Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-06-23
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON.
suNpAY's DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.


Aoou TUT the 1temONlnR Oh Sln II
Dwelt Upon-Christ and the Soul.
TEXT: "And the priest shall command
that one of the birds be killed In an earthen
vessel, over running water. As for the liv-
Ing bird, he shall take it, and the cedar
wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and
shall dip them and the living bird in the
blood OF the bird that was killed over the
running water; and he shall sprinkle upon
him that Is to be cleansed from the leprosy
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean,
and shall let the living bird loose into the
open field. ."-Leviticus xiv. 81.
The Old Testament, to very many people,
Is great slaughter-house strewn with
blood, and bones, and horns, and hoofs OF
butchered animals. 1t offends their sight;
it disgusts their taste; 1t actually nauseates
the stomach. But to the intelligent Chris
tian the Old Testament is a magnificent
corridor through which Jesus advances.
AS He appears at the other end of the cor
ridor we can only see the outlines OF His
character; coming nearer, we can descry
the features. But when, at last He steps
upon the platform OF the New Testament,
amid the torches of evangelists and apos-
ties, the orchestras Of heaven announce Him
with blast of minstresly that wakes up
Bethlehem at midnight.
There were great many cages OF birds
brought down to Jerusalem for sacrifice
sparrows, and pigeons, and turtle-doves.
can hear them now, whistlinH, caroling
When leper was to be cured OF his lep-
rosy in order to his cleansing two OF these
birds were taken; one OF them was slain
over an earthen vessel of running water
that is, clear, fresh water, and then the
bird was killed. Another bird was then
taken, tied to hyssop- branch, and plunged
by the priest into the blood of the first bird;
and then, with this hyssop- branch, bird
dipp I'D, the priest would sprinkle the leper
seven times, then unite the bird from the
hrnn nah md rt Inn
into the heavens.
Now open your ewes wide, my dear
brethren and sisters, and see that that first
bird meant Jesus, and that the second bird
meant your own soul.
notice also in my text that the bird that
was slain was clean bird. The text de-
manded that it should be. The raven was
never sacrificed, nor the cormorant, nor
the vulture. 1t must be a clean bird says
the text; and it suggests the pure Jesus
the holy Jesus Although He spent His
boyhood in the worst village on earth,
although blasphemies were poured into
His ear enough to have poisoned any one
else, He stands before the world perfect
Christ.
l remark, also, in regard to this first
bird mentioned in the text that it was
defenseless bird. When the eagle is as
saulted. with it's iron beak it strikes like a
bolt against its adversary. This was n
dove or a sparrow, we do not know just
hand, and the pecking of its beak on your
hand makes you laugh at the feebleness of
its assault.
None to help! The murderers have it
all their own way. Where was the soldier
in the Roman regiment who swung his
sword in the defense of the Divine Martyr?
Did they put one drop Of oil on His gashed
feet? Was there one in all that crowd
manly and generous enough to stand out
for Hin? Were the miscreants at the
cross any more interfered with in their
work OF spiking Him fast than the carpeu-
ter in his shop driving nail through pine
board? The women cried, but there was
no balm in their tears. None to help!
None to help! my Lord Jesus. none to
helpi
Oh, this dove of the text, in its last mo-
ment, clutched not with angry talons. 1t
plunged not savage beak. 1t was dove
helpless, defenseless. None to help!
None to help!
As, after severe storm in the morning.
you go out and find birds dead on the
ground SO this dead bird of the text makes
me think of that awful storm that swept
the earth on Crucifxion day, when the
wrath of God and the malice OF man and
the fury of devils wrestled beneath the
three crosses
But come now to speak to this second
bird of the text. We must not let that fly
away until we have examined it. The priest
took the second bird, tied it to the hyssop
branch, and then plunged it in the blood of
the first bird. Ah that is my soul plunged
for cleansing in the Saviour's blood There
is not enough water in the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans to wash away our smallest
sin. Sin is such an outrege of Gods uni
verse that nothing but blood can atone for
it. You know the life is in the blood, and
as the life had been forfeited, nothing
could buy it back but blood.
AS this second bird of the text was
plunged in the blood of the first bird, SO we
must be washed in the blood of Christ or go
polluted forever.
bird was dipped in the blood of the first
bird, the priest unloosened it and it was
free-free of wing and free of foot. 1t could
whet its beak on any tree branch it chose.
1t could peck the grapes of any vineyard
it chose. 1t was free; type of our souls
after we have washed in the blood of the
Lamb. We can 90 where we will. We can
do what we will.
If man has become Christian, he is no
more afraid of Sinai. The thunders of Sinai
do not frighten him. You hare, on some
August day, seen two thunder-showers
meet. One cloud from this mountain, and
another cloud from that mountain, coming
nearer and nearer together, and responding
to each other, crash to crash, thunder to
thunder, boom! boom! And then the clouds
break and the torrents pour. and they are
emptied perhaps into the very same stream
that comes down SO red ut your feet that
1t seems as If all the carnage of the storm
battle has been emptied into 1t. So in this
Bible see two storms gather, one above
Sinai, the other above Calvary, and they re-
spond one to the other-fash TO flash,
thunder to thunder. booml booml Sinai
thunders, 'The soul that stnneth. it shall
die;' Calvary responds: ''Save them from
going down to the pit, for have found
ransom" Sinai says: "Woe! woe!' Cal
vary answers "Mercyl mercy!" and then
the clouds burst, and empty their treasures
into one torrent, and it comes flowing to
our feet, red with the carnage OF our Lord
lin which, II thy soul be plunged like the
bird in the text, it shall go forth free
free!
Why, is not man free when he gets rid
of his sins? The sins OF the tongue gone;
the sins OF action gone; the sins Of the mind
gone All the transgressions Of thirty
forty, fifty, seventy years gone--no more in
the soul than the malaria that foated in
the atmosphere thousand years ago; for
when my Lord Jesus pardons "a man He
pardo:is him, and there is no halfway work
about It..
Here see a beggar going along the
turnpike road. He is worn out with dis