Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-01-25
A Practical Sermon.

A PraCtICal SCTruOns
Rev. DIR. Talmage never produced a
more practical and suggestive sermon
thar the one of last Sunday. His subject
was Say So" and the text selected was
Psalms evil, >, Let the redeemed of the
Lord say So
An overture. an antiphon, a doxOlogy is
this chapter, and in my text David calls
for an outspoken religion and requests all
who have been rescued and blessed no
longer to hide the splendid facts, but TO
recite them, publish them and, as far as
possible. let all the world know about it.
LET the redeemed of the Lord say So.
There is 4 sinful rcticence which has been
almost canonized. The people are quite
as outSpoken as they ought TO be on all
subjects Of politics and are fluent and vol
uble on the Venezuelan question and BIZ
metallism and tariffs. high and low and
remodeled. and female suffrage, and You
have 10 skillfully watch your nance If
you want 10 put into the active CONVERSE
ton Il modest suggestion of our own. but
on the subject Of divine goodness. religious
experience and eternal blessedness they
are not only silent. but b~oastful of their
reticence. Now if you have been redeem
ed of the Lord why do you not say 50: If
you have in your heart the pearl of great
price, worth more than the Kohinoor
among Victorian jewels. why not let 9TH
ers see il! If yOu got off fine wreck in the
breakers. why not tell of the crew and the
stout lifebcat that safely LANDED you: Ii
from the fourth story You are rescued i'll
time of conflaSration. why not tell of the
fireman and the ladder down which he
carried you. IL You have Il mansion in
heaven awaiting YOU, why not show the
deed to those who may by the same proc
ess get an emerald castle on the same
boulevard: BY the last two words of my
text David calls upon all of us who have
received any mercy at the hand of God to
stop impersonating the asylums for the
dumb, and in the presence of men. women,
angels, devils and al worlds, Say So
Personal Salvation.
In these January days thousands Of
ministers and private Christians are Won
dering about the best ways of starting a
revival of religion. / can tell You q way
of starting 4 revival, continental, hemi-
Spheric and worldwide. You say a revival
starts in heaven. Well. it starts in heaven
just as a prosperous harvest starts in
heaven. The sun must shine, and the
rains must descend, but unless you pillow
and sow and cultivate the earth you will
not raise a bushel of wheat or a peek of
corn between now and the end of the
world. How, then. shall n universal re-
vival start: BY all Christian people tell
ing the story of their own conversion. Let
ten men and women get up next week in
your prayer meeting, and, not in n CON
yentional or canting or doubtful way,
but in the same. tone they employ in the
family or place of business, tell how they
crossed the line. and the revival will begin
then and there if the prayer meeting has
not been so dull as TO drive out all except
those concerning whom il was foreordain-
ed from all eternity that they should be
there. There are so many different ways
of being converted that We want 10 hear
g.! kinds. so that our own case may De
helped. 1t always puts me back TO hear
only one kind of experience. such as n man
gives when he tells of his Pauline con
yersion-how he was knocked senseless.
and then had n vision and heard voices.
n after q certain number of DAYS of
horror got up and shouted for joy. All
that discOuraGeS me, for i was never
knocked senscleSS. and | never had such
G. sudden burst of religious rapture that
i lost my equilibrium. But after awhile
a Christian man got up in some meeting
and told us how he was brought up by a
devOut parcntage and had always been
thoughtful about religious things. and
gradually the peace of the gospel came
into his soul like the dawn of the morning
no perceptible difference between mo.
ment and momcnt-but after awhile al
perturbation settled down into a hope
that had consoled and strengthened him
during all the vicissitudcs of a lifetime
/ said, THAT is celebrating: that was
my experience" And so | was strength.
ened.
a Universal Revival.
! nave but little interest in what people
say about religion as IN abstraction. but
i have iilimitable interest in what pcopls
say about what they have personally fell
of religion. It was an expression of his
own gratitude for personal salvation
which led Charles Wesley. after a season
OF great dependency about his soul ant
Christ had spoken pardon, to write thai
immortal hymn:
On, for n thousand tongues 10 sing
My great I;edcemcr's praise.
1t was after Abraham Lincoln had beer
comforted in the loss Of Tad, the brish
" VI n W nlAt Jus lIiI lie Stl0. =
now see as never before the preciousnes,
of Gods love in Jesus Christ and how ",
are brought near to God as our Father b,
him."
What n thrill went through The mectin.
in Portland, Ore. when an cx-attornc,
general OF the United States arose IN,
said: last night ! got up and asked tn,
prayers Of Gods people. | feel now per
fectly satisfied. The burden is rolled of
and all gone. and | feel that | could run
or fly into the arms Of Jesus Christ
What a record for all time and etcrnit,
was made by Gellacius. the play actor. il
the theatcr at I%Ieliopolis. \ burlcsque o
Christianity was put upon the stage. Ii
derision of the ordinance of baptism
bathtub, filled with water, was put upol
the stage, and another actor. i'm awfn
blasphcmy. dipped Gcllacius. pronouncin,
over him the words, II baptize thee in tn
name Of the Father. Of the Son and of tn
IfA1x- (s1tna t.f M.nt.I. f,.tf. f.. L.