Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-11-12

Only One Being That Ever Lived Was
willing to Givo Up Heaven For Perdi-
tiOn, Says the Preacher, and That Was
the Divine Peasant.
WASHINGTON, Nov. e.-Clear out OF the
ordinary style of sermonizing Is this re-
markable discourse Of DR.. Talmage which
we send out today. His text is Romans
q, 3, "I could wish that myself were ac-
cused from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen acording to the flesh."
A tough passage, indeed, for those who
take Paul literally. When some Of the old
theologians declared that they were will
ing 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 hy-
perbole, and when he declared, "I could
wish that myself were accursed from Christ
for my brethren, my kinsmen according TO
the flesh, he meant in the most vehement
of all possible ways to declare his anxiety
for the salvation Of his relatives and
friends. 1t was passion for souls. Not
more 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 more of q mathematician than
/ ever can be to calculate how many are,
up to an anxiety that sometimes will not
let them sleep nights, planning for the eff
flciency of hospitals where the sick and
wounded of body are treated, and for eye
and ear inflrmaries, and for dispensaries
and retreats where the poorest may have
most skillful Surgery and helpful treat
ment. Oh, it Is beautiful and glorious
this widespread and ever intensifying
movement to alleviate and cure physical
misfortunes May God encourage and
help the thousands of splendid men and
women engaged in that work. But all
that Is outside Of my subject today. In
behalf of the Immortality of q man, the
inner eye the inner ear, the inner capacity
for gladness or distress, how few feel any
thing like the overwhelming concentra-
ton expressed in my text. Rarer than
four leaved clovers, rarer than century
plants, rarer than prima donnas, have
been those Of whom it may be said, "They
had 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 ighteenth-century were
SO characterized.
Redemption of Mankind.
All the names of those you could recall
in 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
people by the hundreds of millions there
are today, but how few people do you
know who are utterly oblivious to every
thing in this world except the redemption
of souls2 Paul had 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 cut Of the slough
In which it has been sinking and founder
ing for near 10 centuries, and the better
ment had better begin with myself and
yourself When committee of the Society
of Friends called upon member to repri-
mand him for breaking some small rule
of the society, the member replied: ~ had a
dream, in which all the friends had assem-
bled to plan some way to have our meet
ing house cleaned, for 1t was very filthy.
Many propositions were made, but no con-
clusion was reached until one of the men,
bers rose and said, Friends, think if
each one would take q broom and sweep
Immediately around his own seat, the
meeting house would be clean. " So let
the work of spiritual Improvement begin
around our 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
passion for soulsp" Oh, mol That would
be invidious and imprudent and the mere
mentioning 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,
tion among the people of the past some
| who had this passion for soulsf" Oh, yes!
Samuel Rutherford, the Scotchman of 300
years ago-his imprisonment at Aberdeen
for his religious zeal, and the public burn
ing of his book, "Lex Rex, in Edinburgh,
and his unjust arraignment for high trea-
son and other prosecutions, purifying and
sanctifying him so that his works, entitled
"Trial and Triumph of Faith and
"Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to
| Himself, and, above all, his 215 unparal-
| leled letters showed that he had the passion
for souls; Richard Baxter, whose =" Para
| phrase of the New Testament caused him
| to be dragged before Lord Jeffreys, who
| howled at him as "a rascal" and "snivel-
| ing Presbyterian" and imprisoned him for
two years-Baxter writing 1853 religious
| books, his "Call to the Unconverted
hrin tod do inf ho
pardon of the gospel, and his "Saints'
Everlasting Rest opening heaven to a
host innumerable; Richard Cecil; Thomas
q Kempis, writing his Imitation of
Christi for all ages; Harlan Page, Robert
McCheyne, Nettleton, Finney and more
whom might mention, the characteristic
| of whose lives was an overtowering pas
sion for souls. A. B. Earl, the Baptist
evangelist, had 1t I. S. Inskip, the Meth
odist 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: sis that soi
Then take me out of my bed and place me
| upon my knees and let me spend that time
in calling 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 neighborhood, and here and there you
think Of one. What unction they had In
prayer! What power they had in exhor-
tationl If they walked into a home, every
member of 1t felt a holy thrill, and If they
walked into prayer meeting the dullness
and stolidity instantly vanished. One of
them would wake up whole church. One
of them would sometimes electrify whole
city.
| The Divine Peasant.
| t5Wa GES most wonderful one of that
Characterization the world ever saw OF
heard or felt was peasant in the far east,
wearing plain blouse like an inverted
wheat sack, with three openings-one fol
the neck and the other two for the arms.
His father wheelwright and house build.
er and given to various carpentry, His
mother at first under suspicion because Of