The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-12-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sermon De~
iiysred In Washington.
Subjects "a Passion of Souls"

TEXT: "I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh. Romans
tx, g.
tough passage, inleed, 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 said
what no one believed. Paul did not in the
text mean he was willing to die forever to
save his relatives. He used hyperbole, and
when he declared, ~ could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the fesh," he
meant in the most vehement OF all possible
ways to declare his anxiety for the salvation
Of his relatives and friends. 1t was a passion
FOR souls. Not more than one Christian out
Of thousands OF Christians feels it. All alb
sorbing desire for tho betterment of the
physical and mental condition is very COM
mon. 1t would take more OF q mathema-
tician than l ever can be TO calculate how
many are, up 10 an anxiety that sometimes
viii cot let them sleep nights, planning for
the efficiency OF hospitals where the sick
and wounded OF body are treated, and for
eye and ear inarmaries, and for dispensafes
and retreats where tho poorest may have
most sktlful surgery AMI helpful treatment.
Oh. 1t Is beautiful and glorious this wide
spread and ever intensifying movement to
alleviate and cure physical misfortunes.
May God encourage and help the thousands
oisplendid men and women engaged in that
work. But all that is outside Of my subject to-
day. In behalf of the immortality of a man,
the inner eye, the inner ear, thu inner ca
pacity for gladness or distress, how few feel
anything like thu overwhelming conceDtra-
ton expressed in my text. llarer than four
leavei cloyers, 'rarer than century plants,
ftx,r, 4 knn,. <k1,o -
when 1t may be said, "rhey have o 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
eighleenth-ceniury wero so characterized.
All the names OF those you could recall in
our time as having this passion for souls yoa
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 knot them. Thoroughly
Christian people by the hundreds OF millions
there are to-day, but how few people do you
know who are utterly oblivious to every.
thing in this world except the redemption OF
souls2 Paul hal it when he wrote my text,
and the time will come when the majority of
Christians will have 1t, if this world Is ever
to be lifted out OF the slough in which it has
been sinking aud foundering for near nine
teen centuries, and the betterment had bet.
ter begin with myself and yourself. When
Committee OF the Society OF Friends called
upon u member TO reprimand him for break
ing come small rule OF the society, the men,
Der replied: az had a 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 conc usi0n was reached until
one of the members rose and said, Friends,
think II each one would take broom and
sweep Immediately around his own seat, the
meeting house would be c!ean.'" So let
the work OF spiritual improvement begin
around oar own soul. Some one 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 pas
sion for sou'si" Oh, no! That would be In
vidious and impru lent, and the mere men
tioning OF the names OF such persons 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, men-
ton among the sopie OF the past some who
had this passion for sous?" Oh. yes! Samuel
his Imprisonment at Aberdeen for his re-
liglous zeal, and the public burning Of his
book, LEX Rex" in Edinburgh. and his I'M
just arrangement for high treason and other
prosecutions, purifying and sanctifying him
SO that his works, entitled "Trial and
Triumph OF Faith" aud "Christ Dying and
Drawing Sinners to HIMSELF" and, above
all, his 2l5 unparalleled letters showed that
he had the passion for souls; Richard Baxter,
whose ''Parsphrass OF tho New Testament"
caused him to be dragged before Lord JET
freys, who howled at him as ia rascal and
"sniyelinG Presbyterian and imprisoned
him for two years-Baxter, writing 16S re-
ligious books, his "Call to the Unconverted"
bringing uncounted thousands into the par
don OF the gospel, aud his "Saints' Everiast-
ing Rest" opening heaven to n host innum-
cradle; Richard Cecil; Thomas a Kempis,
writing his "Imitatie,1rot6hf .sf for ali ages:
harisesaet ige, Robert McCheyne, Nettleton,
Finuey and more whom might mention,
the characteristic OF whose lives was an over
towering passion for souls. A. B. Earl, the
Baptist evangelist, had it. ]. s. Inskip, the
Methodist evangelist, had it. Jacob Knapp
had it. DIR. Bachus, President Of Hamilton
College, had 1t. And when told he had only
half an hour 10 live said: "Is that so? Then
take me out Of my bed and place me upon
my knees and let me spend that time in call
ing on God for the salvation of the world"
And so he died upon his knees. Then there
have been others whose names have been
known only in their own family or neighbor-
hood, and here and there you think OF one.
What JUNCTION they had in prayerI What
power they bad in exhortationl II they
walked into home, every member OF it felt
a holy thrill. and il they walked into O
prayer meeting the dullness aud stolidity
Instantly vanished. One OF them would
wake up awhole church. One Of them would
sometimes eiec.rify whole city.
But the most wonderful one OF that char
acter,zation the world ever saw or heard or
felt was peasant in the Far East, wearing
plain blouse like an inverted wheat sack,
with three openings-one for the neck and
the other two for the arms. His father a
wheelwright and house builder aud given to
various carpentry. His mother at first under
suspicion because Of the circumstances of His
nativity. and He chased by q Herodic mania
ont OF His native land to live awhile under
the shadows Of the sphinx and pyramid of
Gizeh, afterward confoundipg the LII. DIS
OF jerusalem, then stopping the paroxysms
OF tempest and Of mailman. His path strewn
with slain dropsies and catalepsies and opt-
thalmias, transfgurei on one mountain,
preaching on another mountain, dying on
another mountain and ascending from az
other mountain-the greatest, the loveliest,
The mightiest, the kindest, the most self-sac-
rificing, most beautiful being whose feet ever
touched the earth. Tell us, We deserts who
beard our Saviour's prayer; tell us, We seas
that drenched Him with your surf; tell us,
ye mnliitudes who heard Him preach on