The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-01-10

= Sermon Which Appeals to the Tn
controversial Everywhere.

| 80 Nus,ly'l .'cAEot - nat Musr DO 60 b
| eds"--This Was the Cry OF An Art-
| tatsd Eoul--Dr. TaImare Discour..s
On : Question or Incompara-
bic Importance.
For the closing discourse of the yea,
Rev. DR.. Talmage chose a subiec1
which appeals to the unconverted
evcrywhere--viz., The Philippian Jail
or" The text selected was, .sSirs. wha,
must ] do to be saved?" Acts xvi: 40
Incarcerated in Philippian peni.
Tertiary, q place cold and dark and
damp and loathsome and hideous, unil.
lumined save by the torch of the official
who comes to see If they are alive yet,
are two ministers OF Christ, their feet
fast in instruments OF torture, their
shoulders dripping from the stroke 81
leathern thongs, their mouths hot
with Inflammation of thirst, their
heads faint because they may not lie
down. In comforta BILE room of that
same building and amid pleasant sur
roundings is a paid officer Of the gov
eminent whose business it is to super
wise the prison. It is night, and all is
still in the corridors Of the dungeon
save as some murderer struggles with
2 horrid dream, or q ruffian turns over
In his chains; or there is the cough OF
. dying consumptive amid the damp
ness. but suddenly crash go the walls!
The two clergymen pass out free, The
Jail keeper, although familiar with the
darkness and horrors lowering around
the dungeon, is startled beyond all
bounds, and, fambeau in hand, he
rushes through amid the falling walls,
shouting at the top of his voice, '.Sirs,
what must do to be saved?s
I stand now among those who are
asking the same question with more or
sess earnestness. and I accost you in
this crisis Of your soul with message
from Heaven. There are those in this
audience who might be more skillful
in argument than am; there are those
here who can dive into deeper depths
Of science, or have larger knowledge;
there are in this audience those before
whom would willingly bow as the in
ferior to the superior, but yield to no
one in this assemblage in desire to
have all the people saved by the power
OF an omnipotent gospel
shall proceed to characterize the
question Of the agitated Jail keeper
And, first, characterize the question
as courteous He might have rushed
in and said Paul and Silas, you vag-
abonds, are you tearing down this
prison? Aren't you satisfied with dis
turbing the peace of the city by your
infamous doctrines? And are you now
going to destroy public property?
Back with you to your places, you vaga-
bonds!" He said no such thing. The
word of four letters, ''sirs," equivalent
to lords, recognized the majesty and
the honor of their mission. Sirsl If
man with a captious spirit tries to find
the way to Heaven, he will miss it. If
a man comes out and pronounces all
Christians as hypocrites, and the re-
ligion of Jesus Christ as fraud, and
asks irritating questions about the
mysteries and inscrutable, saying:
Come, my wise man, explain this and
explain that; if this be true, how can
that be true?" no such man finds the
way to Heaven. The question of the
text was decent. courteous, gentleman
ly, deferential Sirsl
Again, characterize this question
of the agitated jail keeper by saying
that it was practical question. He
did not ask why God let sin come into
the world, he did not ask how Christ
could be God and man in the same per-
son, he did not ask the doctrine of the
DEGREES explained or want to know
whom Cain married, or what was the
cause of the earthquake His present
and everlasting welfare was involved
10 the question, and was not that prac-
sical9 But know multitudes of peo-
pie who ars. bothering themselves
about the nonsesssntials of re-
Iigion. What would Fcn think
II man who should, whfle dis
the question Of the light and
neat Of the sun. spend his time down
a coal cellar when he might come
,ut and see the one and feel the other?
Yet there are multitudes Of men who,
n discussing the chemistry of the Cos
Del, spend their time down in the dun
yeon of their unbelief when God all |
he while stands telling them to come |,
mt into the MONDAY light and warmth |
If the sun of righteousness. The ques-
ion for you, my brother. to discuss is
lot whether Calvin or Arminius was
light, not whether . handful of water
n holy baptism or . baptistery Is the
better, not whether liberalization and |
rec agency can be harmonized The
PRACTICAL question for You to discuss
md for me to discuss is, "Where will
pend eternity?"