Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-11-14

SuDJcCb VI al A-icIuNAh
Observation-Disclosures Zeal.
WASHINGTON, Nov. S.-Clear out OF
the ordinary style of sermonizing is this
remarkable discourse Of Dr.. Talmage,
which wo send out today. His text IS
Romans tx, 5, II could wish that myself
were aocursed from Christ for my breth-
rem, my kinsmen according to the flesh. !"
A 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 said what no one believed.
Paul did not in the text mean he was
willing to die forever to save his rela-
tives. He used hyperbole, and when he
declared, 81 could wish that myself
were accursod from Christ for my breth-
ron, my kinsmen according to the flesh, "
he meant in the most vehement of oil
possible ways to declare his anxiety for
the salvation Of his relatives and friends.
1t was n passion for souls Not moro
than one Christian out OF thousands OF
Christians feels it. All absorbing de-
sire for the betterment Of the physical
and mental condition is very common.
1t would take moro of mathematician
than 1 ever can be to calculate how
many are, up TO an anxiety that some
times will not let them sleep nights,
planning for the efficiency of hospitals
where tho sick and wounded of body are
treated and for eye and ear infrmaries
and for dispensaries and retreats where
the poorest may have most skillful sur
CORY and helpful treatment. Oh, 1t 10
beautiful and glorious, this widespread
and ever intensifying movement to ALE
viato and cure physical misfortunes.
May God encourage and help the thou
sands of splendid men and women en-
gagged in that work.
But all that is outside of my subject
today. In behalf of the Immortality OF
man, the inner eye the inner ear, tho
inner capacity for gladness or distress,
how few feel anything like the over
whelming concentration expressed in
nv text. Rurer than four leaved clo-
yers, rarer than century plants, rarer
than prima donnGs, have been those OF
whom it may be said, "They had q
passion for souls" You could count OIL
the fingers and thumb of your left hand
all the names Of those you can recall
who in the last-the eighteenth-cen-
tury were so characterized. All the
names Of those you could recall i'll 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. Thoroughly Christian PEG.
ple by the hundreds Of millions there
are today, but how few people do you
know who are utterly oblivious to ev'
erything in this world except the re-
demption of souls? Paul had it wher
he wrote my text, and the time will come
when the majority Of Christians viii
ont of the slough in which it has beer
sinking and foundering for near Il
centuries. And the betterment had bet
fer begin with myself and yourself
When q committee Of the Society o.
Friends called upon member to reprl
mand him for breaking some small rule
; of tho society, the member replied, u
had q dream in which all the Frlend'
had assembled TO plan some way 10 nave
5 cur meeting house cleaned lor u was
very filthy. Many proportions were
made, but 10 conclusion was reacnec
mill one of the membersrose and said,
Friends. I think if ,ach one would
take broom and sweep Immediately
e oronnd his own scat the meeting house
U would be clean. y
: RELIGIOUS Zeal.
t So let the wcN of spiritual improve
ment begin ardnd our own soul. Some
l nma ,rb;enar, up from the right hand
side side If tho 5ulpit and says, "Will you
, piuo ". na,s some of the persons in our
lives Xmas WY have this passion for souls?"
Oh Oh mo-, That would be invidious and
e ;,nnrn, nt, and the more mentioning of
e . .up Ines of such persons might cause
n u; ;n I'm Spiritual pride, and then the
)r II would have no more use for them.
"a che one whispers up from the left
lee and side of the pulpit, "Will you not
d lhen mention among the people of the
=, past some who had this passion for
souls?" Oh, yesl Samuel Rutherford,
the Scotchman of 800 years ago-his i'm
prisonment at Aberdeen for his religious
zeal and the public burning of his book,
LEX Rex, in Edinburgh and his un-
just arraignment for high treason, and
other prosecutions purifying and sanoti-
flying him so that his works, entitled
Trial and Triumph Of Faith" and
Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to
Himself, ~ and above all, his 215 unpar-
alleled letters, showed that he had the
passion for souls Richard Baxter, whose
"Paraphrase Of the New Testament"
caused him to be dragged before Lord
Jetfreys, who howled at him as "a ras-
cal" and "sniveling Presbyterian" and
imprisoned him for two years-Baxter,
writing 16S religious books, his Call
to the Unconverted bringing uncount-
ed thousands into the pardon Of the gos-
pei, and his Saints Everlasting Rest"
opening heaven to host innumerable !;
Richard Cecil, Thomas a Kempis, writ
ing his Limitation Of Christ" for all
ages; Harlan Page, Robert McCheyne,
Nettleton, Finney, and more whom l
might mention, the characteristic Of
whose lives was an overtowering pas
sion for souls. A. B. Earl, the Baptist
evangelist. had it. 1. S. lnskip, the
Methodist evangelist, had it. Jacob
Knapp had it. Dr. Bachus, president
of Hamilton college, had it. and when
told he had only half an hour to 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 calling