Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-07-14

anu Nne hcafLs
] LONDON, July 3.-Dr. Talmage continues
TO receive from all classes Of the English
people the warmest of welcomes and the
heartiest greetings. The work of arranG
ing his tour has been exceedingly difficult
So numerous were the invitations awaiting
him that to accept some and decline others
equally pressing seemed invidious. Wher-
ever he has gone the largest churches in
the cities have been crowded to excess and
could have been filled many times over
Among the sermons he has preached the
one selected for publication this week is
from the text, Matthew xvii, o, What
shall do with Jesuss"
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 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 world. At the
demand of the people the renegade is set
free, but Jesus is held. AS the hard Wis
aged and cruel eyed Barabbas goes among
his sympathizers, receiving their coarse
congratulations, PLATE turns to his other
distinguished prisoner-mild, meek, inof-
fensive, loving, self sacrifcing-and he is
confounded as to what course he had bet
ter take, 80 he impanels the mob as jury
TO decide, saying to them, "What shall /
do, then, with Jesusf"
Oh, it is no dried or withered question,
but one that throbs with warm and quick
pulse in the heart of every man and wom-
an here. We must do something with
Jesus. He is here. You and l 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 JesusH" Well, my
friends, there are three or four things you
can do with him.
THE CONTEMPTUoUs WAY.
You can, in the first place, let him stand
without a 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 chair on which he may Sit He
is so weary, you would not let him stand
without some recognition. If a beggar
comes to your door, you recognize him and
say, "What do you want" If you meet a
stranger faint in the street, you say,
"What is the matter with you?" and your
common humanity, and your common
sympathy, and your common sense of pro-
priety will not allow you to let him stand
without recognition-the wounded one of
the hills. You will ask, What makes him
weep9 where was he hurtP 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 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 by you three times day
breaking bread for your household, all
night watching by your pillow. He has
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 socie-
ty 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
behavior. You can bid him away, or if he
. will not goin that way, then you can stamp
your foot, as you would at dog, and cry,
"Begonep
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 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-you
can look on him merely as an optician tc
cure blind eyes, or an aurist to tune deaf
ears, friend, good friend, helpful
companion, cheerful passenger on ship
board; but that will amount to nothing
You can look upon him as a God and be
abashed while he rouses the storm, OF
blasts fig tree, or heaves 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 OF
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 the only safe
thing you can do with him, and may the
> Lord omnipotent by his spirit help me tc
persuade you to do that A minister oi
Christ was speaking to some children and
said, II will point you to Christ" A little
child rose in the audience and came up and
put her hand in 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 bene
faction and his mercy!
THE TRUSTING WAY.
You may take Christ into your conf.
dence. If you cannot trust him, whom can
you trust' 1 do not offer you dry, theo
logical technicality. I simply ask you te
come and put both feet on the Rock oi
Ages" Take hold of Christ's hands and
draw him to. your soul with perfect aban
donment and hurl yourself into the deer
sea of his mercy. He comes and says, 81
will save you." II you do not think he is
a hypocrite and a liar when he says that
believe him and say: Lord Jesus, be
lieve; 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. l come
Christ is mine. Pardon 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 pre-
pares your food; more trust in the clerk