The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-01-09
! TALMAGES SERMON
.'sirs, what must I do to be saved?'-


tiary, in place cold, and dark, and
damp, anI loathsome, and hideous, 11l-
Humed save by the torch of the official
who comes to see if they are yet alive,
are two ministers Of Christ, their feet
fast in Instruments Of torture, their
shoulders dripping from the stroke of
leathern thongs, their mouths hot with
the inflammation Of thirst their heads
faint because they may not lie down.
In comfortable room Of that same
building, and amid pleasant surround
ings, is a paid officer of the govern
1nent, whose business it is to supervise
the prison. 1t is night, and all is still
in the corridors Of the dungeon save
as some murderer struggles with a
horrid dream, or ruffian turns over
in his chains, or there is the cough of
q dying consumptiye amid the damp
ness; but, suddenly, crash go the walls.
The two clergymen pass out free. The
jailkeeper, although familiar with the
darkness and the horrors lowering
around the dungeon, is startled beyond
all bounds, and. hambeau in hand, he
rushes through amid the falling walls,
shouting at the top of his voice: "Sirs,
what must I do to be savedY
stand now among those who are
asking the same question with more or
less earneStness, and accost you in
the crisis of your soul with a message
from heaven. There are those in this
audience who might be more skillful
in argument than l am; there are
those 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 1 yield to no
one, in this assemblage in a desire to
have all the people saved by the pow
er of an omnipotent &C q.
[ shall proceed to characterize the
question of the agitated jailkeeper
And first I characterize the question
as courteous. He might have rushed
in and said: paul and Silas, you yag-
:nbonds, are you tearing down this
Drison? Aren't you satisfied with dis
turbing the peace of the city by your
infamous doctrines? And now are you
going to destroy public property?
Back with you to your places, you
wagabonds!' He said no such thing.
srhe word Of four letters, "Sirsv
equivalent to Cords" recognized the
majesty and the honor of their mis-
sion. Sirs! If a man with captious
spirit tries to find the way to heaven,
he will miss it. If man comes out
and denounces all Christians as hypo-
critics and the religion of Jesus Christ
as a fraud, and asks irritating ques-
tons about the mysterious and the in
scrutable, saying, "Come, my wise
man, explain this and explain that; if
this be true, how can that be trlleY'.-
no such man finds the way to heaven
The question Of the text was decent,
courteous, gentlemanly, deferential
'Sirs. .-s. 80 ....
Again characterize .this question of
the agitated jailkeeper by saying that
1t was a practical question. He did
not ask why God let sin come iuto the
world; he did not ask how Christ could
be God and man in the same person;
he did not ask the doctrine Of the de-
crees explained or want to know who
Cain married or what was the cause
of the earthquake. His present and
everlasting welfare was involved in
the question, and was not that practi-
cal? But I know multitudes Of people
who are bothering themselves about
the nOn-essentialS of religion. What
would you think Of man who should,
while discussing the question Of the
light and heat of the sun, spend his
time down in coal cellar when he
might come out and see the one and
feel the other Yet, there are multi
'tudes of men, who, in discussing the
chemistry of the Gospel, spend their
time down in the dungeon of their be-
lief, when God all the while stands
telling them to come out into the noon
day light and warmth of the sun Of
Righteousness. The question for you,
my brother, to discuss, Is not whether
Calvin or Arminus was right; not
whether handful Of water in holy
baptism Or baptistery is the better;
not whether REORGANIZATION and free
agency can be aarmonized. The prac-
ttical question for You to discuss, and
spend eternity?" -
Again I characterize this question Of
the agitated jailkeeper as one person
al to himself. have no doubt he had
many friends and he was interested in
their welfare. I have no doubt he
found that there were persons in that
prison who, If the earthquake had de-
,stroyed them, would have found their
case desperate. He did not question
about them. The whole weight Of his
question turns on the prOnoun. ''I.''
what shall do?' OF course, when
man becomes a Christian, he immedi-
:ately becomes anxious for the saliva
ton of other people; but until that
point is reached the most important
question is about your own salvation.
"What is to be my destiny?" what
are my prospects for the future?''
''Where am going'' ''What shall
do?" The trouble is, we shuttle the re-
sponsibility, off upon others. We pro
phesy bad end to that inebriate and
terrific exposure to that defaulter, and
awful catastrophe to that profligate.
We are so busy weighing other people
we forget ourselves to get into the
scales. We are so busy watching the
poor gardens of other people that we
let our own dooryard go to weeds. We
are so busy sending off other people
into the lifeboat we sink in the wave
We cry "firev' because our neighbours
house is burning down, and seem to
be uninterested although our own
house is in the confia grafton. o, wan
dering thoughts, disappear to-day.
Blot out this entire audience except
yourself. Your sin, is it pardoned?
Your death, is it provided for? Your
heaven, is it secured? A mightier
a,f1,.r 10 tI0,, 3