The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-11-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Remarkable Discourse on the Pas
sion for Saving Souls.
Startling Comparison between the Crown
lag OF Queen and the Reception
OF = salvatIOn Army Work
er Ia Heaven.

the IOA4oWlng discourse before hiA
Washington congregation, basing il
on the text:
could wish that myself were arcHrSed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinSman according
90 the fcsh--Romans, TX, g.
tough passage. indeed, for those
who take Paul literally. When some
of the old theologians declared that
they were willing to be damned for
the glory of God, they suid what ne
one believed, Paul did not la the text
mean that he was willing to die for
ever to save his relatives. He used
hyperbole, and when he declared, 81
could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ foe my brethren, my kins-
men according to the flesh" he meant
in the most vehement of all possible
ways to declare his anxiety for the
salvation of his relatives and friends.
1t was passion for souls. Not more
than one Christian out of thousands
Of Christians feels il. All-absorbinR
desire for the betterment of the phys
ical and mental condition is very com
mon, 1t would take more of a mathe-
uatician than ever can be to calcu-
late how many are, up to an anxiety
that sometimes will not let them sleep
nights, planning for the efficiency of
hospitals where the sick and wounded
of body are treated, and for eye and
ear inhrmaries, and for dispensaries
and retreats where the poorest may
have most skillful surgery and helpful
treatment Oil it is beautiful and
glorious, this widespread and ever In
tensifying movement to alleviate and
cure physical misfortunes, May God
encourage and help the thousands of
splendid men and women engaged in
that work.
But all that is outside of my sui bject
to-day. In behalf of the immortality
Of man, the inner eye, the inner ear,
the inner capacity for gladness or dis
tresS, how few feel anything like the
overwhelming concentration expressed
In my text Rarer than four-leaved
clovers, rarer than century plants,
rarer than prima donnas, have been
those of whom it may be said; "They
had a passion for souls" You could
count on the fingers and thumb of
your left hand all the names of those
you can recall who In the last, the
eighteenth, century were so charac-
terized. All the names Of those you
could recall in our time as having this
passion for souls you can count on the
fingers and thumbs of your right
and left hands. There are many
more such cOnsecrated souls, but
they are scattered SO widely
you do not know them. Thor
oughly Christian people by the hun
drada of millions fhara ara fodoy b,,t
how few people do you know who are
utterly oblivious to everything in this
world except the redemption of souls?
Paul had it when he wrote my text,
and the time will come when the ma
jority of Christians will have it, if this
world is ever to be lifted out of the
Ilough in which it has been sinking
and foundering for nearly nineteen
centuries. And the betterment had
better begin with myself and your
self. When a committee of the so
ciety of Friends" called upon a MEM
ber to reprimand him for breaking
some small rule of the society, the
member replied: II had dream in
which all the Friends had assembled
TO plan some way to have our
meeting house cleaned for it
was very filthy. Many propositions
were made, but no conclusion was
reached until one of the members rose
and saids Friends, think if each
one would take a broom and sweep
Immediately around his own seat, the
meeting house would be clean.'" So
let the work of spiritual improvement
begin around our own soul. Someone
whispers up from the right hand side
of the pulpit and says: "Will you
please name some of the persons in
our times who have this passion for
souls?" Oh, mol That would be invid-
ious and imprudent, and the mere
mentioning of the names of such per-
sons might cause in them spiritual
pride, and then the Lord would have
no more use for them.
Some one whispers up from the left
hand side of the pulpit: "Will you
not, then, mention among the people
Of the past some who had this passion
for souls?" Oh, yes! Samuel Ruther-
ford, the Scotchman OF 400 years ago,
his imprisonment ut Aberdeen for his
religious zeal, and the public burning
Of his book, Lex Rex" in Edinburgh,
and his unjust arraignment for high
treason, and other prosecutions puri-
flying and sanetifying him, so that his
works. entitled; Trial and Triumph
of Faith, and Christ Dying and
Drawing Sinners to Himself," and
above all, his 215 unparalleled letters,
showed that he had the passion
for souls. Richard Baxter, whose
"Paraphrase of the New Testament"
caused him 20 be dragged before
Lord Jeffries, who howled at him as "a
rascal" and ''sniveling Presbyterian"
aud imprisoned him for two years.
Baxter writing los relisious books, his
Call to the Unconverted" bringing
uncounted thousands into the pardon
of the Gospel, and his saints Ever
lasting rest" opening Heaven to host
innumerable. Richard Cecil, Thomas
a Kempis, writing his ''Immitation of
Christ" for all ages; Harlan Page,
Robert McCheyne, Nettleton Finney.
And more whom might mention, the
characteristic of whose lives was an
overtowering passion for sould. a y.
Earl, the Baptist evangelist had it. 1.
$. Inskip, the Methonist evangelist,
had it. Jacob Knapp had it. DR..
Bachus. president of Hamilton college,
had IL. and when told he had only half
al hour to live, said: is that SOP
Then take me out of my bed and place
me upon my knees, and let me spend
that time in calling upon God fer the
salvation Of the world" Aud 10 he
died upon his knees. Then there have
been others whoap names have been