The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-07-29
CHRISTIAN POSSESSIONS.
Or Talmage Continues His Dis
courses in London.
The Promises of God to the FaithfuI-The
Earth is the Lord's-The Reward
offered to Those Who
Serve Him.

The latest sermon selected for publ
cation out of the many delivered in
London by Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage was
entitled, Our Possessions" from Cor
inthians iii, %: "All are yours" DR.
Talmage said:
The impression is abroad that re,
Egion puts man on short allowance
that when the ship sailing heavenward
comes TO the shining wharf it will be
found out that all the passengers had
the hardest kind of sea fare: that the
soldiers in Christ's army march most OF
the time with an empty haversack; in
a word, that only those people have a
good time in this world who take upon
themselves no religious obligation.
want to-day to find out whether this
is so, and / am going to take account of
stock; am going to show what are the
Christians liabilities and what is his
income and what are his warranty
deeds and what are his bonds and mort
cages, and l shall find out before finish
just how much he is worth, and shall
spread before you the balance sheet in
time towarn you all against the religion
of Jesus Christ, if, indeed, it be fail
ure, and in time for you all to accept it,
If, indeed, it be a success. | turn first
to the assets, and l find there what
seems to be a roll of government securi-
ties-the empire of Heaven promising
all things to the possessor. The three
small words of my text are a warranty
deed to the whole universe when it
says, IAN are yours"
In making an inventory of the Chris
tian's possessions l remark, in the first
place, that he owns this world. My
text implies it. and the preceding verse
asserts it-''whcther Paul or Apollos or
Cephas or the world" Now, it would
be an absurd thing TO suppose that God
would give to strangers privileges and
advantages which he would deny his
own children. If YOU have large park,
grand mansion, beautiful fountains,
stalking deer and statuary, to whom
VIII you give the first right to all these
possessions? To outsiders? No, to
your own children. You will say: 1T
will be very well for outsiders to come
an and walk these paths and enjoy this
landscape; but the first right to my
house and the first right to my statuary,
the first right to my gardens, shall be
an the possession of my own children.
Now, this world is Gods park and
while He allows those who are not His
children and who refuse His authority
the privilege of walking through the
gardens, the possession of all this
grandeur of park and mansion is in the
right of the Christian-the flowers, the
diamonds, the silver, the gold, the
morning brightness and the evening
shadow. The Christian may not have
the title deed to one re Of land as re-
corded in the clerks office, he NAV
never have paid one dollar of taxes. but
he can go up on a mountain and look
off upon fifty miles OF grain field and
say, 'All this is mine, my father gave
ii TO me" ''Ail are yours.
a lawyer is sometimes required to
search titles, and the client who thinks
he has good right ID an estate puts
the papers in his hands, and the lawyer
goes into the public records and finds
everything right for three or four or
five years back: but after a while he
comes 10 a break in the title, 10 de-
felt. to diversion of the property, so
he finds ont that the man who supposed
he owned il owns not an acre of the
ground, while somebody else has the
full right TO the entire estate. Now. l
examine the title TO al earthly posses !
sions. l so back a little way, and
find that men Of the wo-ld-bad men. |
selfish men, wicked men-thinll they
have 0 right 70 all these possessions; !
but 90 further back and | trace the
title from year to year. and from cen
tury to century, until l find the whole
right vested in God. Now, 70 whom
did He give it? TO His own childrenl |
Are all yours"
The simple fact is, that in the last
days Of the world, all the architecture,
all the cities, all the mountains, all the
villages will be III .he possession of the
church of Christ THE meek shall in
herit the earth" Ships of Tarshish !
shall bring parents. The earth is the |
Lords and the fullness thereof" "All !
are yours" But" you say, what
satisfaction is there in that when |
haven't possession of them" These
things will come before the Supreme
Judge of the universe, and He will
regulate the title, and He viii eject
these squatters upon the property that
does not belong TO them, and il shall
be found that ''All are yours"
So again, the refinements of life are
She Christians right He has a right to
as good apparel, 70 as beautiful adorn-
ments, to as commodious a residence as
the wording. Show me any passage
in the Bible that tells the people of the !
world they have privileges, they have
glittering spheres, they have betting
apparel that are denied the Christian. |
There is no one who has so much right |
to laugh, none so much right to every |
thing that is beautiful, and grand, and |
sublime in life as the Christian. "Ali |
are yours" Can it be possible that one |
who is reckless and sinful, and has no |
treasures laid up in Heaven. is to be al |
lowed pleasures which the sons and |
daughters of God, the owners of the |
whole universe, are denied?
So remark that all the sweet sounds |
of the world are in the Christians right !
There are people who have an idea that I
instruments of music are inappropriate
for the Christians parlor When did |
the house of sin or the bacchaual get
the right to music? They have no right /
TO it God, in my text, makes over to
Christian people all the pianos, all the
harps, all the drums, all the cornets, all
the flutes, all the organs People of
the world may borrow them. but they
only borrow them; they have no right