The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-26
TALENT IN THE PEWS.
It's Need Proclaimed From a
North End Pulpit.
BELIEVING in THE LORD JESUS.
Ksv. Earl M. Wilbur, of Portland. Points
the Way to saIvation-st.
Marks Church Services.


iieying on the Lord Jesus" Following is
the discourse in full:
stWhat must do to be saved? Be
ljcy6 on the Lord Jesus, and thou smart Dc
saved"-Acts xyi:303l.
II il were TO be granted TO Us, by some ail-wlse
uover TO ask one question to which we should
Be promised sure answer, what Is the quesatlon
that we should choose? We might hesitate long
before making the decision, for We snoulu nssa
70 think deliberately in making so eTeat q
choice; aud we should be anxious TO ask none
but the very most important question tnat couia
Orr tirst impulse would, I suppose, be 10 ask
concerning some of those things with whlcn We
arc most concerned in our active lie-tnose
things for which so many OF US are giving our
best energies of body and mind. The question
that would Immediately suggest itself 70 some
would be: sHow may most quickiy anu
easily gain such an abundance OF eartnig pos
sessions as shall insure TO my family ana my.
self the comforts and pleasures OF life, and snali
free us from any anxiety for the futureE ana
this Is actually the question which the NE OIL
might almost say the large majority OF people,
shows that they really do consider the most lin-
porfanf one they have to answer.
But If We reflected soberiy we shouid soon re-
which wealth brings with il, so that
II Is never an unHIxed Dressing;
nnd that wealth without health would
b. but an aggrayaton 20, leaving asi y. ms
What can do TO SECURE perfect health anu iree-
dom from every Ill of the body? How can es.
8 cape that gre8lGSJ Oh ali cuenlcS-Aeatis -
there would soon come TO us the recollection
that there are not few people IN the world 20
whom wealth aud health together have DrougnI
no iasting happiness; and as FOR escaping uea.n
Ito live on and on after the world had grown
stale, and desire had become stated. ana friends
had all passed away-this would be an immor-
raity almost as little TO be envied as that OF thc
Wandering Jew OF medieval story. And then
passing quickly over such objects OF desire as
power and fame. we might soon come TO that
for which we should have desired above any or
all these-~happiuess. Men desire wealth ana
hcllfh. life, fame, power, and all the other
things for which they seek, not because these
things are good In themselves, but that they may
he happy. Strange that VIC should not have
thought of that at first; tho sHnam,tRl bonan',
that for which philosophers in their speeula-
tons, and other men IN practical ways, nave
been aiming at ever since the world began
Yes: tell US how We may be happy; that Is the
chief question we wish to know.
But stay! Even happiness itself, at least the
happiness the world is seeking for, is at the best
but matter OF some threescore years and ten.
is there no question that we could ask that is
wider in its relations than the short span OF
earthly good--from childhood to old age, shall
we then feel that there is nothing more 10 ask,
md that every possible desire has been fnlhhedY
No. we must go farther than this, and make
our question reach out SO a 10 include not only
tho sixty or seventy years OF the life that now is
but also the unmcasured years OF the life 20
come. The question we seek 10 ask then VIII
concern itself not with what is merely temporal
but with the immortal part OF our natures, with
the soul Its answer viii have but just begun TO
be given when our present life shall have come
TO an end. And we cannot go now yet a step
farther and find question stil broader in its
scope; for we have already reached one which
extends itself TO the infnity of an immortal ex-
istence. Now, how shall We state our question,
the answer TO which is to solve the problem of
tho SOULS eternal welfare? l have chosen the
text which just now read to you because 1t
gives in few words both the question we seek
aud its answer. We cannot put our question in
filter words than those OF the jaller of Philippi
"Nhat must do 20 be sayedg' II this question
seems 10 any OF us to be too narrow In its scope,
IL Is because we have not understood its proper
meaning. The question OF the souls salvation
often has been. and often is, grieyously mis-
understood. And let me here say, most en-
phatIcally, that it does not mean the escaping
from the punishment of SIN. That may or may not
follow; but II Is not in itself salvation. The sal
walton OF the soul is the escaping from sin
from sinfulness itself aud this, bearing with
1t not only the souls eternal life but the souls
eternal welfare, this is the thing of greatest
Importance 70 you and 70 me- the object OF that
greatest question OF all in the world which we
were seeking 10 AJAX.
