The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-07-27
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Likens 1t to q
Powerful Medicine.
It Either Kills or Cures-n You Believe In
1t You VIII Have Eternal Lifei Not,
You are Lost-An Eloquent Plea
To Those Outside the Fold.

Talmages sermon TO London conBre-
CATION last week was '"The Souls Crisis"
and the text, Isaiah lv. 6: Seek ye the
Lord while He may be found" The
sermon follows:
Isaiah stands head and shoulders
above the other Old Testament authors
in vivid descriptiveness Of Christ Other
prophets give an outline Of our Saviour's
features. Some Of them, present, as 1t
were, the side face of Christ; others
bust of Christ; but Isaiah gives us the
full length portrait of Christ Other
Scripture writers excel In some things
Ezekiel more weird, David more pa
Fthetic, Solomon more epigrammatic,
Habakkuk more sublime; but when you
want to see Christ coming out from the
gates of prophecies in all his grandeur
and glory, you involuntarily turn to
Isaiah. So that if the prophecies in re-
gard to Christ might be called the
"Oratorio of the Messiah" the writing
of Isaiah is the "Hallelujah Chorus"
where all the batons wave and all the
trumpets come in. Isaiah was not
man picked up out of insignifcance by
inspiration. He was known and hon
ored. Josephus, and Philo and Sirach
extoued him in their writings What
Paul was among the apostles Isaiah
was among the prophets.
My text found him standing on
mountain of inspiration, looking out
into the future, beholding Christ ad-
vancing and anxious that all men might
know Him; his voice rings down the
ages: "Seek ye the Lord while'He may
be found" "0," says some one, that
was for olden times" No, my hearer
If you have travelled in other lands you
have taken circular letter Of credit
from some banking house in London,
and in st. Petersburg, or Venice, or
Rome, or Antwerp, or Brussels, or Paris;
you presented that letter and got finan-
cial help Immediately. AndI want you
to understand that the text instead OF
being appropriate for one age, or for
one land, is circular letter for all ages
and for all lands, and wherever it is
presented for help, the help comes;
."Seels We the Lord while He may be
found"
come to-day with no hairspun theo-
ries of religion, with no nice distinctions,
with no elaborate disquisition; but
with plain talk on the matters Of per-
sonal religion. feel that the sermon
preach this morning will be the savoi
of life unto life, or of death unto death
In other words the Gospel of Christ is {
powerful medicine; it either kills Of
cures. There are those who say: ~.
would like TO become a Christian.
have been waiting good while for th'
right kind of influence to comet" ant
still you are waiting. You are wiser II
worldly things than you are In religion
things And yet there are men VIII
say they are waiting to get to Heaven
waiting, waiting, but not with intelli
gent waiting, or they would get o.
board the line of Christian influence
that would bear them into the kingdom
of God.
Now you know very we'll that TO see
a thing is to search for II with earnes
endeavor. II you want to see certain
man in London, and there Is a matte
seeing him, and you cannot at first fin
him, you do not give up the search
You look in the directory, but cannC
find the name. you go in circles wher
you think, perhaps, he may mingle, an'
having found the part Of the city wher
he lives, but perhaps not knowing th
street, you go through street aftC
street, and from block TO block, an
you keep on searching for weeks an
for months.
"You say: at is matter Of RlO,O'
whether / see him or not" that me
were as persistent in seeking for Chris
Had you one-half that persistence yo
would long ago have found Him who
the Joy of the forgiven spirit We ina
pay our debts, we may attend churcl
we may relieve the poor, we may
public benefactors, and yet all our II
disobey the text, never seek God, new
gain Heaven. O that the spirit OF GC
would help this morning while try
show you in carrying out the idea
my text, first, how to seek the Lor
and in the next place, when to se'
Him. "Seek ye the Lord while he mi
be found"
remark, In the first place, you are
seek the Lord through earnest and b
lieving prayer. God is not an aatocr
or despot seated on u throns with II
arms resting on brazen lions, and a sc
tinel pacing up and down at the foot
the throne. God is a father seated in
bower, waiting for His children to cor
and climb on His knee, and get His ki'
and His benediction. Prayer Is the c.
with which we go TO the fountain
living water" and dip up refreshme
for our thirsty soul Grace does n
come TO the heart as we set cask
water TO catch the rain in the show
II is pulley fastened TO the throne
God which we pull, bringing the BILE
ing.
do not care 30 much what postu
you take in prayer, nor how lar
amount OF voice you use. You mig
get down on your knees before God, a
II you did not pray right inward
there would be no response. You mig
cry at the top OF your voice, and uni
you had believing spirit within, yo
cry would not go farther up than
shout Of plowboy TO his oxen. Pral
must be believing, earnest, loving. Y
are In your house some summer d
and shower comes up, and bird
-frighted darts into the window,
a