The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-06-28

DISCOURSE By 'CHE EMINENT DI
VINE LAST SUNDAY
Subject: Christ Our Refuge - A Message
of Comfort, Commanding the Behav-
Tor of the Disciples to Those Who Are
Burdened With Sorrow.
copyright 1900. !


WASHINGTON, ID. CDR. Talmage. in
the following disc .urse, which ne has se--s
Tor publication this week, gives prescrip-
ton for all anxiety and Worriment, and
illustrates the divine sympathy for all who
are IN any kind OF struggle. The text is
Matthew xiv, y, And His disciples went
and told Jesus"
An OUTRAGEOUS assassination had just
taken place. To appease a revengeful
woman King Herod ordered the death of
that noble, sef-sacritclng prophet, John
the Baptist. The group OF the disciples
were thrown into grief and dismay They
felt themselves utterly defenseless There
was no authority to which they could APP
peal, and yet grief must always find ex-
preston. Ii there be no human ear to
hear it, then the agonized soul will cry it
aloud to the winds and the woods and the
waters. But here was an ear that was
Willing to listen. There is 4 tender pa
thos and at the same time a most admir-
able picture IN the words of my text,
They went and tod Jesus He could
understand all their grief, and He imme-
diately soothed it. Our burdens are not
more than. half so heavy to carry if another
shoulder is put under the other end of
them. Here we find Christ, His brow
Swallowed with grief, standing amid the
group of disciples, who, with tears and
violent gesticulatiCns and wringing OF
hands and cutlery OF bereavement, are eS-
skillful BRUSH putting upon the wall of a
palace some scene OF sacred story, gave
not so sl1illful a stroke as when the plain
hand of the evangelist writes, They went
ana told Jesus"
The old Goths and Vandals once came
down upon Italy from the north Eu-
rope, and they upset the gardens, and
they broke down the statues and swept
away everything that was good and beau
tiful So there is ever ana anon III the
history of all the sons and daughters of
our race an incursion of rough handed
troubles that come to plumber and ran
sack and put to the torch all that men
highly prize. There is no cave so deeply
cleft into the mountains as 20 afford us
shelter, and the foot of feetest courser
cannot bear us beyond the quick pursuit.
The arrows they nut to the string ny with
unerring dart until we fall pierced and
stunned.
! feel that | bring to you most appro-
pirate message. | mean to bind up all
your grIefs into a bundle and set them on
fire with a spark from Gods altar The
prescription that cured the sorrow of the
disciples will cure all your heartaches I
have read that hen Godfrey and his
army marched out to capture Jerusalem,
as they came over the hills, at the first
fash of the pinnacles OF that beautiful
city, the army that had marched in 81
lence lifted shout that made the earth
tremble. Oh, you soldiers of Jesus Christ,
marching en- toward heaven, | would that
to-day, by some CLEAN from the palace OF
Gods mercy and Gods strength, you might
be lifted into great rejoicing and that as
the prospect Of its peace breaks on your
enraptured gaze you might raise one glad
hosanna to the Lord!
In the first place | commend the beha-
vior of those disciples to all burdened
souls who are unpardoned, There comes
time in almost every mans history when
he feels from Some source that he has an
erring nature. The thought may not have
such heft as to fell him. 1t may be only
like the flash in an evening cloud just after
very hot summer day. One man to get
rid Of that impression will 90 to prayer,
another will stimulate himself by ardent
spirits, and another man will dive deeper
in secularities. But sometimes man can
not get rid of these impressions The fact
is, when man finds out that his eternity
is poised upon a perfect uncertainty, and
that the next moment his foot may ship,
he must do something violent to make him
self forget where he stands or else lily for
refuge.
Some of you crouch under yoke, and
you bite the dust when this moment You
might rise up a crowned conqueror Driven
and perpleXed as you have been by sin, go
and tell Jesus To relax the grip of death
from your soul and plant your unshackled
feet upon the golden throne Christ let the
fortunes of the bloody mount transiiX
Him With the beam of His own cross
He will break down the door Of Your dun
geon. From the thOrns OF ms own crown
He will pick enough gems to make your
brow blaze with eternal victory. In every
tear on His wet cheek in every cash OF
His side, in every long. blackenng mark
of laceraton from shoulder to shoulder,
F. in the grave SCATTERING. heaven storming
Z death groan | hear Him say, He that
cometh unto Me | will in nowise cast out. .
h1f nj
my wound you want to make another
wound-namely, that OF convctloni' Have
you never known surgeon to come and
find chronic disease and then with sharp
caustic burn it all out? So the grace, OF
God comes to the old sore of sin. 1t has
long been ranking there; but, by divine
grace, it is burned out through these fires
of conviction "the flesh coming again as
the flesh of little child;' where sin
abounded, grace much more aboundeth. ~
With the ten thousand objectionable sins
of your life go and tell Jesus.
You will never get rid of your sins in
any other way, and remember that the
broad invitation which | extend to you
will not always be extended. King Al
fred, before modern timepieces were in
vented used to divide the day into three
parts, eight hours each, and then had three
wax candles. BY the time the first candle
had burned TO the socket eight hours had
gone, and when the second candle had
burned to the socket another eight hours
had gone, and when all the three candles
were gone out then the day had passed
Oh, that some OF us, instead of calculating
our days and nights and years by any
earthly timepiece, might calculate them
by the numbers of opportunities and lner-
cies which are burning down and burning
out, never to be relighted. lest at last we
be amid the foolish virgins who cried,
"Our lamps have gone out!
: Again, ! commend the behavior Of the
disciples to all who are tempted. | have
heard men in mid-life say they had never
been led into temptation. Ii you have
not felt temptation, it is because you have
not tried to do right. A man hoppled and
handcuffed, as long as he lies quietly, does
not test the power OF the chain, but when
he rises up and with determination re-
solves to snap the handcuff or break the
hopple then he finds the power of the iron.
And there are men who have been for ten
and twenty and thirty years bound hand
and foot by evil habits who have never
felt the power of the chain because they
have never tried to break it. 1t is very
easy to go on down with the stream and
III tba wind lyinu btf ms