How may be saved from sine--not from the
penalty OF sin; hope there are few OF Us who
would make that our supreme wish Most OF us
have enough of manhood 70 prefer Ia suffer any
penalty we may have justly incurred, rather
than by avoiding II to feel ourselves kind of
escaped moral eonyicts But how may be saved
from present sin, from sinfulness OF character.
We ask to be saved from sin, to illustrate
BY . parallel example from narrow sphere, in
temperance asks TO be saved from his Guns He
knows that along with his reformation there
may come more or less complete cure of those
ills of body and mind which his habits have
brought upon him. But he would ask first not
70 be cured of these Ills but to be set free from
that appetite which had gained such mastery
over him. very earnestly hope that there are
none OF us who feel that this question OF saliva
ton Is one OF trivial consequence, or that
though Il may be important in theory, it is not
vitality so IN practical life. do not know how
many OF us feel constantly oppressed bv the
sense OF sin. Probably Ii would be better for the
most OF us II we felt its burden more than we do,
Tor We should then be led to more earnest en-.
deavor 10 overcome It. But 1 should be loath 10
believe that there were any OF us who never
share the experience of Paul, and discover TO
cur deep sorrow that the good which we ,yo4lld
we do not, but the evil, which we would nor
that We practice | hope none of us are hind
TO the truth that there is "a different law in our
members, warning against the Law of our mind
aud bringing MS into captivity under the law Of
Gin which is in our menbers This truth has
nothing 70 do, either one way or the ether with
any doctrine OF total depgsyity or original sin.
~ Is simply the expression Of what
we do ali, at Que time or an
other, insinetively feel, that however
cf what We know TO be attainable; not oniv
that perfection Is not reached but that merely
human ideals are not realized. II there were
anyone VINO never telt this conscious failure 70
1--we up 10 the hest that thcre was In him we
must think thai his conscience was either
dead or sleeping. This conviction OF personal
SIN comes often N1th sensitive persons seldom
perhaps, TO those whose glance is rsrely turned
inward upon themselves but the moro seldom
II comes, the more Ii is be relied trnn as she
voice OF an actual, aud not sn imagined need
And every healthy and serious nature when II
thus realizes its own short-con,ings' seeks IN
know nothing with such eagerness as how Il
may repair them What shall do that may
attain that standard which fwould, but cannot
What can help me 10 be less sinful than am
conscious OF beiugf
ii there are any today who have been asking
at al ian aeH hag
brings with il real helpfuineSS for Their lives I
bring the answer which Paul made a. fbe isiier
81 Philppi: believe on the Lord Jesus. and
thou shalt be saved And what is il 10 helieX..
on the Lord 5esus-to believe, / Iaean, I'm such a
way that the belief may influence ones lif, ana
80 save one from sin. Whatever else that NAV
mean let us make clear 10 ourselves az IN, tIrS,
that believing GA the Lord Jesus is Rot the same
shng as believing any real or supposed faces
about HIM. The failure To distinguish clearly
between these two Things is what hss
caused. and still causes the rrsat b,8y -
thristendon 10 lay the stress OF IFS belief IN tbe
wrong place. and therefore often 10 fail of corn
pretending the life of the Lord Jesus in its tre
meaning You may believe, In the words az re
Apostles Greed, that Jesus Christ was cnn
Seiyed OF the Holy Ghost, born Of the Virrin
Mary, suffered under Pontus PLATE. was cr,5ri.
fisd dead ana buried. the th{rsi tny rose s,.sf,,
from the dead, assembled into heaven aod S{ftnfb
ON the right hand of God the Father AlD;cbt,-
from whence Tie shall come 70 Judge tie ouicG'
ana the dead you may believe that He Wrought
al tie miracles that arc ascrihed 10 Him in tbo
gospels, you may believe all the nlarycis ah,nt
Him that have been related BY Apocrvnbsi
writers, or imagined by medieval naonks: NON
may believe any one, or all tOgethtr. OF the
specglations that theoioCians have ever devised
70 explain his humanity and His diviaity; and
having done all this, you nlay vet not have -
sieNSa 80 as 10 affect your lie in the slightest do
Efss, or save you from the smallest OF your SINS.
~ we same WY We are told that "the devils
also believed and shQdderei - And wit4,oY,f -
thA 50 Tar as 10 them, NAV. alas 6ud in
nearly every community some who believe. or
psoaesS % oeheve, al the thugs about the Lord
Jesus that are considered neceSxsry. snI "a. y,
lar ~ hamAn eye can sec. are far from being