The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-15
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.


shall cancel our well deserved sentence of capital punishment Oh, the joy, the peace, the rapture the glorious triumph of feeling that Jesus can lift the heavy load of sin off from every crushed hearti Brother, sister-man, woman and child if you have not yet received this glorious rest which comes from the forgiveness of sins will you not at the foot of the cross kneel and take 1t now?
 A Heavy Burden.
 The Heavenly Father offers rest from financial distress. The older l grow the more l realize that the greatest struggle on earth is after daily bread. Most people are not fighting for the luxuries, but for the bare neeessaries. If a man gets $50 or $100 ahead in the bank then comes some dangerous sickness in the family. His daughter is threatened with blindness, and she has to go to the best oculist and have the most expensive glasses, or his wife breaks down, and she must go off for rest, and extra servants are hired. and the whole sum of money is soon swept away.
 Said a young man of about thirty-five years of age to me short time ago: 'I have no sympathy for people who flnan
 cially do not get ahead. If they would systemize their business and work reg ularly they would have plenty of money"
 Yes" I soliloquized as 1 looked at him,
 that is all well enough for you to say. You have a mother who has supported you all your life. You have never known
 what il is to pay a dollar for rent Only a few clothes have ever come out of your salary. What would you have done if you had four or five children and had to live upon your salary and perhaps support widowed mother or an orphan sister, as , many, aye, most men, have to do?' Life for most of us Is a ceaseless struggle for a bare physical existence.
 The financial burden is the heavy one to bear. Most of us are ready to grant
 that That burden, too Christ will bear if you commit it to his hands. Your l anxiety, your distress, your foreboding, he will relieve and he will give you rest. Now says some one, the preacher is
 talking simple nonsensel If l do not get out and hustle and work and worry and get the money to feed and clothe and ed
 ucate my children God will never do it for me 1 do not believe in expecting that God will relieve me of my financial dis
 tress any more than I would expect the water to boil in the kettle if did not have
 fire in the stove or my cupboard be full of food nnles 1 could order it at the gro- cer's or the butchers. When you begin to talk about God carrying the burden of financial distress then you are simply tdlhlng aDoul something you knOW notn- ing about"
 God Never Fails.
 No, my brother, you are wrong. The
 mightiest men of God have always rolled at Christs feet the burden of financial
 distress. and God has never failed them. By that l do not mean that these men have been lazy or indolent. But l do mean
 that while they were physically and men tally doing their level best to earn the l necessary amount for their livelihood
 they were at the same time placing their
 financial obligations before Christ and
 asking him to furnish in his own way the
 necessary means. Study the life of
 Moody. Who furnished him the money
 with which to carry on his great work? God emphatically God. When Mir Moody
 received an invitation to go and hold
 evangelistic services in England and Scotland he practically did not have
 cent He accepted the invitation. He en- gagged passage upon a transatlantic steamer. The time grew nearer and near CT for him to sail Some one asked him
 where he was going to get the money l with which to sail. "I do not know" he | answered, but God will send it in time
 am going upon his mission" About two 1 or three days before he was to sail
 gentleman walked into his office and said : | MT. Moody, l hear you are going to Eu-
 
 1 money Here is S500 If you will take it.. 1 Thank you" answered Mr. Moody. He l took il. He took not as from man. but l from God. That $500 paid Mr. Moody
 passage over to England, so that he could | preach Jesus Christ in the home of Rob- | ert McCheyne and John Robertson and l Rowland Hil1.
 | Study the history of George Muller. In | some respects his Is the most inspiring | of nil 1 tury. Who built for him his great in-
 stitutions of mercy? Man? No; God. MT. | Muller never directly asked one cent of
 any man. He went ahead in faith. If he needed money he would go to God and l ask for it as confidently as a child would | go and ask money from father or mother God never failed George Muller He will never fail us financially If we will only do the work God has given us to do. A Hint to Church Members. And, my dear Christian friends this plea l to roll the financial distress of your life upon Christ brings up a very pertinent lesson which ought to be practiced by all !, our churches Do you know why the av- craze Christian church is having such hard work to get along financially? At ] the end of the year a few rich men have | to put their hands in their pockets and
 make up the heavy deficit. It Is because
 these churches In looking after the tenn 1 poral life of their members instead of the 1 spiritual are not doing their duty. The best l way to get a full church treasury is not, l as some people suppose, to have bazaar, | or an oyster supper or an evenings enter l tainment of Mrs. Jarley's waxworks or 1 a concert The true way to get a fui l church treasury is to have a full prayer
 meeting. If the rich men of church, the | leading men officially, would set the right ] example to the average church members
 and come to the weekday meetings and | take a Sunday school class and practice 1 prayer in public well as in private then l there would be no difficulty in meeting the 1 financial obligations of the boards of trus- | tees. If we, the members of a church, honestly and faithfully do the work of | our church in a spiritual way God will see to it that we shall be able to easily carry it's financial burdens in temporal way.
 Mans Ambitions.
 The Heavenly Father offers rest also In | reference to the salvation of our children and loved ones. Nearly every healthy | normal man has two ambitions. The one | is to live long. If I had my own way and ] could still live in health and strength and | live amid the surroundings am having to- 1 day as far as can make out l would like l to live on earth at least 1875 years When | I think of all the glorious opportunities of | working on earth for my Lord and Mas | ter I would not voluntarily change places l with the brightest robed denizen of all | inc redeemed mortals in heaven. I feel | q great deal in reference to my earthly 1 work as did the elder of a Presbyterian .b,,rcb When he was very sick some one