When these
sick ones were brought out did He say
take away these sores; do not trouble Me
with these leDrosies?' No. no: there was a
kind look, there was gentle word, there was
a healing touch. They could not keep away
from Him.
In addition to this softness Of character,
there was fiery momentum. How the old
hypocrites trembled before Him. How the
Ki,ns of the earth turned nale. Here is