The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-10-06
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Strong Words of Hope and Promise For
Discouraged Toilers in the Lords Vine
gard - Christian Workers, Like the
Stars, Shine in Magnitude Forever.

stars, Shine In Magnitude Forever.
TEXT: ''They that turn many to right
eousness shall shine as the stars forever
and ver."-Dani xii, 8.
Every man has a thousand roots and q
thousand branches. His roots reach down
through all the earth. His branches
spread through all the heavens. He speaks
with voice, with eye, with hand, with foot.
His silence often Is loud as thunder and his
life Is dirge or a doIology. There Is no
all positive in the place we occupy, making
the world better or making 1t worse, on the
Lords side or on the DEVILS, making up
reasons for our blessedness or Punishment,
and we have already done work IN peopling
heaven or hell. I hear people tell of what
they are going to do. A man who has
burned down city might as we'll talk Of
some evil that he expects to do, or a man
who has saved an empire might as we'll talk
Of some good that he expects to do. By
the force Of your evil influence you have
already consumed infinite values, or you
have by the power Of right influence won
whole Kingdoms for God.
It would be absurd for me, by elaborate
argument, to prove that the world Is of the
track. You might as well stand at the foot
capsizsd rail train, proving by elaborate
argument that something Is out Of order.
Adam tumbled over the embankment sixty
centuries ago, and the whole race, In one
long train, has gone on tumbling in the
same direction. Crashl Crashl The only
question now Is, By what leverage can the
crushed thing be- lifted? By what hammer
may the fragments be reconstructed?
want to show you how we may turn many
to righteousness and what will be our
future pay for so doing.
First, we may turn them by the charm Of
right example. A child coming from q
filthy home was taught at school to wash
Its face. It went home so much improved
in appearance that its mother washed her
face, and when the father Of the household
domestic appearance he washed his face.
The neighbors, happening In, saw the
change and tried the same experiment, un-
til all that street was purified, and the next
street copied It's example, and the whole
city felt the result Of one schoolboy wash
Ing his face. That Is fable by which we
set forth that the best way to get the world
washed OF Its sins and pollution Is to have
our own heart and life cleansed and puri-
fed. A man with grace in his heart and
Christian cheerfulness In his face and holy
consistency in his behavior Is perpetual
sermon, and the sermon differs from others
In that 1t has but one head and the longer
1t runs the better.
There are honest men who walk down
Wall street making the teeth Of iniquity
chatter. There are happy men who go In
to stckroom and by look help the bro ken
bone to knit and the excited nerves drop
to calm beating. There are pure men
whose presence silences the tongue OF un-
cleanness. The mightiest agent Of good on
earth is a consistent Christian. I like the
Bible folded between lids Of cloth or calf
skin or morocco, but like it better when,
in the shape Of aman, 1t goes out into the
world Bible illustrated. Courageis Is beau
tiful to read about, but rather would see
q man with all the world against him conf
dent as though all the world were for him.
Patience Is beautiful to read about, but
rather would see buffeted soul calmly
waiting for the time OF deliverance. Faith
Is beautiful to read about, but rather would
find a man In the midnight walking
straight on as though he saw everything.
Oh, how many souls have been turned to
God by the charm Of bright exampleI
When, In the Mexican War, the troops
were wavering, general rose IN his stir
rups and dashed into the enemy's lines,
shouting, "Men, follow mel" They, seeing
his courage and disposition, dashed on af-
ter him and gained the victory. What men
want to rally them for God Is an example
to lead them. AL your commands to others
to advance amount to nothing as long as
you stay behind. To affect them Alright
you need to start for heaven yourself, look.
Ing back only to give the stirring cry OF
Men, follow!"
Again, we may turn many to righteous
ness by prayer There Is no such detective
as prayer, for no one can hide away from
1t. It puts its hand on the shoulder OF a
man 10000 miles off. 1t alights on ship
midatlantic. The little child cannot under
stand the law Of electricity, or how the
telegraph operator, by touching the instru-
ment here, may dart message under the
sea to another continent, nor can We, with
our small intellect, understand how the
touch OF Christians prayer shall instantly
strike soul on the other side OF the earth.
You take ship and go to some other coup-
try and get there at II o'clock In the morn
lg. You telegraph to America and the
message gets here at o'clock the same
morning. In other words, It seems to ar
rive here Ave hours before 1t started. Like
that is PRAYER. God says, Before they
call will hear" To overtake a loved one
on the road you may spur up lathered
steed until he shall OUTRAGE the one that
brought the news to Ghent, but prayer
shall catch 1t at one gallop. A boy
running away from. home may take
the midnight train from the country
village and reach the seaport in time to
gain the ship that sails on the morrow, but
q mothers prayer will be on the deck to
meet him, and in the hammock before he
swings into 1t, and at the capstan before
he winds the rope around, and on the sea,
against the sky, as the vessel plows on
toward 1t. There Is mightiness in prayer.
George Muller prayed company OF poor
boys together, and then he prayed up an
asylum in which they might be sheltered.
He turned his face toward Edinburgh and
praved, and there came E1OOO. He turned
his face toward London and prayed and
there came $1,000. He turned his face to-
ward Dublin and prayed and there came
$1,000. The breath OF .Elijah's prayer blew
all the clouds off the sky, and it was dry
weather. The breath OF EIijah's prayer
blew all the clouds together, and it was
wet weather. Prayer, in Daniels time,
walked the cave as lion tanner. 1t reached
up and took the sun by its golden bit and
stopped 1t and the moon by its silver bit
and stopped it.
We have all yet to try the full power Of
prayer. The time will come when the Amer.
lean church will pray with its face toward
the west, and all the prairies and inland
cities will surrender to God and will pray
with face toward the sea. and all the islands
and ships will become Christian. Parents
who have wayward sons will get down on
their knees and say, "Lord, send my boy
home" and the boy in Canton will get right
up from the gaming table and go down to
find out which ship starts first for America.
Not one Of us yet knows how to pray. All
We have done as yet has only been potter,
ing. A boy gets hold Of his fathers saw and
hammer and tries to make something, but
it Is a poor affair that he makes. The father
comes and takes the same saw and hammer
and builds the house or the ship. In the
childhood OF our Christian faith we make
but poor work with these weapons OF
prayer; but when we come to the stature