The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-07-21
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN D1VINES SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subiect-"The Great Question"
Preached in England.

TEXT: "What shall do with Jesus.
Matthew xvii, %.
Plate was an unprincipled politician. He
had sympathies, convictions of right ald
desires to be honest; but all these were
submerged by a wish to be popular and TO
please the people. Two distinguished
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 woria.
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, molten
sive, loving, self sacrificing-and he is con-
founded as to what course ne had better
take, so he impanes the mob as jury to
decide, saying to them, "What shall | do,
then, with Jesus"
Oh, it 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 something with J esus.
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 himself
the question, What shall | do, then, with
Jesus@ Well, my friends, there are three
You can, in the first place, let Him stand
without word OF recognitionr but do not
think your sense of common courtesy will
allow that. He comes walking on such a
long journey, you will certainly give HIY
chair on which He may sit. He is so weary,
you would not let Him stand withouB some
recognition. If a beggar comes 70 your
door, you recognize him and say, t'What do
you want?' Ii you meet a stranger faint in
ba s.lVba+ ic/+
with your and your common humanity, and
your common sympathy, and your common
sense OF propriety will not allow you to let
him stand without recognition-tne 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 there have been men who have with
outrageous indifference hated Christ but |
kno" very well tnat 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 inoffensive
person comes and persists in standing close
up to you, and you have in various ways
given him to understand 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 great while
ten, twenty, thirty, forty years. He has
stood close by you three times day break
ing bread for your household, all right
watching by your pillow. He has been IN
the nursery among your children, He has
been IN the store among your goods, tie has
been III the factory amid the flying wheels,
and now if you do not ike H is 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 interference, that
you do not want His breath on your cheels,
that you do not want His eye on your be-
havior. You can bid Him away; or if he
will not go in that way, then you can stamp
your foot as you would at dog and cry
''Begonem
Yet 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 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 cure blind
eyes, or an aurist TO tune 6eaf ears,
friend, good friend, a helpful companion.
a cheerful passenger on shipboard; but that
VIII amount 10 nothing.
gu can look upon Him as God and be
abashed while He rouses the storm, or blasts
a fig tree, or heaves a rock down the noun
tain side, That viii not do you any good
no more save your soul than the admiration
you have for John Milton or William Shakes
peare. | can think of only one moro 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 HIN, and may the
Lord omnipotent by His spirit help me to
persuade you 10 do that. A minister of Christ
was speaking to some children and said. II
will point you TO Christi A little child rose
up i'll the audience and came up and put her
hand Ill the hand of the pastor and said:
please, sir, take me to Jesus now, | want
to go now" Oh, that it might be now with
such simplicity of experience that you and |
join hands and seek after Christ and get an
expression of His benefaction and His mercy,
You may take Christ into your confidence.
II you cannot trust Him, whom can you
trust? do not offer you dry. theological
technicality. simply ask you to come and
put both feet on the "Rocll of Ages Take
hold of Christs hands and draw Him TO
your soul with perfect abandonment and
hurl yourself into the deep sea of His mercy.
He comes and says. 'i will save YOU" II
liar when He says that, believe Him and
say: Lord Jesus, l believe here is my
heart. Wash it. Save it. Do it now.
Aye, it is done; for obey Thy promise and
come. | can DO no more. That is all Thou
hast asked. | come. Christ is mine. Par
don is mine. Heaven is mine.n
Why, my friends, you put more trust in
everybody than you do in Christ, and in
everything more trust in the bridge cross
ing the stream, i'll the ladder up to the loft:
more trust in the stove that confines the fire,
more trust in the cook that prepares YOU
fooi; more trust in the clerk that writes
your books, i'll the druggist that makes the
medicine, i'll the bargain maker with whom
you trade-more trust in all these things
thanin Christ, although He stands this mo
ment offering without limit and without
mistake and without exception universal
pardon to all who want it. Now is not that
cheap enough-all things for nothingg
This is the whole of the Gospel as under
stand it-that if you believe that Christ
Mel to save you, you are saved. When
Now. No more doubt about it than that you
sit there. No more doubt about it than that
you have a right hand. No more doubt
about it than that there is q God. II yor
had committed five thousand transgressions
Christ would forgive you just as freely as il
you had never committed one; though yor
had gone through the whole catalogue OF
crlme-arson and blasphemy and murder
Christ would forgive you just as freely, YOU