The Opelousas courier., 1890-03-29
TALMAGE'S TRIP,
rHE BR0ohLYN DITlNE's.,sUNDAY
SERMON.

'ahS tie uaFk, uuli, damp, lOathSOme
places even now; but they were worse iii the
apostolic times. l imagine, to-day, we are
standing in the Philippian dungeon. Do you
not feel the chill? Do you not hear the groan
OF thoSe lncarcerated ones who for ten years
have not seen the sunlight, and the deep sigh
OF women who rolNe!nber their fathers house,
and mourn over their wasted estates? Listen
again. 1t Is the cough Of a consumptive, or
the struggle of one III Il nightmare of a great
horror You listen again, and hear a culprit,
his chains rattling as lie rolls over in his
dreams, and you say: GOD pity the pris-
oller." Bat there is another sound in that
p11son. 1t is a song of joy and gladncss.
what a 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 that" 1t is
the song of Paul and Silas. They cam
OF sleep. They hive been whip ed, yer I
b dly whipt ed. The 10 z gashes on The L
bac; S arc bleedin yet. They lie fat On the
cold roun their feet fast in wooden sock
etS, Ind Of course tn y cannot sleep. But
Thy can sing. Jailer, what are you doing
with these people? Why have they b, en- put
in here? Q, thy have been trying to make
the world bett-r. Is that all? That is all.
A pit for Joseph. A lions cave for Daniel.
A blazing furnace for Shadrach. c ubs for
John Wesl y. An anat ema for Philip Mel
a. cthon. A dungeon for Paul and Silas.
NoS WIZ W. l SUI u uS Ia Ul0 RIOON Ol
that Philippial du geoa, and we hear the
mlngling voices of sob, and groa !, and bias.
phemy, and hallelujah, suddenly an earth
quake The ir@n bars Of the prison twist,
The pillars crack off, the solid masonry begins
70 heave and rock till al the doors S ing
open, AMI the walls fall with a t rrific crash,
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 stop! Do myself no
harm. We are oil here" Then I see the
the iailer running through the dust and
amid the ruin of that prison, and I see him
throwing himself down at the feet Of these
prisoners, crying out; what shall l do?
What shall I dos" Did Paul an
swer: "Get out Of this place before
cuffs and hopples on these other prisoners.
lest they get away?' No word Of that kind.
Compact, thrilling, tremendous answer; an
swer memorable all through earth and
heaven: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved"
Well, we nave all read of tn" 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 a large fortune. His bid
OF the money market was felt in all the cities.
He thinks he has got beyond all annoying
rivairieaea trade, and he says to himself:
Now alNrfree and safe from all possible
perturbation" But a 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 a 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
ate II pure. When the evening lights are
struck, there is a happy and an unbroken
family circle. But there has been a 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
ave allfelt the shaking down of some great
trouble, and there was a time when we were
as much excited as this man of the text,
and we cried out as he did: "What
shall I do? What shall I do?s
The same reply that the apostle
made to him is appropriate to us: Believe
on tho Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
tNS'SS&s NA$AS I'm 5OAAO OS VI oo VIZ
Importance that you do not care to put n
more than your last name Under them, Of even
!yns.s initials; but there are some documents
great Importance 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 Heis called Jesus
and in other parts of the Bible He is called
''Christ::" but that there might beno mistake
about this passage, all three names come in to-
gether-''the Lord Jesus Christi Now, who
is this Being that you want me to trust in
inc believe IMP Men sometimes come to
me with credentials and certificates of good
character; but I cannot trust them. There
is some dishonesty in their looks that makes
me know l shall be cheated il / confide in
them. You annot put your hearts conf
dence in a man until you know what stuff he
is made of, and am I unreasonable this
morning, when / stop to ask you whcajhis is
that VI want me to trustin? 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 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 1t Is
made of, and where it was made, and h
it is. When, then, l ask you who this isyou
want me TO trust in, you tell me he was a
very attractive person. You 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 APP
pearance as being respondent. Christ did
mot 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 invi-ation. No sooner did Jesus ap-
pear than the little ones pitched from their
mothers arms, anrsvalanche of beauty and
love, into His lap. III sSuffer little children to
come unto Mte71n1 nat was addressed to the
Pharisees; not % the children. Christ did
not ask John to put his head down OF His
bosom; John could not help but put his head
there. Such eyes, such cheeks, such a chin,
such hair, such physical condition and APP
psarance-why. it must have been COM
netely captivating and winsome. l sup
pose q look at Him was just to love
Him. O, how attractive His manneri
Why, when they saw Christ coming along
the street, they ran into their houses, n
they wrapped UP their invalids as quick as
they. could, and brought them out that He
might look at them. o. there was something
SO pleasant, so inviting, socheering in every
thing He did, in His very look. When these
sick ones were brought out did He say:
tsTake away these sores: do not, trouble Me
with these leprosies?" No, no; there was a
kind look, there was a gentle word, there was
a healing touch. They could not keep away
from Him.
In addition to this softness of character,
there was a fiery momentum. How the old
hypocrites trembled before Him. How the
Kings of the earth turned pale. Here is q
plain man with a few sailors at His back,
coming off the sea Of Galilee, going up to the
palace of the Caesars, making that palace
quake to the foundations, and uttering q
word of mercy and kindness which throbs
through all the earth, and through all the
heavens, and through all the ages. OIL He
was a loving Christ. But it was not effem-