The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-05-01
FREE SALVATION.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks About the
Grace of God.
One OF the Essential Works to be Accom-
plished by Those Seeking Pardon is
Diligent Search of the Scriptures
Prayer is Also Potent
Means of Saving Souls.

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vast audience in the Academy of Music,
New York, was salvation" the text
selected being Isaiah iv. 6: Seek ye
the Lord while He may be found"
Isaiah stands head and shoulders
above the other Old Testament authors
in vivid descriptiveness of Christ. Other
prophets give an outline Of our Saviour's |
features. Some of them present, as 1t
were, the side face of Christ: others a
bust of Christ; but Isaiah gives us the
full-length portrait of Christ. Other
Scripture writer's excel in some things. |
Ezekiel more weird, David more pa
thetic, Solomon more epigrammatical,
Habaklsulz more sublime, but when you
want to see Christ coming out from
the gates of prophecy in all His grandeur
and glory, you involuntarily turn to
Isaiah. So that if the prophets in re-
gard to Christ might be called the
'Oratorio of the Messiah" the writing
of Isaiah is the "Hallelujah Chorus"
where all the batons wave and all the
trumpets come in. Isaiah was not
man picked up out Of insignlficance by
inspiration. He was known and hon
ored. Josephus, and Philo and Sirach
extolled him in their writings. What
Paul was among the apostles, Isaiah
was among the prophets.
Nv text finds him standing on
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: "Seelk we the Lord while He may
be found" "O," says some one, THAT
was for olden times" No, my hearer.
If YOU have travelled in other lands
YOU have taken circular letter of
credit from some banking house in New
York, and in st. Petersburg, or Venice,
or Rome, or Melbourne, or Calcutta,
you presented that letter and got finan-
cial help Immediately. And want you
to understand that the text, instead OF
being appropriate for one age, or for
one land. is "a 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 nice distinc-
tions. with no elaborate disquisition;
but with an urgent call to personal re-
gion. The Gospel of Christ is pow
rful medicine; it either kills or cures.
here are those who say; Il would like
|
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
If you want to get to Albany, you &C
. to the Grand Central depot, or to the
steamboat wharf. and, having got YOU
ticket. YOU do not sit on the wharf o.
sit in the depot: you get aboard thu
boat or train. And yet there are mel
who say they are waiting to get tt
Heaven-waiting waiting, but not will
intelligent waiting, or they would ge
= on board the line of Christian influence
! that would bear them into the king
: Edom of God.
- Now you know very well that to seel
thing is to search for it with earnes
endeavor. If you want to see a cel
tain man in this city, and there is
matter of $4,000 connected with you
seeing him, and you cannot at frs
find him, you do not give up the search
You look in the directory, but canno
find the name; you go into circles wher
you think, perhaps, he may mingl'
and. having found the part of the cit
where he lives, but perhaps not know
ing the street, you go through stree
after street, and from block to blocl
and you keep on searching for weeE
and for months.
"You say: 1T is matter of 5000
whether l see him or not" 0, that me
were as persistent in seeking for Chris
Had YOU one-half the persistence yc
would long ago have found Him who
the JOY of the forgiven spirit. We ms
paw our debts, we may attend churc
we may relieve the poor, we may
public benefactors, and yet all our Ii
disobey the text, never seek God, new
- gain Heaven. o, that the spirit OF Gt
:. would help me, while try to show yC
IN in carrying out the idea OF my tex
IN first, how to seek the Lord, and in u
next place, when to seek Him.
\ remark, in the first place, you
Is to seek the Lord through earnest al
believing prayer. God is not an aut
crat or despot seated on a thror
with His arms resting on brazen lior
,, and sentinel pacing up and down
'ill the foot of the throne. God is faith
en-. NJ seated in bower, waiting for His ch
ma, dren to come and climb on His knee a
! cof M get His kiss and benediction. Prayer
the cup with which we go to the 'tor
,un tain of living water" and dip up
re- freshment for our thirsty soul. Ora
does not come to the heart as we Sc
/" cask at the corner of the house to cat
the rain in the shower. 1t is a pull
.ct fastened to the throne of God, viii
- we pull, bringing the blessing.
IVG l do not care so much what postt
MN YOU take in prayer, nor how large
M amount of voice you use. You mig
get down on your face before God
you did not pray right inwardly, tn
would be no response. You might
IN at the top of your voice, and unless
~ had believing spirit within, your
our would not go further up than the sh'
nts M Of plow boy to his oxen. Prayer m
be believing, earnest, loving. You
in your house some summer day, an
shower comesup, and bird, alright
ays darts into the window, and wht
!, about the room. You seize it.
lleu smooth its ruffied plumage. You fee