The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-11-24
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"SALVATION" THE SUBJECT OF
LATEST DISCOURSE.
"Seek and Ye Shalt Find. Knock and 1t
Shall Be Opened Unto Ye''--"SeeiS the
Lord While He May BE, Found
isaiah $3.50.

in vivid descriptiyeness OF CHRIST.
other prophets give an outline OF our
Savior's features. Some Of them pre-
sent, as it were, the side face of Christ;
others a bust OF Christ; but Isaiah
gives us the full length portrait OF
Christ. Other Scripture writers excel
in some things. Ezekiel more WEIRD
David more pathetic, Solomon more
epigrammatic, Habakkuk more sub
lime; but when you want to see
Christ coming out from the gates Oh
prophesy in all his grandeur and glory,
you involuntarily turn to Isaiah. so
that If the prophesles in regard 10
Christ might be called the "Oratorlo
of the Messiah" the writing OF Isaiah
is the "Hallelujah Chorus" where all
the batons wave and all the trumpets
come in. Isaiah was not man plcKeu
up out of insignificance by inspiration
He was known and honored. Josephus
and Philo, and Sirach extolled him III
their writings. What Paul was among
the apostles, Isaiah was among the
prophets.
My text finds him standing on a
mountain of inspiration, looking OUT
into the future, beholding Christ ad-
yancing. and anxious that all men
might know him; his voice rings down
the ages: Seek we the Lord while he
may be found" oh" says some one
chat was for olden times" NO. my
nearer. If you have travelled in other
lands you have taken a circular letter
OF credit from some banking house In
New York. and in St. Petersburg or
Venice, or Rome, or Melbourne, or Cal
cutta. you presented that letter ana
got financial help Immediately And
want you to understand that the
text. instead of being appropriate 1or
one age. or for one land, is a circular
letter for all ages and for all lands
and wherever it is presented for help'
the help comes: Seek ye the LORD
while he may be found"
I come today with no hairspun the
cries of religion, with no nice distinc-
lions. with no elaborate disquisitlon;
but with an urgent call to personal re-
ligion. The gospel of Christ is pow
erful medicine: it either kills or cures
There are those who say Il would ike
to become a Christian. / have peer
waiting a good while for the rlgn'
kind of influences to come" and sui
you are waiting. You are wiser II
worldly things than you are in religl
Gus things. If you want to get to Al
bany you go to the Grand Centra
denot or to the steamboat wharf, ana
! having got your ticket, you do not 81
down on the wharf or sit In th'
depot; you get aboard the boat Of
train. And yet there are men who say
they are waiting to get to heaven
waiting. waiting, but not with intelll
gent waiting, or they would get OF
board the line of Christian influences
that would bear them into the kingdom
of God.
Now you know very we'll that tt
seek thing is to search for 1t VIII
earnest endeavor. If you want to SCI
certain man in this city, and there
is a matter of $4,000 connected witt
your seeing him, and you cannot a
first find nim, you do not give up th'
search. You look in the directory, bu
YOU cannot find the name; you go II
circles where you think, perhaps, hi
NAV mingle, and, having found TIT
mart OF the city where he lives, blu
perhaps not knowing the street, you q
through street after street, and from
block to block, and you keep on search
ing for weeks and months.
You say: ut is a matter Of $4,000
whether see him or not" Oh, tina
men were as persistent in seeking fol
Christ! Had you one half that persist
ence you would long ago have found
him who is the joy of the forgiven
spirit. We may pay our debts, we may
attend church, we may relieve the
poor, we may be public benefactors
and yet all our life disobey
the text, never seek God, never
gain heaven. Oh, that the spiri
of God would help me, while
try to show you, in carrying out the
idea of my text, first, how to seek the
Lord, and in the second place, when
to seek him.
remark, in the first place, you are
to seek the Lord through earnest and
believing prayer. God is not an auto
crat or a despot seated on a throne
with his arms resting on brazen lions
and a sentinel pacing up and down at
the foot OF the throne. God is a father
seated in bower, waiting for his
children to come and climb on his
knee, and get his kiss and his bene-
diction. Prayer is the cup with which
we go to the fountain OF living
water" and dip up refreshment for our
thirsty soul. Grace does not come to
the heart as we set a cask at the cor
ner OF the house to catch the rain in
the shower. 1t is pulley fastened to
the throne of God, which we pull.
bringing the blessing.
1 do not care so much what posture
you take in prayer, nor how large an
amount of voice you use. You might
get down on your face before God. IL
t1a-,