The Globe-republican., 1892-07-18
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A6 TALKS ON THE FAMOUS
QUESTION OF PlLATE.
Il Is Not Enough to Sympathise With HIS
SunerinEs o. b Reverence His CAarae.
ter-He Must he Taken Into the Heart.


IL. Talmage continues to receive from
ali classes of the English people the
warmest Of welcomes and the heartiest
greetings. The work OF arranging his
tour has been exceedingly difficult. So
numerous were the invitations awaiting
him that 10 accept some and decline
others equally pressing seemed invidfous.
Wherever no has gone the largest
churches in the cities have been
crowded to excess and could have been
filled many times oyer. Among the SER
mons he has preached the one selected
for publication this week Is from the
text Matthew XVII, %. "What shall
do with Jesus?"
PLATE was an unprincipled politician.
He had sympathies, convictions of right
and desires to be honest; but all these
were submerged by wish to be popular
and to please the people. Two distin-
guished prisoners were within 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 pris-
oner-mild, meek, inoffensive. loving,
ACKNOWLEDGMENT he is COMPOUNDED
as to what course he had better take,
and so he impanels 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 some
thing with Jesus. He is here. You and
I are not so certainly here as he is, for he
fills all this place-the loving, living. dy-
ing Christ-and each one of US will have
to ask and answer for himself the Ques-
tion, What shall l do. then, with
Jesus?' Well, my friends, there sre
thA,e 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 common
courtesy will allow that He comes
walking on such long journey, you will
certainly give him a chair on which he
may sit He is SO weary, you would not
let him stand without some recognition.
II beggar comes to your door, you
recognize him and say. 'What do you
want?" If You meet stranger faiut in
the street, you say, What is the matter
with You?" and your common humanity,
and your common 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
no w n uynnn6a6 m W
cane he? whittier goes he? l know
there have been men who have with out
rageous indifference hated Christ, but 1
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
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 bv you three times day,
breaking bread for your household, all
WdtCulHR ny SOui pillOW. AAC LOS
been in the nursery among your chill
dren: 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 interference; that you
do not want His breath on your cheek;
Al = 80
behavior. 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. ''Begone!'
Yet know You will not treat Jesus
that you could not DeSperadoes and
outlaws might do so. but l 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-vou
can look on Him merely as an
optician to cure blind eyes. or an aurist
to tune deaf ears, friend. q good friend,
a helpful companion. cheerful passen-
ger 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 fig tree, or heaves
q rock down the mountain side That
will not do you any good; no more save
your soul than the admiration you have
for John Milton 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
only safe thing you can do with Him. and
may the Lord omulpotent by His spirit
help me to persuade you to do that. A
minister of Christ was speaking to some
children and said. Il will point you to
Christ" A little child rose in the audi
ence and came up and put her hand in
the hand Of the pastor and said: ''Please
sir, take me to Jesus now. want to 60
now" Oh, that it might be now with
such simplicity Of experience that
you and l join hands and seek after
Christ and get an expression Of His bene-
faction and His mercy!
You may take Christ into your conf
dence. If you cannot trust Him, whom
can YOU trust? do not offer you dry,
theological technicality. 1 simply ask
you to come and put both feet on the
Brock Of Ages" Take hold of Christ's
hands and draw Him to your soul with