Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-10-18
DIR. TALMAGTS SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE sY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

subject: Christ's Characteristic Earthly
Life RepIete with Beautiful Exam
! ples-Practice Self Sacrifice and HUI
mility and Help Bear burdens of Others
tcopyrtsht lsoo.l
WASHINGTON, d. C-In this sermon,
which DR.. Talmage sends from Paris, he
analyZes the character of the Saviour, and
urges all Christians to exercise the quail
ties which We're conspicuous in Christ's
earthly life. The text is Romans viii, 9:
Nov, if any man has not the spirit OF
Christ he is none of His"
There is nothing more desirable than a
pleasant disposition. Without it we can
not be happy ourselves or make others
happy When we have lost, our temper
or become impatient under some light
cross, we suddenly awaken to new appre-
citation of proper eouipoise of nature. We
wish we had been born with self balance,
we envy those people who bear themselves
through life without any perturbation, and
we fatter ourselves that, however little
self control we may now have, the time
! when we will be mellowed and softened,
| and the wrong things which are in us now
will then be all right, forgetful of the fact
! that an evil habit in our nature will grow
J into larger proportions, and that an ini-
quity not corrected will become the grand
father of whole generation of iniquities.
So that people without the grace of God
| in the struggle and amid the annoyances
and exasperations of life are apt to be-
come worse instead of better.
| Now, the trouble is that we have a the
ory abroad in the world that a mans dis
| position cannot be changed. A man says,
81 am ,irascible in temper, and l can't
help it." Another man says, Il am re-
vengeful naturally, and can't help it >
| A man says, II am impulsive, and | can't
help it." And he tells the truth. No man
can correct his disposition. l never knew
man by force of resolution to change
his treatment, but by. His grace God
| put in that which is right, and / know
and you know people who, since their con-
version, are just the opposite of what they
used to be. In other words, we may, by
| the spirit of God, have the disposition of
| Jesus Christ implanted in our disposition,
and we must have it done or we will never
see heaven. IF any man have not the
disposition of Jesus Christ, he is none of
| His"
| In the first place, the spirit of Christ
was spirit of gentleness. Sometimes He
made wrathful utterance against Phari-
sees and hypocrites, but the most of His
words were kind and gentle and loving
/ consider the fact that He was omnipo-
tent, and could have torn to pieces His
assailants, the wonder is greater. We of
ten bear the persecution and abuse of the
world because we cannot help it. Christ
endured it when He could have helped it.
Little children who always shy Oft at a
! rough man rushed into His presence and
clambered on Him until the people
! begged the mothers to take them away.
Invalids so sore with wounds that they
could not bear to have any one come near
them begged Christ just to put His hand
upon the wound and soothe it. The
mother with the sickest child was willing
| Self-righteous people rushed into His
presence with woman of debased char
| acter and said. "Now, annihilate her, blast
her, kill her" Jesus looked at her and
saw she was sorry and repentant, and He
looked at them, and He saw they were
proud and arrogant and malignant, and He
said, Let him that is without sin cast the
first stone at her" A blind man sat by
the wayside making great ado about his
lack of vision. They told him to hush
up and not bother the Master. Christ
stopped to him and said, "What wilt thou
that | do unto thee" Gentleness of voice,
gentleness of manner, gentleness of life.
We all admire it whether we have any
of it or not. Just as the rough mountain
! bluff and the SCARED crag love to look
| down into the calm lake at their feet and
| as the stormiest winter loves to merge
into the sunshiny spring, so the most pre-
| cipitate and impulsive and irascible nature
| loves to think of the gentleness of Christ.
| How little we have of it! How little pa
| tience in treating with enemies! We
have so little of the gentleness of Christ
| we are not fit for Christian work half the
time. We do not know how to comfort
the bereft or to encourage the disheart-
ened or to take care of the poor. Even
our voice OF sympathy is on the wrong
| pitch
My sister lad her arm put out of joint,
and we were in the country, and the
neighbors came in, and they were all sym
pathetic, and they laid hold of the arm
and pulled and pulled nightly until the
anguish was intolerable, but the arm did
not go to its place. Then the old country
doctor was sent for and he came in, and
with one touch it was all right. He knew
Just where to put his finger and just how
| to touch the bone. We go out to our
Christian work with too rough a hand
and too unsympathetic manner, and we
fail in our work. while some Christian,
in the gentleness of Christ, comes along,
| spot. and the torn ligaments are healed,
and the disturbed bones are rejoined. Oh,
for this gentleness of Christ!
| The dew of one summer night will ac-
complish more good than fifty Caribbean
whiriwinds. How important it is that in
kOlilR IOTtn 10 serve SnTlSt we nave SOiue-
thing of His genteness! Is that the way
| we bear ourselves when we are assaulted
| The rule is an eye for an eye, tooth for
TOOTH retort for retort, sarcasm for sar-
casm. Give him as much as he sends.
| After awhile you look up into the face of
| Christ and you see His gentleness, and
you say, "Well. now, | must do different
| ly." Then yslr proud heart says: Now
| you have yopr enemy in corner. You
will never get him in corner again. Chas-
tise him and then let him go" So we
! postpone the gentIeness of Christ.
Did YOU ever know any difficulty to be
healed by acerbity or hypercriticism
| About forty five years ago the Presbyte-
rian Church was split into the new school
and the old school. The chasm got wider
and wider. The most outrageous person
slties wer,. INDUCED in. Good men on
one side mathematical good men ON the
other side. Wider and wider the chasm
got until after awhile some good people
tried another tack. and they began to ex.
plain away tis difficulties. and soon all
the differences were healed. and at Pitts
burg they shook hands and are one now
to be one forever.