The Bossier banner., 1892-09-08
A MOMENTOUS QUESTION.
Row. r. Dewitt Tain age Repeats
Pilates Query.
The Christian Must Ask and Answer II
for Himself, and on the Answer
Depends All of the Life Be-
yond the Grave.

Ihe 1OllOWlDg ulSCOuTSc ID oCAOSOON
from those prepared for delivery in En-
gland bv Rev. Z. Dewitt Talmage. Th'
text is:
What shall ! do with Js1as.-Matt. xvii, 22
Plate was an unprincipled politician.
He had sympathies, convictions of right
were submerged by wish to be popu-
lar and to please the people. Two dis
tinguished prisoners were in the grasp
of government, and the proposition was
made to free one of them. There stands
Barabbas, the murderer; there stands
Christ, the Saviour of the world At the
demand of the people the renegade is
set free, but Jesus is held. AS the hard
visaged and cruel eyed Barabbas goes
among his sympathizers, receiving their
coarse congratulations, Plate turns to
his other distinguished prisoner-mild,
meek, inoffensiye, loving, self-sacrifc-
ing-and he is confounded as to what
course he had better take, so he inn
panels the mob as jury to decide, say
ing to them: "What shall / do, then,
with Jesus?" .
Oh, il is no dried or withered question,
but one that throbs with warm and
quick pulse in the heart of every man
and woman here. We must do some
thing with Jesus. He is here. You
and are not SO certainly here as He is,
for He fills all this place-the loving,
living, dying Christ-and each one of
us will have to ask and answer for him
self the question, "What shall l do,
then, with Jesus?" Well, my friends,
there are three or four things you can
do with him.
You can, in the first place, let Him
stand without word of recognition;
but do not think your sense of COM
mon courtesy will allow that. He
comes walking on such long journey,
you will certainly give Him chair on
which He may sit. He is so weary, you
would not let Him stand without some
recognition. If a beggar comes to your
door, you recognize him and say:
'NNhat do you want?" If you meet
stranger faint in the street, you say:
What is the matter with you?" and
your common humanity, and your COM
mon sympathy, and your common sense
of propriety will not allow you to let
Him stand without recognition-the
wounded One of the hills You will
ask: What makes Him weep? where
was He hurt? who wounded Him?
whence came He? whittier goes He? l
know tnere have been men who have
with outrageous Indifference hated
Christ, but know very well that that
is not what you will do with Jesus.
Another thing you can do with him
you can thrust him back from your
heart and tell him to stand aside. If an
jnoffensive person comes and persists in
standing close up to you, and you have
in various ways given him to under
stand that you do not want his presence
or his society, then you ask the reason
of his impertinence and bid him away.
Well, that is what we can do with
Jesus
He has stood close by us a great
while-ten, twenty, thirty, forty years
He has stood close by you three times
day, breaking bread for your household,
all night watching by your pillow; He
has been in the nursery among your
He has been in the store
among your goods; He has been in the
factory amid the flying wheels, and now
If you do not like His society you can
bid Him away; aye, if He will not go
you can take Him by the throat and
tell Him you do not want His inter-
ference; that You do not want His
breath on your cheek; that you do not
want His eye on your behavior. You
can bid Him away, or if He will not 90
IN that way, then you can stamp your
foot, as you would at a dog, and cry.
.Begoner'
Yet L know you will not treat Jesus
that way. When Plate could not do
that, you could not. Desperadoes and
outlaws might do so, but | know that
is not the way you will treat him. that
that is not what you will do with Jesus.
There is another thing you can do with
him-you can look on him merely as an
optician to cs1re blind eyes, or an artist
to tune deaf ears, friend, good
friend, a helpful companion, a
cheerful passenger on shipboard; but
that will amount to nothing. You can
look upon him as a God and be abashed
while he rouses the storm, or blasts
tig tree, or heaves rock down the
mountain side. That will not do YOU
any good; no more save your soul than
the admiration you have for John Nil
ton or William Shakespeare
| can think of only one more thing
you can do with Jesus, and that is to
take Him into your hearts That is the
best thing you can do with Him; that is
the only safe thing you can do with
Him, and may the Lord omnipotent bv
spirit help me to persuade you to do
that. A minister of Christ was speak
ng to some children and said II will
point you to Christ" A little child rose
n the audience and came up and put
her hand in the hand of the pastor and
said: Please, sir, take me to Jesus
1ow. want to go now" Oh, that it
might be now with such simplicity of
experience that you and l join hands
md seek after Christ and get an express
ion of his benefaction and his mercyi
You may take Christ into your conf
ience. If you can not trust Him. whom
can you trust? do not offer you dry.
theological technicality. / simply ask
'ou to come and put both feet on the