The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-07
A POINT BLANK QUESTION.
rALMAGE ASKS HIS HEARERS
ABOUT THEIR SOULS.


Battle to Jehonadnb; lis Thine
Heart Rights'-No Mans Heart
Right Who Does Not Lead n Right
Lffe-A Repenting Heart Needed by
AHA Right Heart Always "A For
giving Heart.
New York. oct EN- his sermon
for to-day Rev. DIR. Talmage speaks d.
rectly to the hearts of all who have not
yet definitely accepted the free offer Of
salvation in Christ Jesus The subject
was. "A Point-Blank Question the
text being il Kings 10I5, rs thine heart
right"
With melted horses at full speed, for
he was celebrated for fast driving, Jehu,
the warrior and king. returns from bat
tie. But seeing Jehouadab, an acquaint-
ance. by the wayside, he shouts whoa!
whoa to the lathered span Then lean
ing over to Jehonadab, Jehu salutes him
in the words of the teXt-words not more
appropriate for that hour and that place,
than for this hour and place: rs thine
heart right?''
1 should like TO hear OF your physical
health Wen myself, / like to have every
body else well; and so might ask is your
eyesight right, your hearing right your
nerves right. your lungs right, your en-
tire body right? But I am busy to-day
taking diagnosis of the more important
spiritual conditions. 1 should like TO
hear of your financial welfare. 1 want
everybody to have plenty of money, am
pie apparel. large storehouse, and COM
Portable residence; and 1 might ask, is
your business right, your income right,
your worldly surroundings right? But
.s..H lone
pared with the inquiry as to whether
you have been able to pay your debts
10 God; as to whether you are insured
for eternity; as to whether you are ruin
ing yourself by the long credit system
of the soul? ! have known men to have
no more than one loaf of bread at time,
and, yet to own a government bond Of
heaven worth more than the whole mate
rial universe.
The question ] ask you to-day is not in
regard to your habits. i make no lhQul-
nv about your integrity, or your chastity,
or your sObriety. ! do not mean 10
stand on the outside of the gate and ring
the bell; but coming up the steps, l open
the door and come TO the private apart
ment of the soul: and with the earnest
ness of a man that must give an account
for this days work, cry out, . man, -
woman immortal, is thine heart right2
/ will not insult you by an argument to
prove that we are by nature all wrong.
If there be a factory explosion, and the
smokestack be upset, and the wheels be
broken in two, and the engine unJointed,
and the pOnQerOuS bars De twisted anu
a man should look in ana say that nothing
was the matter, you would pronounce him
a fool. Well, it needs no acumen TO as
cover that our nature Is all atwist and
askew and unjointed. The thing doesn't
work right. The biggest trouble we have
in the world is with our souls. Men
sometimes say that, though their lives
may not be just right, their heart Is al
right. Impossible. A farmer never puts
the poorest apples on top of his barrel;
nor does the merchant place the meahest
s1es In fe eNrf win
OF US is our outward life. ! do not stop
10 discuss whether we all fell in Adam,
for we have been our own Adam, ana
have all eaten of the forbidden fruit, ana
have been turned out of the paradise OF
holiness and peace; and though the nam
ing sword that stood at the gate to keep
us out has changed position ana comes be-
hind to drive us in, we viii not go.
The Bible account of us is not eNagger-
ated when it says that we are poor an9
wretched and miserable and Dhnd ana
naked. Poor the wretch that stands shiv-
ering on our doorsteps on cold DAY Is not
so much in need of bread as we are
Of spiritual help. Blind; why, the
man whose eyes persisted IN the pow
der blast. and who for these ten years
has gone feeling his way from street TO
street, is not in such utter darkness as we.
Naked; why, there is not one rag of holi-
ness left to hide the shame OF our SIN.
Sick; why, the leprosy has eaten into the
head and the heart and the hands and the
feet; and the marasmus of an everlasting
wasting away has already seized on some
of US.
But the meanest thing for man to do
is to discourse about an evil without point
ing way to have 1t remedied. speak OF
the thirst of your hot tongue, only that
may show you the living stream that drops
crystalline and sparkling from the Rock of
Ages, and pours river OF gladness az your
feet. If l show you the rents in your coat,
IL is only because the door of Gods ward
robe now swings OPEN and here is a robe
white with the fleece of the Lamb of God,
and of cut and make that an angel would
not be ashamed to wear. II | snatch from
YOU the black, mouldy bread that you are
munching, il is only 10 give you the bread
made out of the finest wheat that grows
on the celestial hills, and baked in the
fires of the cross; and one crumb of which
would be enough to make all heaven a
banquet. Hear II, one and all, ana tell II
TO your friends when you go home, that the
Lord Jesus Christ can make the heart
First we need a repenting heart If for
the last ten, twenty, or forty years of
life we have been going on in the wrong
way, II is time that we turned around and
started in the opposite direction. If we
offend our friends we are glad to apollo
gize. God is our best friend, and yet how
many of us have never apologized for the
wrongs we have done himl
There is nothing that we so
much much need to get ria Of as
ter 1t polluted Eden. 1t killed Christ
1t has blasted the world. Men keep dogs
in kennels and rabbits in warren, and
cattle in pen. What a man that would
be who would shut them up in his parlor
But this foul dog of sin, and these herds
of transgression. we have entertained for
many a long year in our heart, which
should be the cleanest, brightest room in
all our nature. Out with the vile herd
Begone, We befoulers of an immortal ma
turei
Turn out the beasts and let Christ come
in A heather came to an early Christian
who had the reputation of curing diseases
The Christian said: You must have all
your idols destroyed" The heather gave
TO the Christian the key TO his house that
he might go in and destroy the idols. He
Battered to pieces all he saw but still the
man did not get well. The Christian said
to him: There must be some idol in
your house not yet destroyed" The hea-
then confessed that there was one idol
of beaten gold that he could not bear TO
give up After a while, when that was
destroyed in answer to the prayer of
the Christian, the sick man got we'll
Many man has awakened in his dy-
ing hour to find his sins all about him
They clambered up on the right side of
the bed and on the left side and over the
headboard, and over the footboard, and
horribly devoured the soul
Repent the voice celestial cries.
Nor longer dare delay;
The wretch that scOrns the mandate