Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-07-25
CRISIS OF THE SOUL.
DR.. TALMAGE ON THE IMPORTANCE
OF OPPORTUNE ACTION.

Isaiah's Vivid Presentation of the Per-
sonality of Christ-A Present Saviour.
Quench Not the spirit-The Bible Is
New Every Hour to the Truly Converted.
LONDON, July 24.-The attendances at
the services conducted by Rev. DIR. Talmage
continue as great as ever. AT every stop
ping point during his preaching tour he is
greeted by phenomenal audiences. Unless
some change in the programme becomes
necessary, he will, during the next ten
days, preach in the leading Scottish cities,
as already announced. He has just re-
turned from Russia, whittier he went with
Mr.. Klopsch to supervise the distribution
of the cargo of The Christian Herald re-
lief steamer Leo. The reception accorded
DR.. Talmage in the czar's capital city by
mobiles, officials and the populace show
that the hold he has upon the hearts of
Christians is worldwide. The arrival of
the Leo was made the occasion of general
rejoicing. The st. Petersburg officials
conferred the freedom of the city on their
American guests. The Leo's cargo was
forwarded to the famine districts without
delay. The sermon selected for this week
is entitled 1.-THE Souls Crisis" from
Isaiah ", 8, Seek We the Lord while he
may be found"
Isaiah stands head and shoulders above
the 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 a bust Of Christ
But Isaiah gives us the full length portrait
of Christ. Other Scripture writer's excel in
some things-Ezekiel more weird, David
more pathetic, Solomon more epigram-
matte, Habakkuk more sublime-but when
you want to see Christ coming out from
the gates of prophecy in all his grandeur
and glory you involuntarily 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
"Halleluiah Chorus" where all the batons
wave and all the trumpets come in. Isaiah
was not man picked up out of insignifi-
canoe by inspiration. He was known and
honorcd 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 noun
tain for inspiration, looking out into the
future, beholding Christ advancing 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 hearer If you have Travelled in other
lands you have taken a circular letter Of
credit from some banking house in Lon
don, and in St. Petersburg or Venice or
Rome or Antwerp or Brussels or Paris
you presented that letter and got financial
help Immediately. And / want you to
understand that the text, instead of being
appropriate for one age or for one land is
a circular letter for all ages and for all
lands, and wherever it is presented for
help the help comes, "Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found"
NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TINE.
l come today with no hairspun theories
of religion, with no nice distinctions, with
no elaborate disquisition, but with plain
talk on the matters of personal religion
feel that the sermon l preach this morn
ing will be the SAVIOR of life unto life or Of
death unto death. In other words, the
Gospel Of Christ Is powerful medicine;
1t either kills or cures. There are those
who say: 81 would like to become Chris
tian. have been waiting good while
for the right kind of Influence to come"
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-wait-
ing, waiting, but not with Intelligent wait
ing, OF they would get on board the line of
Christian influences that would bear them
into the kingdom of God.
Now you know very well that to seek a
thing is to search for it with earnest en-
deavor. If you want to see "a certain man
in London, and there is a matter OF much
money connected with your seeing him,
and you cannot at first find HIN, you do
not give up the search. You look in the
directory, but cannot find the name; you
go in circles where you think perhaps he
may mingle, 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 saw 1T is matter of ETC, 900 wheth-
er see him or not" Oh, that men were as
persistent in seeking for Christi Had you
one-half that persistence 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 idea
of God would help this morning while 1
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 ye the Lord while he may be found"
Iremark, in the first place, you are to
seek the Lord through earnest and believ-
ing prayer. God is not an autocrat or a
despot seated on throne with his arms
resting on brazen lions and sentinel
pacing up and down at the foot of the
throne. God is father seated in a bower,
waiting for his children to come and climb
his knna md cot his Kiss and his han.