The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-08-10
THE SOULS CRISIS.
Prayer is the Cup With Which
We Dip
From the Fountain of Living Water the
Refreshment for Our Thirsty and
Parched Soul-Sermon by Rev.
7. Dewitt Talmage, DID.

The sermon selected for this week is
entitled ''The Souls Crisis" from Isaiah
w., g. Seek ye the Lord while He may
be found"
Isaiah stands head and shoulders
above other Old Testament authors in
vivid descriptiveness of Christ Other
prophets give an outline of our Saviour's
features. Some of them present, as it
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 pathetic, Solomon more epigram-
matte, Habakkuk more sublime; but
when you want to see Christ COM
ing out from the gates of prophecy
in all His grandeur and glory you invol-
unfairly turn to Isaiah. So that if the
prophecies in regard 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 a man picked up out of insignitic-
ance by inspiration. He was known
and honored. Josephus, and Philo, and
| Sirach extolled him in their writings.
What Paul was among the apostles,
Isaiah was among the prophets.
My text finds him standing on a
mountain of inspiration, looking out
into the future, beholding Christ adj
vancing and anxious that all men
might know him; His voice rings down
the ages: Seek We the Lord while He
may be found.' "Oh," says some one,
shat was for olden times" No, my
nearer. If you have travelled in other
lands you have taken a circular letter
of credit from some clearinghouse in
London, and in St Petersburg or
Venice, or Rome, or Antwerp, or Paris
you presented that letter and got finan-
cial help Immediately. And / want
you to understand that the text, in
stead of being appropriate for one age
or for one land, is circular letter for
all ages and all lands, and wherever it
is presented for help, the help comes:
"Seek we the Lord while He may be
| found"
| come to-day with no hair-spun
theories of religion, with no nice dis
tinctions, with no elaborate disquisi-
tions; but with plain talk on the mat
ters of personal religion. feel that the
sermon | preach this morning will be
the saver of life unto life, or of death
unto death. IN other words, the Cos
pei of Christ is powerful medicine; it
either kills or cures. There are those
who say: ~ would like to be Chris
tian. l have been waiting good while
for the right kind of influence to Gomez"
and still you are waiting. You are
wiser in worldly things than you are in
religious things. And yet there are
men who say they are waiting to get
to heaven-waiting, waiting, but not
with intelligent waiting, or they would
fiuences that would bear them into the
kingdom of God.
Now, you know very well that to
seek thing is to search for it with
earnest endeavor. If you want to see a
certain man in London, and there is a
|
your seeing him, and you can not at
first find him, you do not give up the
search. You look in the directory, but
can not find his name; you go in circles
where you think, perhaps, he may min
gle, and, having found the part of the
city where he lives, but perhaps not
knowing the street, you go through
street after street, and from block to
block, and you keep on searching for
weeks and for months
You say: st is a matter of 100000
whether l see him or not" Oh that
men were as persistent in seeking for
Christ! Had you one-half that per-
sistence you would long ago have found
Him who is the joy of the forgiven
spirit. We may pay our debts, we may
attend church, we may relieve the poor,
we may be public benefactors, and yet
all our life disobey the text, never seek
God, never gain Heaven. Oh that the
spirit of God would help this morning
while try to show you, in carrying out
the idea of my text, first, how to seek
the Lord, and in the next place, when
to seek Him. Seek We the Lord while
lie may be found"
remark in the first place, you are to
seek the Lord through earnest and be-
lieving prayer. God is not an autocrat
or a despot on throne with his arms
resting on brazen lions ana sentinel
pacing up and down at the foot of the
throne. God is a Father seated in a
bower, waiting for his children to come
and climb on His knee and get His kiss
{ md His benediction. Prayer is the cup
with which we go to the fountain of
living water" and dip up refreshment
for a thirsty soul. Grace does not come
TO the heart as we set cask of water
o catch the rain in a shower. 1t is a
pully fastened in the throne of God
which we pull, bringing the blessing.
do not care so much what pasture
you take in prayer, nor how large an
amount of voice you use. You might
get down on your face before God, if
you did not pray right inwardly, and
there would be no response. You might
cry at the top of your voice, and unless
.. you had believing spirit within your
cry would not go further than the shout
of plow-boy to his oxen. Prayer must
be believing, earnest, loving. You are
IN your house some summer day. and n
shower comes up, and bird affrighted
darts into the window, and wheels
around the room. You seize It. You
smooth its ruffied plumage. You feel
its fiuttering heart. You say: Poor