The Yale expositor., 1896-11-13
DR.. TALMkGE'S SERMON.

3: II could wish that myself were ac-
cursed from Christ for my brethren,
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 we're 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 relatives. He used hyperbole, and
when he declared, II could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to
the flesh" he meant in the most vehe-
ment of all possible ways to declare
his anxiety for the salvation OF his
relatives and friends. 1t was a pas
sion for souls. Not more than one
Christian out of thousands OF Chris
tians feels it, All-absorbing desire for
the bettermen of the physical and men
tai condition is very common. III
would take more of a mathematician
than l 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 the sick and wounded OF
body are treated, and for eye and
ear infirmaries, and for dispensaries
and retreats where the poorest may
have most skilful surgery and help
full treatment. Oh, 1t 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 to-day. In behalf OF the
| immortality of a man, the inner eye.
the inner ear, the inner capacity for
| gladness or distress, how few feel any
thing like the overwhelming concen-
tration expressed in my text. Rarer
than four-leaved clovers, rarer than
century plants, rarer than prima dom
mas, have been those of whom it may
be said: "They had a passion for
souls" You could count on the fin
gers and thumb of your left hand all
| the names of those you can recall, who
in the last the 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
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 Chris
tian people by the hundreds of millions
there are to-day, but how few people
do you know who are utterly oblivious
to everything in this world except the
redemption of souls? Paul had IL when
he wrote my text, and the time will
come when the majority of Christians
lifted out of the slough in which it has
been sinking and fioundering for near
nineteen centuries. And the better
ment had better begin with myself
and yourself. When a committee of
the Society of Friends" called upon a
member to reprimand him for breaking
some small rule of the society, the
member replied, 81 had a dream in
which all the Friends had assembled
to plan some way to have our meeting
house cleaned, for it was very filthy.
Many propositions were made, but no
conclusion was reached until one of the
members rose and said: Friends. /
think if each one would take a broom
and sweep Immediately around his own
seat, the Westinghouse 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 per-
sons in our times who have this pas
sion for souls?" Oh,nol 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 whis-
pers up from the left-hand side of the
pulpit: "Will you not then mention
among the people of the past some who
had this passion for souls?" Oh, yes
Samuel Rutherford, the Scotchman OF
three hundred years ago, his imprison-
ment at Aberdeen for his religious zeal
and the public burning of his book
lie Rex" in Edinboro, and his unjust
arraignment for high treason, and 9TH
er prosecutions purifying and sancti-
flying him, so that his works. entitled
Trial and Triumph of Faith" and
Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to
Himself" and, above all, his two hun.
dred and fifteen unparalleled letters
showed that he had the passion fol
souls. Richard Baxter, whose para.
phrase of the New Testament" caused
him to be dragged before Lord Jeffries
who howled at him as "a rascal" and
"sniveling Presbyterian" and impris.
oned him for two years-Baxter, writ.
ing one hundred and sixty-eight reli.
gious books, his Call to the Uncon.
verted" bringing uncounted thousand:
into the pardon of the Gospel, and his
Saints Everlasting Rest" openine
heaven to a host innumerable. Rich.
ard Cecil. Thomas-a-Kemps, writine
his Imitation of Christ for all ages
Harlan Page, Robert McCheyne, Net