Connecticut western news., 1894-09-06
THE GREAT RESCUE.
PEACEF6t DEATH AND BllSSFUL
 ETERNITY COST NOTHING.

ETERNITY COST NOTHING.
 Rsv. Dr. Talmags Breaches Another Re- i, markable Sermon Through the Press 1 Historical Faith and Faith In the Rock
 of Ages-The Lamp Above the Grave.
 BRooKLYN, Sept. 2.-Rev. Dr. Tal- mage, who is still absent in the south Pacific, has selected as the subject of today's sermon through the press "The Rescue" the text chosen being Acts xvi, 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'
 Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsome places even now, but they were worse in the apostolic times. imagine today we are standing in the Philippian dungeon. Do you not feel the chill? Do you not hear the groans of those inoarcerated ones who fer 10 years have not seen the sun light and the deep sigh of women who remember their fathers house and mourn over their wasted estates? Listen again. It Is the cough of consumptive or the struggle of one in the nightmare of great horror. You listen again and hear 8 culprit, his chains rattling as he rolls over in his dreams, and you say, ''God, pity the prisonerP' But there is another sound in that prison. It is the song of joy and gladness. What place to sing in! The music comes winding through the corridors of the prison, and in all the dark wards the whisper is heard: Whats that? Whats that?'
 It is the song of Paul and Silas. They cannot sleep. They have been whipped very badly whipped. The long gashes on their backs are bleeding yet. They lie flat on the cold ground, their feet fast In wooden sockets, and of course they cannot sleep. But they can sing. Jailer, what are you doing with these people? Why have they been put in here? Oh, they have been trying to make the world better. Is that all? That is all. A pit for Joseph. A lions cave for Daniel A blazing furnace for Shad- rach Clubs for John Wesley. An anathema for Philipp Melanchthon. A dungeon for Paul and Slas.
 An Earthquake Shock.
 But while we are standing in the gloom of the Philippim dungeon, and we hear the mingling voices of sob and groan and blasphemy and halleluiah, suddenly an earthquake! The iron bars of the prison twist, the pillars crack off, the solid masonry begins te heaye, and all the doors swing open. The jailer, feeling himself responsible for these prisoners and believing, in his pagan ignorance, suicide to be honorable since Brutus killed himself, and Cato killed himself, and Cassius killed him. sek-puts his sword to his own heart, proposing with one strong, keen thrust to put an end to his excitement and agi- tation. But Paul cries out: ''Stop. stop! Do myself no harm! We are all herel"
 Then I see the jailer running through the dust and amid the ruin of that pris- on, and I see him throwing himself down at the feet of these prisoners, cry ing out: What shall do? What shall I do?'' Did Paul answer: "Get out of this place before there is another earth quake. Put handcuffs and hopples on these other prisoners lest they get away?" No word of that kind. His compact, thrilling, tremendous answer, answer memorable all through earth and heaven, was, Relieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
 Well, we have all read of the earth quake in Lisbon, in Lima, in Alsppo and in Caracas. but we live in lati- tude where in all our memory there has ance. And yet we have seen 50 earth quakes Here is man who has been building up large fortune. His bid on the money market was felt in all the cities. He thinks he has got beyond all annoying rivalries in trade, and he says to himself, ''Now am free and safe from all possible perturbation. But in 1857 or ill 1873 national panic strikes the foundation of the commercial world, and crash goes all that magnificent busi- ness establishment
 Here is . man who has built upa very beautiful home. His daughters have just come home from the seminary with diplomas of graduation. His sons have started in life. honest, temperate and pure. When the evening lights are struck, there is happiness and un- broken family circle. But there has been an accident down at Long Branch. The young man ventured too far out in the surf The telegraph hurled the terror up to the city. An earthquake struck under the foundation of that beautiful home.
 Trust and Believe.
 The piano closed; the curtains drop ped; the laughter hushed. Crash go all those domestic hopes and prospects and expectations. So, my friends, we have all felt the shaking down of some great trouble, and there was time when we were as much excited as this man of the text, and we cried out as he did: "What shall do? What shall I do?' The same reply that the apostle made to him is appropriate to us, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. !"
 There are some documents of so little importance that you do not care to put any more than your last name under them, or even your initials, but there are some documents of so great impor- tance that you write out your full name. So the Saviour in some parts of the Bible is called Lord" and in other parts of the Bible he is called "Jesus, " and in other parts of the Bible he Is called Christ" but that there might be no mistake about this passage all three names come together-''the Lord Jesus Christ. '
 Now, who is this being that you want me to trust in and believe in? Men sometimes come to me with cre- dentials and certificates of good charac- ter, but cannot trust them. There is some dishonesty in their looks that makes me know that shall be cheated if 1 confide in them. You cannot put your hearts confidence in a man until you know what stuff he is made of, and am I unreasonable when I stop to ask you who this is that you want me to frusf inp No man uould think of van.