The National tribune., 1897-09-23
TALMHGE'S SERMON
Lives Of Example and Chris
tian Work.

workers.
The sermon prepared for this week by Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage who is again IN Washing
ton flashes a bright light into the life OF the
Christian worker aud offers hope to all those
who are discouraged in attempts to do good.
Tho text is from Daniel 12:3 " They that turn
many to righteousness shall shine as the stars Jor-
erer and erer
Every man has n thousand roots and a thou
sand 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 dlrge or q
doxology. There is no such thing as negative
influence We are all positive III the place we
occupy, making the world better or making 1t
worse, on the Lords side or on the devifs,
making up reasons for our blessedness or
Punishment; aud We have already done work
in peoplIng heaven or hell. By the force OF
your evil influence you have already consumed
infinite values: or you have by tile power OF
right influence won whole kingdoms Tor God.
| want to show you how We may turn many
to righteousness, and what will be our iuture
pay for so doing. We may turn them by the
charm Of right example. child coming
from filthy home was taught at school 10
wash its face. 1t went home so much improved
in appearance that its mother washed her
face. And when the father of the household
came home and saw the improvement III DO
mestic appearance. he washed his tace.
The neghbors, happening H. saw the chahge'
and tried tile same experiment, until all that
street was purified, and the next street copied
its example, and the whole city felt the result
of one school boy washing his face That is
fable by which we set forth that the best way
to get tho world washed of its sins and poliu-
ton is to have our own heart and life cieansed
and purified.
A man with grace in his heart and Christian
checrfulness in his face and holy consistency In
his behavior is perpetual sermon ana the
sermon differs from others in that lt mas OUT
one head and the longer it runs the better.
Tire tnieitie-t agent of good on earth Is a con-
sisteUt Christian.
When, in the Mexican war, the troops were
waverinc o General rose in his stirrups ana
dashed into the enemy's lines, shouting: Men,
follow me !" They. seeing his courage ana as
position, dashed OH after him and gained Inc
victory. What men want to rally .hem ior
God is an example to lead them. All your
commands to others to advance amount to
nothing as long as you stay behind. 10 Affect
them Alright you nee to start for heaven your
self, looking back only to give the stirring cry
of Men follow"
We may turn many to righteousness by
prayer. There is TO such detective as prayer,
for one can hide away from 1t. IL puts It's
hand on the shoulder Of man 10000 miles Oh.
1t lights OH a ship md-Atlantic.
boy running away from home may take
the midnight train from the country village
and reach the seaport IN time 10 gam the snip
that sails OF the morrow; but mothets
prayer will be on the deck to meet him, and IN
| the hammock before he swings into 1t, and at
| the On pstan before he winds the rope around,
and OH the sea- against the sky, as the vessel
plows on toward it. There is m gbtiness
| in prayer. The breath of EIjah's prayer blew
! all the clouds together, and 1t was wet weather
| Prayer, in Daniels time. walked the cave as
| lion. tanner. 1t reached up and took the sun Dy
| its golden hit, and stopped it, and the moon Dy
! its silver Bit and stopped it.
| We have all yet to try the full power OF
| prayer Not one Of as yet knows how to pray.
! All we have done as yet has been only potter
| ing. In the childhood of our Christian faIth,
| we make but poor work with weapons of prayer,
| but when VIC come to the stature of men IN
| Christ Jesus then, under these implements, the
| temple of God will rise, and the worlds re-
demption will be launched. God cares not for
| the-length of our prayers or the number OF our
| prayers, or the beauty of our prayers, or the
! place of our prayers; but it is the faith in them
| that tells
| We may turn many to Righteousness by
| Christian admoniton Do not wait until you
| make formal speech. Address the one next
| TO you. Just one sentence may do the WORK.
Just one question. just one look. The formal
| talk that begins with Sigh, and ends with
| canting shuttle is not what is wanted, bat the
heart throb of man i'll dead earnest. There
! is not n soul on earth that you may not bring
| to God if you rightly go mt 1t.
But is all this admOnition and prayer ana
/ Christian work for nothing? by text PROM
| ises 20 all the faithful eternal luster. They
! that turn many to righteousness shall shine as
| the stars forever" As stars the redeemed
/ have borrowed light. What makes Mars
| and Venus and Jupiter SO luminous? When
! the sun throws down his torch in the heavens
| the stars pick up the scattered brands, and hold
| them in the procession as the queen oil the
/ night advances; so all Christian workers,
standing around the throne, will shine in the
! light borrowed from the Sun of Righteousness
| Jesus in their faces, Jesus in their songs,
| Jesus in their triumph.
Christian workers shall be like the stars in
the fact that they have light independent of
each other. A great multitude, yet each one
az observable. as distinctly recognized, as
greatly celebrated, as if in all the space, from
gate TO gate and from hill to hill, he were the
| only nhabltant.
Christian workers shall shine like the stars
| in clusters. In looking up, you find the worlds
| in family circles. Christian workers in heaven
will dwell in nei ghborhoods and clusters
| Christian workers will shine like the stars in
swiftness of motion The worlds do not stop
to shine There are no fixed stars save as to
relative position. The star apparently most
thoroughly fixed flies thousands of miles a
| minute.
Again: Christian workers, like the stars,
shine in magnitude. The most illiterate man
knows that these things in the sky, looking
like gilt buttons, great masses OF matter.
So all they who have toied for Christ on earth
shall rise up to a magnitude OF privilege, and
a magnitude of strength, and magnitude of
holiness and magnitude of joy; and the
weakest saint in glory become greater than all
that we can imagine of an archangel.
Brethren ut doth not yet appear what we
shall be-" Wisdom that shall know every
| thing; wealth that shall possess everything
strength that shall do everything; glory that
shall circumscrbe everything! We shall not
be like taper set in sick mans window, or
| a bundle of sticks kindled on the beach to
warm shverins crew; but you must take the
diameter and the circumference of the world
if you would get any idea of the greatness of
our estate when shall shine as the stars for
ever and ever
Lastly-and coming to this point my mind
| almost breaks down under the cOntem platon-
like the stars, all Christian workers shall shine
in duration. The same stars that look down
upon US looked down upon the Chald9an shep-
| herds
To tho ancients the stars symbols of
| eternity. But here the figure of my text
| breaks dowu-n0t in defeat, hut in the m8jes-
ties of the judgment. The stars shall not shir e
forever. The Bible says they shall fall like
| autunInal leaves. But the Christian workers
shall never quit their thrones-they shall reign