The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-10-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
lNghtiest Agent OF God on Earth
Is a Consistent Christian.
-Thsy That Turn Many to Rightoousness
shall shine rs the Stars Forever
How Many May Be Turned
20 Christ.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's recent ser
mon was preached from the following
text:
They that turn to righteousness shall shine
- the stars forever and ever.-Daniel Kill, j.
Every man has a thousand roots and
q thousand branches. His roots reach
down through all the earth; his
branches spread through all the heav-
ems He speaks with voice. with eye, with
hand, with foot. His silence often IL
loud as thunder, and his life is dirge
n a doxology. There is no such thing
Is negative influence. We are all posi-
tive in the place we occupy, making
the world better or making II 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.
hear people tell OF what they are go
Ing to do. A man who has burned
down q city might as well talk OF some
evil that he expects to do; or man
who has saved an empire might as
well talk of some good that he expects
20 do. BY the force of your evil in
huence you have already consumed in
finite values; or you have, by the
power of right influence, won whole
Kingdoms for God.
1t would be absurd for me, by elab-
crate argument. to prove that the
world is off the track. You might as
well stand at the foot OF an embank-
ment, amid the wreck of capsized
rail train, proving by elaborate argu-
ment 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. Crash!
crash! The only question now is, by
what leverage can the crushed thing
be lifted? BY what hammer may the
fragments be reconstructed? l want
20 show you how we turn many to
righteousness, and what will be our
future pay for so doing.
First. We may turn them by the
charm of a rival example. A child
coming from n filthy home was taught
at school to wash it's face. 1t went
home so much improved in appearance
that its N other washed her face. And
when the father of the household came
home and saw the improvement in
domestic appearance, he washed his
face. The neighbors, happening in,
saw the change, and tried the same
experiment, until all that street was
purified, and the next street copied its
example, and the whole city felt the
result of one schoolboy washing his
face. That is fable, ny 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 purified. A man with
grace in his heart and Christian cheer
fulness in his face and holy consist
ency in his behavior is a perpetual SER
mon; and the sermon differs from
Others in that it has but one head, and
the longer it runs the better.
There are honest men who walk
down wall street, making the teeth of
iniquity chatter. There are happy men
who 90 into sick room. and by look
help the broken bone to knit, and the
excited nerves drop to a calm beating.
There are pure men whose presence
-silences the tongue of uncleanness
The mightIest agent of good on earth
in a consistent Christian. like the
Bible folded between the folds of
cloth, of calf skin or morocco,
but l like it better when, in the
shape of a man, it goes out into the
worId-a Bible illustrated. Courage is
beautiful to read about; but rather
would see man with all the world
against him confident as though all
the world were for him. Patience is
beautiful to read about; but rather
would l see a buffeted soul calm "
waiting for the time of dellverance.
Faith is beautiful to read about; but
rather would find man in the mid.
night walking straight on as though
he saw everything. Oh, how many
souls have been turned to God by the
charm Of a bright example!
When, in the Mexican war, the
tr ops were wavering, a general ros,
In his stirrups and dashed into the enc
my's lines, shouting: Men, follow
mew They, seeing his courage ant
disposition, dashed on after him anC
gained the victory. What men wan
to rally them for God is an example t,
lead them. All your commands to 9th
ers to advance amount to nothing a
long as you stay behind. To affec
them Alright you need to start 70
Heaven yourself, looking back only l.
give the stirring cry of Men, follow!
Again: We may turn many to right
eousness by prayer. There is no sucl
detective as prayer. for no one ca,
hide away from it. 1t puts its hand
on the shoulder of man 10, 900 mile
off. 1t alights on a ship midatlantic
The little child can not understand tn
law of electricity or how the TELEGRAPH
operator, by touching the instrumen
here, may dart message under tn
sea to another continent; nor can we
with our small intellect, understan
how the touch of Christians praye
shall instantly strike soul on tn
other side of the earth. You TAX
ship and go to some other country
and get there at IL o'clock in tn