The Penn's Grove record., 1892-07-08
REV. DR.. TALMAGR
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.


- ftott 4 uU WttN 0CShS.S
Matthew xvii, %.
PLATE was an unprincipled politician. Fl,
had s~ympathies, convictions of right and
uesires 70 be honest; but all these wer,
submerged by a wish to be popular and 10
please the people. Two distinguish
prisoners were in the grasp of government
and the proposition was made to free one OF
mem. There stands Barabbas, the murderer;
tnere stands Christ, the Saviour of the world.
AT the demand OF the people the rene zade il
set free, but Jesus is held. As the hard
visaged and cruel eyed Barabbas goes amone
his sympathizers, receiving their coarss
congratulations, Plate turns to his other
distinguished prisoner-mild, meek, ~iuoffen-
slve, loving, self sacrificing-ant he is con-
founded as to what course ne had better
take, so he impanels the mob as a jury to
decide, saying to theAl, "What shall lido.
then, with Jesusy'
Oh, it is no dried or witherei question.
but one that thr0bs with warm and quick
pulse IN the heart OF every man and woman
mere We must do something with J esus.
He is here. You and I are not so certaiaiy
mere as lie is, for He fills all this place-tne
loving. living, dying Christ-and each one
OF us will have to ask and answer for himself
the question. what shall / do, then, with
jesusp' Well, my friends, there are three
or four things you GIN do with Him.
You can, in the first Dlace, let Him stand
without a word OF recognition; hut / do not
think your sense Of common courtesy will
allow that. He comes walking on such a
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 a beggar comes to your
door. you recognize him aud say, "What do
you wantY' II you meet a stranger faint in
the street. you say. W hat is the matter
with you'll" and your common humanity, and
your common sympathy, and your common
sense OF proprlety will not allow you to let
him stand without recognition-the wounded
one or the hills. You will ask, What makes
hun weep? where was he hurt? who wounded
him? whence came he? whittier goes he? |
know there have been men who have with
outrageous Indifference hated Christ. but |
know very well that is not what you will do
with Jesus.
Another thing you can do with Hin-you
can thrust Him back from your heart and
tell Him to stand aside. If an inoffeusive
person m and persists in stan ling close
up to you, and you a 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 a great while
ten. twenty, thirty, forty years. He has
stood close by You three times a day break
ing bread for your household, all night
watching by your pillow. He has been IN
the nursery among your children, He has
been In the store among your goods, He has
been in the factory amid the lying wheels,
and now if you do not like 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 cheek,
that you do not want His eye on your be-
havior. You can bid Him away; or il He
xvtlt nat - .x Shat .,o ~ NhN. $780,
your foot as you would at a dos and cry
'~.Begonep'
Yet 1 kno you will not treat Jesus that
way. When Plate could not do that, you
could not. D~esperadoes and outlaws might
do so. but | know that that is not the way
you will treat Him. that that ia 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 deaf ears, a
friend, a good friend, a helpful companion,
a cheerful passenger on s%hipboard: but that
will amount to nothing.
You can loos upon Him as a God and be
lbashed while He rouses the storm, or blasts
a fig tree, or heaves a rock down the noun
tain side. That will not 10 you any good
no more save your soul than the admiration
you nave for John Milton or William Snakes
peare. / 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 by His spirit help me to
persuade you to do that. A minister Of Christ
was speaking to some children and said: al
will point You TO Christ" A little child rose
up in the au iience and came up and put her
hand in the hand of the pastor aud said:
please, sir, take me TO Jesus now, I want
to go now" On, that it might be o with
such simplicity OF experience that you and 1
join hanus and seek after Christ and get an
expression of His benefaction and His mercyi
You may take Christ into your confidence.
II you ann trust Him, whom can you
technicality. simply ask you to come and
put both feet on the Rock of Ages" Take
hold of Christ's hands and draw Him to
your soul with perfect abandonment n
hurl yourself INTO the deep sea OF His mercy.
He comes aud says, 81 will save you" Ii
you do not think He is a hypocrite and q
liar when He says that, believe Him and
say; Lord Jesus, 1 believe, here is my
1eart. Wash it. Save it. Do it now.
aye. " IS uone; ror 1 obey my promise anu
come. l can do no more. That is all Thou
hast asked. l come Christ is mine. Par.
don is mine. Heaven is mine"
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, in the ladder up to the loft:
more trust in the stove that confines the fire;
more trust in the cook that prepares your
food, more trust In the clerk that writes
your books, in the druggist that makes the
medicine. in the bargain maker with whom
you t~rade-more trust in all these things
than in Christ although de stands this mo.
ment offering without limit and without
mistaSe and without execution universal
pardon to all who want it. Now is not that
cheap enough-all things for nothing
nhfo = the ,uh1la - a. N~-- - -
stand it-that II you believe that Christ
died to save you, you are saved. When?
Now. No more doubt about il than that YOU
sit there. No more doubt about it than that
you have a right hand. No more doubt
about IL than that there is a God. II you
had committed five THOUSAND trans ressions
Christ would forgive you just as freely as if
you mad never committed one; though You
had gone through the whole catalogue OF
crime-arson aud blasphemy AMI murder
Christ would forgive you just as freely, you
to Him as though you had committed
only the slightest sin of the tongue.
Why, when Christ comes to pardon a soul
He stops for nothing. Height is nothing.
Depth is nothing. Enormity is notaing.
Protracte1ness Is nothing.
Ger sins like mountains for their sizs,
The sess 20 sovereign grace expand,
The seas OF sovereign grace arise.
Lord Jesus, 1 give up all other props, give
up all other expectations. Ruined and un,
done. lay hold Thee. l plead Thy promises.
| fly to Thy arms. Lord, save me, 1
When the Christian commission vent into
he army during the war there were a great
multitude OF hungry men and Only a lew
o lyes OF bread. and the delegate 81 the COM
mission was cutting the bread and giving it
to wounied and dying men. Some ons
,ame up and said, 'Cut those slices thinner, !
,r there will not be enough to 60 AROUND"
AMI then the delegate cut the slices very |
hin and handed the bread around until they
III had some. but not much. But, blsslai
70 God. there is no need OF economy in this
iospel. Bread for all; bread enough aud to
pare, Why perish with hungers
Again, ! advise you, as one OF the besl
0 can do with Christ, to take Him
INTO your love. Now there are two things
make US love any o~ne-inherent at
and then what he does in the
way OF kindness towardu us. Now Christ Is
n both these positions. Inherent attrac-
~iveness, fairer than the children Of men.
he luster of the morning in His eye, the
,lnU IF tha sattfn0 ann u, HE cha.k xnvrra