The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1892-09-29
TILE SOULS CRISIS"
Row. T. Dewitt Taimage Discourses
On Personal Religion.
The Admonition to Seek the Lord of al
Much Importance To-Day as when
Originally Uttered by the
Prophet Isaiah.

The following discourse is selected
from those delivered by Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage during his sojourn in England
for presentation to his American read
ers. The text is:
Seek We the Lord while He may be found
Isaiah w., 9.
Isaiah stands head and shoulders
above the other Old Testament authors
in vivid descriptiveness of Christ.
Other prophets give an outline of our
Saviours features. Some of them pres
ent, as it were. the side face of Christ,
others bust of Christ; but Isaiah gives
us the full length portrait of Christ.
Other Scripture writers 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, 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 "Halleiah choras," where all the
DhGOuS wave anu all bIc IIuul pcUS
come in. Isaiah was not man picked
up out of insignifcance by inspiration.
He was known and honored. 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
mountain of inspiration, looking out
into the future, beholding Christ ad-
vancing and anxious that all men
might know Him, his voice rings down
the ages: Seek We the Lord while He
may be found" "Oh, g." says some one,
shat was for olden times" No, my
nearer. If you have travelled in other
lands you have taken circular letter
of credit from some banking house in
London, and in St. Petersburg, or
Venice or Rome, or Antwerp, or Brus-
sells, 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 circular
letter for all ages and for all lands, and
wherever it is presented for help, the
help comes. Seek We the Lord while
He may be found"
| come to-day with no hair-spun the
cries of religion, with no nic> distinc-
tions, with no elaborate disqLisition;
but with plain talk on the matters of
personal religion. l feel that the SER
mon preach this morning will be the
SAVIOR of life unto life, or of death unto
death. In other words, the Gospel of
Christ is powerful medicine: it 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 Gomez"
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-waiting waiting, but not
with intelligent waiting, or they would
get on board the line of Christian influ-
ences 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 endeavor. If you want to sec
a certain man in London, and there is q
matter of much money connected with
your seeing him, and you can not al
first find him, you do not give up the
search. You look in the directory but
can not 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 tC
block, and you keep on searching for
weeks and for months.
You say: SIT is a matter of $40, 0OC
whether see him or not" o that men
were as persistent in seeking for Christ!
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. o that the spirit of God
would help this morning while try to
show yo9 in carrying out the idea OF
my text, first, how to seek the Lord,
and in the next place, when to seek
Him. Seek We the Lord while He NAV
be found"
l remark, in the first place, you are
to seek the Lord through earnest and
believing prayer God is not an auto
crat or a despot seated on throne with
His arms resting on brazen lions, and a
sentinel pacing up and down at the
foot on the throne. God is a Father
seated in a bower, waiting for His chill
dren to come and climb on His knee
and get His kiss and His benediction.
Prayer is the cup with which we go to
the fountain of living water" and dip
up refreshment for our thirsty soul.
Grace does not come to the heart as we
set a cask of water to catch the rain in
the shower. 1t is pulley tasted to the
throne of God which we pull, bringing
the blessing.
| do not care SO much what posture
you take in prayer, nor how large an
amount of voice you use. You might
get down on your fac. before God, if
you did not pray right inwardly, and
there would be no response. You
might cry at the top of your voice, and
unless you had believing spirit within,
vour cry would NOT ro farther mn than