Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-11-20
REV. DR. TALMAGE
The Eminent Washington Diviaes
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: GA Passion Of Seals"

TEXT: ~ could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh. "-Romans
tx, 3.
A tough passage, indeed, for those who
take Paul literally. When some OF the Old
theolo9ians declared that they were willing
to be damned for the glory OF God, they sail
what no one believed. Paul did not IN the
text mean he was willing to die forever 10
save his relatives. Ho used hyperbo.e, AMI
when he declared, 81 could wish that myself
were accused from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the tesh, no
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 1t. All abb
sorbing desire for tbs betterment OF tho
physical and mental condition Is very COM
mon. 1t would take more OF mathema-
tician than ever can be to calculate how
many are, up to an anxiety that sometimes
will not let them sleep nights planning Tor
the efficiency OF hospitals where the sick
and wounded OF body are treated, aud Tor
eye and ear inflrmarieS, and for dispenSaeles
and retreats where the poorest may have
most sktlful surgery and helpful treatment.
spread and ever intensifying movement to
alleviate and cure physical misiortunes.
May God encourage and help the thousands
of splendid men aud women engaged in that
work! But all that is outside OF my subject to-
day. In behalf OF the Immortality OF nan,
the inner eye, the inner ear, the inner ca
pacty for gladness or distress, how few feel
anything like the overwhelming concentra-
ton expressed in my text. Rarer than four
1oo al n1Ar ru~.
rarer than prima dc ma, have been those OF
when 1t may be said. "rhey have passion
for souls" You could count on the fingers
and thumb or your left hand all the names
| Of those you can recall who In the last-ythe
eighteenth-century were so characterized.
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 o. your
right and left hands There are many more
such consecrated souls, but they are scattered
80 widely you do not know 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 tho redemption OF
souls? Paul had it when he wrote my text,
and the time will come when the majority OF
Christians will have ii, if this world Is ever
to be lifted out OF the slough in which 1t has
been sinking and fiounderlng for near nine
teen centuries, and the betterment hal bet
ter begin with myself and yourself. When
COMMITTEES of the Society OF Friends called
upon member to reprmand him for break
ing some small rule of the society, the mem
Der replied: "I had dream, in which all
| the friends had assembled to plan some way
| to have our meeting house cleaned, for 1t
was very filthy. Many propositions were
made, but no conclusion was reached until
one of the members rose and said, Friends,
| ~ l.. 70 foly n hrnnpn n
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 tho right hand side of the pulpit
and says, evil you please name some OF
| the persons in our times who have this pas
sion for souls2" Oh, no! That would be in
vidious and impru1ent, and the mere mem
tiening 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, evil you not, then, mem
ton among the people OF the past some who
had this passion for souls?" Oh. yes! Samuel
Rutherford the Scotchman OK 800 years ago
| his Imprisonment at Aberdeen for his re-
lixious 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 sanctifyinS him
so that his works, entitled "Irial aud
Triumph OF Faith" and "Ohrist Dying and
Drawing Sinners to Himself" and, above
all, his 215 unparalleled letters showed that
he had the passion for souls; Richard Baxter,
whose "Paraphrase OF tho New Testament
caused him to be dragged before Lord Jet-
freys who howled at him as "a rasca and
"snivellng Presbyterian and imprisoned
him for two years-Baxter, writing l6S re-
ligious books, his "Call to the Unconverted'
bringing uncounted thousands into the par
don OF the gospel, and his Saints Eyeriast-
Ing Rest" opening heaven to host 1nnum-
cradle; Richard Cecil; Thomas Kempis,
writing his Limitation of Chr st" for all ages;
Harlan Page, Robert McCheyne, NettletoD,
Flnney and more whom l might mention,
the characteristic OF whose lives was an over
towering passion for souls. A. B. Ear, the
Baptist evangelist, had 1t. ]. s. Inskip, the
Methodist evangelist, had it. Jacob Knapp
had II. DR.. Bachus, President OF Hamilton
College, had it. And when told he had only
half an hour TO 1--we said: "Is that SOL 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. u
And so he died upon his knees. Then there
have been others whose names have been
known only in their own family or nelghbor-
hood, and here and there you think Of one
What JUNCTION they had in prayer: What
power they had in exhortation! II they
walked into home, every member OF 1t fell
O holy thrill, and If they walked into q
prayer meeting the dizziness and stolidity
instantly vanished. One OF them would
wake up whole church. One OF them would
sometimes electrify a whole city.
But the most wonderful one OF that char
acterization the world ever saw or heard Of
felt was q peasant in the Far East. wearing
a plain blouse like an inverted wheat sack
with three openings-one for the neck anC
the other two for the arms. His father
wheelwright and house builder aud given Il
various carpentry. His mother at first unde
suspicion because of the circumstances OF Hi
nativity, and He chased by a Herodic mani'
out of His native land to live awhile unde
the shadows Of the sphinx and pyramid o
Gizeh, afterward confounding the LII. D..
Of Jerusalem, then stopping the paro1ysm
of tempest and of mailman. His path strewI
with slain dropsies and catalepsies and oph
thalmias, TRANSPORTED on one mountain
preaching on another mountain, dying OF
another mountain and ascending from ar
other mountain-the greatest, the lovellest
the mightiest, the kiDdest, the most seli-sac
rihcng, most beautiful being whose feet eve
touched the earth. Tell US, ye deserts VIII
heard our Saviour's prayer; tell Us, ye sea
that drenched Him with your surf; tell us
ye multitudes who heard Him preach Of
deck, on beach, on hillside; tell us, Go
gotha, who heard the stroke OF tho hamme
N the spikeheads and the dying groan Il
that midnight that dropped on midnoon
did anyone like Jesus have this passion 70
souls?
But breaking right In upon me Is tn
Oupcfinn How IN wa OFT sonnet him. Of fhl