The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-09-07
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Faith in Christ the Only Passport
to Eternal Starvation.
1t Was the Implicit Trust i'm the Saviour
That Lightened the fortunes In
fiicted Upon Martyrs in
Ancient Dungeons.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, who is still
sojourning in the South Pacific coun-
tries made the following selection for
this weeks publication. The subject is
''The Rescue" being based on the text:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.-Acts xvi, 81.
Jails are dark, dull, damp. loathsome
places even now; but they were worse
in the apostolic times. | imagine, to-
day, we are standing in the Philippian
dungeon. Do you feel the chill? Do
you not hear the groans of those in
generated ones who for ten years have
not seen the sunlight, and the deep
sigh of women who remember their
fathers house, and mourn over their
wasted estates? Listen again. 1t is
the cough of consumptive, or the
struggle of one in nightmare of great
horror. You listen again, and hear a
culprit, his chains rafting as he rolls
over in his dreams, and you say: God
pity prisoner" But there is another
sound in that prison. 1t is the song
of joy and gladness. What place
to sing in! The music comes winding
through the corridors of the pris-
on, and in all the dark wards the whis-
per is heard: "What's that? What's
that?"
1t is the song of Paul and Silas.
They can not sleep. They have been
whipped, very badly whipped. The
long gashes on their backs are bleed
ing yet. They lie fiat on the cold
ground, their feet fast in wooden
sockets, and of course they can not
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 Philip Melancthon. A
dungeon for Paul and Silas.
But while we are standing in the
gloom of the Philippian dungeon. and
we hear the mingling voices of sob and
groan and blasphemy and hallelujah,
suddenly an earthquake! The iron
bars of the prison twist, the pillars
crack off. the solid masonry begins to
heave, and all the doors swing open.
The jailer. feeling himself responsible
for these prisoners, and believing, in
his pagan ignorance. suicide to be hon
orable-since Brutus killed himself. and
Cato killed himself, and Cassius killed
himself-puts his sword to his own
heart, proposing with one strong, keen
thrust to put an end to his excitement
and agitation. But Paul cries out:
stop. stop. Do myself no harm. We
are all here"
Then l see the jailer running through
the dust and amid the ruin of that
prison, and | see him throwing himself
down at the feet of these prisoners.
crying out: what shall | do? What
shall | do?" Did Paul say: ''Get out
of this place before there is another
earthquake: put handouts and hop
pies on these other prisoners. lest they
get away?' No word of that kind.
His compact, thrilling. tremendous an
swer. answer memorable all through
earth and Heaven. was: believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved"
Well. we have all read of the earth
quake in Lisbon, in Lima, in Aleppo.
and in Caracas; but we live in a lati-
tude where in all our memory there
has not been one severe volcanic dis
turbance. And vet we have seen fifty
earthquakes. Here is man who has
been building up a 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 says to himself: ''Now | am free
and safe from all possible perturba-
ton" But in 1857 or in 1878 a national
panic strikes the foundation of the
commercial world, and crash goes all
that magnificent business establish
ment. Here is man who has built up
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 happy and I'M
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.
The piano closed: the curtains
dropped; the laughter hushed. Crash.
go Ill those domestic hopes and pros
poets and expectations. So. my friends,
we have all felt the shaking down of
some great trouble, and there was a
time when we were as much excited as
this man of the text, and we cried out
as he did: what shall l do? What
shall 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 lit
tie Importance that you do not care to
put any more than Your last name I'M
der them, or even your initials: but
there are some documents of so great
importance 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 ere
dentials and certificates of good char
acter, but can not trust them. There
is some dishonesty in their looks that
makes me know that shall be cheat
ed if i confide in them. You can not
put your hearts confidence in a man
until you know what stuff he is made
of, and am unreasonable when l stop