Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-11-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SALVATION" THE SUBJECT OF
LATEST DISCOURSE.
Seek and Ye Shall Find, Knock and 1t
Shall Be Opened Unto Ye"-''Seek the
Lord While He May BIO Found
Isaiah $3.50,

III VIVA ueScTlpllNeueSS OI SuIlSl.
Other prophets give an outline of our
Savior's features. Some of them pre-
sent, as it were, the side face Of Christ;
others bust of Christ; but Isaiah
gives us the full length portrait OF
Christ. Other Scripture writer's 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 of
prophesy in all his grandeur and glory,
you involuntarily turn to Isaiah. So
that If the prophesies in regard to
Christ might be called the "Oratorio
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 picked
up out of insignificance by inspiration.
He was known and honored. Josephus
and Philo, and Sirach extolled him In
their writings. What Paul was among
the apostles, Isaiah was among the
prophets.
My text finds him standing on
mountain of inspiration, looking out
into the future, beholding Christ ad-
vancing, 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,
that was for olden times" No, my
hearer II 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 and
got financial help Immediately. And
l want you to understand that the
text, instead Of being appropriate for
one age, or for one land, is circular
letter for all ages and for all lands,
and wherever it is presented for help,
the help comes: Seek We the Lord
while he may be found"
come today with no hairspun the
cries of religion, with no nice distinc-
tons, with no elaborate disquisition;
but with an urgent call to personal re-
ligion. The gospel Of Christ Is a pow
erful medicine: it either kills or cures.
There are those who say II would like
to become a Christian. l have been
waiting a good while for the right
kind of influences to come" and still
you are waiting. You are wiser in
worldly things than you are in religi-
Gus things. If you want to get to AL
bany you go to the Grand Central
yhar T1H
having got your ticket. you do not sit
down on the wharf or sit In the
depot; you get aboard the boat or
train. And yet there are men who say
they are waiting to get to heaven
waiting, waiting, but not with intelli-
gent waiting. or they would get on
board the line of Christian influences
that would bear them into the kingdom
Of God.
Now you know very we'll that to
seek a thing is to search for 1t with
earnest endeavor. If you want to see
a certain man in this city, and there
is a matter of $4,000 connected with
your seeing him, and you cannot at
first find him. you do not give up the
search. You look in the directory, but
you cannot find the name; you go in
circles where you think, perhaps, he
may mingle. and, having found the
part of the city where he lives, but
perhaps not knowing the street, you go
through street after street, and from
block to block, and you keep on search
ing for weeks and months.
You say: 1T Is a matter of $4,000
whether l see him or not" Oh, that
men were as persistent in seeking for
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 spirit
of God would help me, while I
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 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 a 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 cask at the cor
ner of the house to catch the rain In
the shower. 1t is a pulley fastened to
the throne Of God, which we pull,
bringing the blessing.
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, II
you did not pray right inwardly there
would be no response. You might cry
at the top of your voice, and unless you
had believing spirit within, your cry
would go no farther up than the shout
OF plow-boy at his oxen. Prayer must
be believing, earnest, loving. You are
in your house some summer day, and
shower comes up, and bird, alright
ed, darts into the window and wheels
about the room. You seize 1t. You
smooth its ruffled plumage. You feel
its fluttering heart. You say, Poor
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